MRI: Development of Radio Array of Portable Interferometric Detectors (RAPID)

MRI：便携式干涉探测器无线电阵列 (RAPID) 的开发

• 批准号: 1229036
• 负责人: Colin Lonsdale
• 金额: $ 215.14万
• 依托单位: Northeast Radio Observatory Corp
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1229036&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Radio; Array; Portable

The investigators will develop a Radio Array of Portable Interferometric Detectors (RAPID) investigations of ionospheric phenomena, solar radio emission, the Galactic synchrotron background, and ultra-high energy cosmic rays via airshower emission. The array will consist of 50-100 small, low-gain broadband antennas operating below 500 MHz. Unlike existing arrays, RAPID can be operated without any cabling between the antennas and a central location, and can be shipped, deployed and physically reconfigured quickly and easily with zero site infrastructure. This creates a unique capability to locate and configure an imaging radio interferometer array, highly customized to the specific science goal of any given field campaign, thereby supporting science investigations that hitherto have not been feasible. The system is based on voltage data capture with all processing performed offline in software at the home institutions of investigators, simplifying field operations and reducing equipment complexity.RAPID will revolutionize a range of ionospheric studies through high resolution interferometric imaging of ionospheric structures in equatorial and/or auroral regions, via coherent and enhanced scatter of signals from existing transmitters, both commercial (TV and radio) and scientific (incoherent scatter radar installations),. With its broad frequency coverage and the ability to customize the array layout to match the spatial scales in powerful solar coronal emissions of various kinds, RAPID will greatly advance solar imaging capabilities at these frequencies, shedding new light on a region intimately linked with space weather phenomena. The reconfigurability and excellent imaging properties of RAPID will enable all-sky maps of the Galactic synchrotron background emission with superior angular resolution compared to current data, while also incorporating high precision broadband spectral data spanning a decade in frequency. The RAPID system also offers the capability of studying intense nanosecond-scale pulses from cosmic ray airshowers, capturing full amplitude and phase information in response to external triggers, with user-selected aperture sampling, and with easy portability to the location of existing particle observatories. The project will introduce important innovations to the radio measurement community, and provide a technical foundation for subsequent development of larger, more powerful instruments of this type. We will bring together leading edge technologies and techniques from multiple branches of radio astronomy, the geospace radar community, and a rapidly advancing high-tech industry to create a truly portable system with unique capabilities for the detailed study of strong radio signals. The project also features extensive education and training opportunities for students and teachers through the NSF REU and RET programs, and the diverse science topics it addresses which can be communicated to the general public with a connecting theme of radio signals. The RAPID system elements are ideal as educational tools to demonstrate the principles of radio measurement at schools and colleges around the country.

研究人员将开发便携式干涉探测器无线电阵列（RAPID），对电离层现象、太阳无线电发射、银河系同步加速器背景和通过空气簇射发射的超高能宇宙射线进行调查。该阵列将由50-100个小型低增益宽带天线组成，工作频率低于500 MHz。与现有的阵列不同，RAPID可以在天线和中央位置之间不使用任何电缆的情况下运行，并且可以在零站点基础设施的情况下快速轻松地运输，部署和物理重新配置。这创造了定位和配置成像无线电干涉仪阵列的独特能力，该阵列高度定制任何给定实地活动的特定科学目标，从而支持迄今为止尚不可行的科学调查。该系统以电压数据采集为基础，所有处理都在调查人员所在机构的软件中离线进行，简化了实地作业，降低了设备复杂性，RAPID将通过对赤道和（或）极光区电离层结构进行高分辨率干涉成像，对现有发射机的信号进行相干和增强散射，商业（电视和无线电）和科学（非相干散射雷达装置）。RAPID具有广泛的频率覆盖面，并能够定制阵列布局，以匹配各种强大的太阳日冕发射的空间尺度，因此将大大提高这些频率上的太阳成像能力，从而使人们对与空间气象现象密切相关的区域有了新的了解。RAPID的可重新配置性和出色的成像性能将使银河系同步加速器背景辐射的全天空地图与当前数据相比具有上级角分辨率，同时还包含跨越十年频率的高精度宽带光谱数据。RAPID系统还提供了研究宇宙射线空气簇射产生的强烈纳秒级脉冲的能力，捕捉对外部触发作出反应的全部振幅和相位信息，用户可选择孔径取样，并易于携带到现有粒子观测站所在地。该项目将为无线电测量界引入重要的创新，并为随后开发更大，更强大的此类仪器提供技术基础。我们将汇集来自射电天文学多个分支的前沿技术和技术，地球空间雷达社区和快速发展的高科技产业，以创建一个真正的便携式系统，具有详细研究强无线电信号的独特能力。该项目还通过NSF REU和RET计划为学生和教师提供广泛的教育和培训机会，以及它所涉及的各种科学主题，这些主题可以通过无线电信号的连接主题传达给公众。RAPID系统元件是理想的教育工具，可以在全国各地的学校和大学演示无线电测量原理。