Radio astronomy signal processing techniques for phased array ground

相控阵地面射电天文信号处理技术

• 批准号: ST/V001329/1
• 负责人: Michael Jones
• 金额: $ 55.26万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FV001329%2F1
• 关键词: Radio; astronomy; signal; processing; techniques

Radio astronomy and satellite communications have much technology in common - both use antennas, often parabolic dish antennas, to receive fain signals from objects in space. There are also differences - satellite ground stations also need to transmit signals to the satellites, while radio telescopes typically detect much fainter signals than is typical in communications. There is planned to be a huge increase in the next decade in the number of satellites in use, providing communication services, observing the Earth and its environment from space, and exploring the solar system. In this project, we will take technology developed for radio telescopes and use it to greatly improve the cost-effectiveness of satellite ground stations. We will use advanced signal processing hardware and methods to allow satellite ground stations to be constructed from large arrays of relatively inexpensive antennas, rather than single very large antennas. These arrays will be used both to receive signals (as radio telescopes do) and to transmit signals to distant satellites and space probes. As well as being cheaper to construct than conventional large antennas, this will allow much more flexible use of the ground station, with sub-arrays of antennas being used for less demanding applications. The grant will pay for a researcher based at the University of Oxford to work alongside engineers at Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd (GES) in Cornwall, transferring expertise developed for radio telescope designs, and on hardware to provide demonstration of the key technical capabilities we need to provide. GES will provide engineering effort, facilities and hardware and an equal share of the equipment costs.

射电天文学和卫星通信在技术上有很多共同点——两者都使用天线，通常是抛物面碟形天线，来接收来自太空物体的平坦信号。两者也有不同之处——卫星地面站还需要向卫星传输信号，而射电望远镜通常探测到的信号要比通信中典型的微弱得多。根据计划，在未来十年中，使用的卫星数量将大幅增加，这些卫星将提供通信服务，从太空观测地球及其环境，并探索太阳系。在这个项目中，我们将采用为射电望远镜开发的技术，并利用它大大提高卫星地面站的成本效益。我们将使用先进的信号处理硬件和方法，使卫星地面站能够由相对便宜的大型天线阵列构建，而不是单个非常大的天线。这些阵列既用于接收信号（就像射电望远镜一样），也用于向遥远的卫星和太空探测器发送信号。与传统的大型天线相比，建造成本更低，这将允许更灵活地使用地面站，将天线的子阵列用于要求较低的应用。这笔资金将用于资助牛津大学的一名研究人员与康沃尔郡goonhills地面站有限公司（GES）的工程师一起工作，转移射电望远镜设计方面的专业知识，以及为我们需要提供的关键技术能力提供硬件演示。ge将提供工程、设施和硬件，并分担设备成本。

项目成果

Characterizing the performance of high-speed data converters for RFSoC-based radio astronomy receivers

表征基于 RFSoC 的射电天文接收器的高速数据转换器的性能

• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa3895
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Liu C