Autonomous power for radio astronomy antenna stations

在大爆炸后大约40万年，宇宙冷却到足以使中性氢原子第一次形成。 接下来的时期，被称为“黑暗时代”，迄今为止还没有被探索过，代表着新发现的未知领域。 中性氢原子自然会发出波长为21厘米的光，由于宇宙在膨胀，这个波长会随着氢原子发出光的距离（或者说，多久以前）而成比例地延伸。 由于无线电频率干扰和电离层污染，对应于黑暗时代的观测频率（<30 MHz）非常难以测量，并且很少有天空地图存在。 该提案将为一个新的无线电天线阵列提供一个关键的定制电源解决方案，该天线阵列将形成一个干涉仪，旨在绘制<30 MHz的天空，其分辨率比现有数据提高一个数量级。 这些改进后的地图将作为重要的第一步，为未来探索黑暗时代奠定基础。 该阵列将由自主天线站组成，每个天线站记录原始的“基带”天空信号，这些信号可以离线进行干涉组合。 这些天线将安装在麦吉尔北极研究站，该研究站由于地处偏远和极地纬度（加上目前的太阳活动极小期），射频干扰和电离层污染较低。 为了充分利用加拿大高纬度北极地区的独特地理优势，天线站必须能够在整个冬季运行。 该提案支持的燃料电池技术将为麦吉尔大学开发的新型仪器带来巨大的附加值，并将为无线电天空打开一扇全新的窗口。

Around 400,000 years after the big bang, the universe cooled sufficiently for neutral hydrogen atoms to form for the first time. The following period, known as the "dark ages," is unexplored to date and represents uncharted territory that is ripe for new discoveries. Neutral hydrogen atoms naturally emit light with a wavelength of 21 cm, and because the universe is expanding, this wavelength is stretched in proportion to how far away (or, equivalently, how long ago) the hydrogen emitted its light. The observational frequencies (<30 MHz) that correspond to the dark ages are exceptionally difficult to measure because of radio-frequency interference (RFI) and ionospheric contamination, and very few sky maps exist. This proposal will provide a critical, custom power solution for a new array of radio antennas that will form an interferometer that aims to map the <30-MHz sky with an order-of-magnitude improvement in resolution over existing data. These improved maps will serve as an important first step toward laying the groundwork for future explorations of the dark ages. The array will consist of autonomous antenna stations, each recording raw "baseband" sky signals that can be interferometrically combined offline. These antennas will be installed at the McGill Arctic Research Station, which has low RFI and ionospheric contamination because of the remote location and polar latitude (in conjunction with the current solar minimum). To fully capitalize upon the unique Canadian geographic advantage offered by the high Arctic, the antenna stations must be able to operate throughout the winter. The fuel cell technology supported by this proposal will bring tremendous added value to the novel instrumentation that has been developed at McGill and will open a brand new window on the radio sky.