Collaborative Research: Radio Frequency Interference Aware Radio Astronomy Systems

EARS（增强无线电频谱接入）计划是为了响应国会授权的2010年总统关于释放无线宽带革命的备忘录，作为国家宽带计划的一部分。它在2010年的国情咨文和后来的2012年中产阶级税收减免和创造就业法案中被引用（超过三分之一的法案涉及无线电频谱），PCAST 2012年报告[总统科学技术顾问理事会]（呼吁大幅增加频谱共享的使用）和2013年总统备忘录（扩大美国在无线创新方面的领导地位）。该计划的目的是确定大胆的新概念，这些概念有可能有助于显著提高无线电频谱利用效率，保护被动传感服务，并使传统上服务不足的美国人能够从当前和未来的无线产品和服务中受益。这对国家经济的影响很大，正如2015年初FCC以超过450亿美元的价格竞标65 MHz频谱所看到的那样。无线通信系统的惊人增长导致对频谱的需求不断增加，以支持商业服务，特别是在低于3 GHz的频率，其中电池供电的移动的设备，如智能手机和平板电脑，最有效地运行。 期望这样的设备可用于各种应用，并且可用于具有不同可用频谱的各种位置。目前，在智能手机中，这是通过一系列硬件解决方案来实现的，每个标准一个。这是复杂且昂贵的，并且这样的接收器将不足以适应未来的频谱使用。期望具有能够接收宽频谱并且然后基于本地频谱条件和应用从其选择特定传输的单个硬件解决方案。 诸如这样的可适应的解决方案目前并不存在，这在很大程度上是由于当期望信号较弱并且被包含高功率信号的信道拥挤时发生的干扰。 存在容许这种不同信号电平的高动态范围接收器，但是它们不能适应大带宽。 在这个项目中，一个新的高动态范围的接收器拓扑结构，承诺使宽的瞬时带宽的接收将被探索。 新的信号处理概念和集成电路技术使拓扑成为可能。所进行的研究将从基础理论到实验示范。减少射频干扰（RFI）的影响，例如，蜂窝、无线电、电视、卫星和雷达信号，以及微波炉的干扰，对射电天文学发现的未来至关重要。在研究天体无线电信号时，科学家们对神秘的干扰感到困惑并不罕见。为了避免RFI，射电天文学家选择人口稀少的地区来安装望远镜。在某些情况下，必须在射电望远镜周围建立安静区，以限制空气的使用。因此，RFI缓解技术是射电天文科学在日益具有挑战性的RFI环境中所需的关键组成部分。该项目汇集了射电天文学，统计阵列信号处理，射频仪器，数字信号处理，无线通信和软件定义无线电的研究人员，以解决这些挑战，并通过引入一个新的框架，为建模，分析，以及在复杂的RFI环境中操作射电望远镜阵列。缓解射电天文学中的RFI是一个跨学科的研究领域，结合了电气工程、物理学、天文学、计算机科学等各个领域科学家的努力，和天体物理学由德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校（UTD）和德克萨斯大学格兰德河谷分校（UTRGV）高级射电天文学中心（CARA）研究人员联合团队开发RFI缓解技术所创造的机会将对参与STEM职业的学生人数产生直接影响。该项目的成功将有利于商业和科学界。最近，CARA与领先的轨道运载火箭商业制造商SpaceX合作，创建了太空飞船跟踪和千兆赫天体物理瞬态发射天文研究（STARGATE），这是一个集高等教育，研究，经济发展和商业化于一体的空间技术创新中心。STARGATE的技术/企业孵化器与达拉斯电信走廊之间的未来联系将为技术转让和更好地规划频谱使用开辟新的机会。

This EARS (Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum) program was founded in response to the 2010 Presidential Memorandum on Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution mandated by Congress as part of the National Broadband Plan. It was referenced in 2010 State of the Union and later on the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (More than 1/3 of the bill deals with radio spectrum), the PCAST 2012 Report [President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology] (which calls for vastly increased use of spectrum sharing) and the 2013 Presidential memo (Expanding America's Leadership in Wireless Innovation). The aim of this program is to identify bold new concepts with the potential to contribute to significant improvements in the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization, protection of passive sensing services, and in the ability for traditionally underserved Americans to benefit from current and future wireless-enabled goods and services. The impact is large on the economics of the Nation as seen on the last FCC bidding of 65MHz of the spectrum for over $45 billion early in 2015. It will enable access to science, engineering, industry, civilian and military users of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum.The staggering growth of wireless communications systems has led to an increasing demand for spectrum to support commercial services, particularly in the frequencies below 3 GHz, where battery-powered mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets operate most efficiently. It is desirable for such devices to be useful for a variety of applications, and in a variety of locations that have differing available spectrum. Currently this is achieved, in a smart phone for example, by a collection of hardware solutions, with one for each standard. This is complex and expensive, and such receivers will not be sufficiently adaptable for future spectrum usage. It is desirable to have a single hardware solution that is capable of receiving a broad spectrum and then selecting a particular transmission from it a based on the local spectral conditions and the application. Adaptable solutions such as this do not currently exist due in large part to the interference that occurs when a desired signal is weak and is crowded by a channel containing a high power signal. There are high dynamic range receivers that tolerate such disparate signal levels, but they are not adaptable over large bandwidths. In this project, a novel high-dynamic range receiver topology that promises to enable the reception of a wide instantaneous bandwidth will be explored. The topology is enabled by new signal processing concepts and integrated circuit technologies. The research undertaken will range from the basic theory to experimental demonstration. Reducing the impact of radio frequency interference (RFI), e.g., cellular, radio, TV, satellite and radar signals, and interference from microwave ovens, is crucial for the future of radio astronomical discoveries. When studying celestial radio signals, it is not uncommon for the scientists to puzzle over mysterious interference. To avoid RFI, the radio astronomers select sparsely populated areas to set up their telescopes. In some cases, the quiet zones around the radio telescopes have to be established to limit the use of airwares. Therefore, the technology of RFI mitigation is a critical component needed by radio astronomy science in increasingly challenging RFI environments. This project brings together researchers in radio astronomy, statistical array signal processing, radio frequency instrumentation, digital signal processing, wireless communications, and software defined radios to address these challenges and boost the science of radio astronomy by introducing a novel framework that provides the necessary analytical tools for modeling, analyzing, and operating radio telescope arrays in complex RFI environments.Mitigating RFI in radio astronomy is an interdisciplinary research area which combines the efforts of scientists from various fields including electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, computer science, and astrophysics. Opportunities created by developing RFI mitigation techniques by the joint team of University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy (CARA) of the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) researchers will have a direct impact in the number of students participating in STEM careers. The success of this project will be beneficial to both the commercial and the scientific communities. Recently, CARA teamed up with SpaceX, a leading commercial manufacturer of orbital launch vehicles, to create the Space Craft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Gigahertz Astrophysical Transient Emission (STARGATE), a space technology innovation center that combines higher education, research, economic development, and commercialization. The future connections developed between STARGATE's technology/business incubator and the Dallas Telecom Corridor will open up new opportunities for technology transfer and better planning of spectrum use.