Towards a New Generation of Radio Astronomical Instruments: Signal processing for large distributed arrays

Organizers: Alle-Jan van der Veen, Delft University of Technology; Albert-Jan Boonstra, ASTRON

Radio astronomy forms an interesting application area for array signal processing techniques. Technological advances in the last decade have created possibilities for large distributed interferometric radio telescopes with very large receiving areas and a sensitivity which is one to two orders of magnitude better than the current generation. Increased sensitivity implies receiving more interfering signals, and therefore RFI detection and removal is now an important topic in radio astronomy. Fortunately, massive phased array technology will also provide increased flexibility to filter out interference.

International efforts for this new generation are coordinated under the framework of the Square Kilometer Array programme (SKA), http://www.skatelescope.org, with a target commissioning date of around 2012. Another example of a distributed phased array radio telescope will be the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) which is currently under construction in The Netherlands (http://www.lofar.org), and slated for 2006–2008. Prior to this, the international Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, or ALMA, will be constructed in a desert in Chile.

The talks in the session cover the following topics:

1. Overview of SKA, the science case, and the various design concepts
2. ALMA system design
3. LOFAR system design
4. Imaging problems for SKA telescopes
5. Postcorrelation techniques for RFI mitigation
6. Calibration, sensitivity and RFI mitigation requirements for LOFAR and SKA

Overview lecture:
  Author: Steve Rawlings, Oxford University, UK
  Title: Overview of SKA science and technology drivers

Regular lectures:

• Title: ALMA: Imaging at the Outer Limits of Radio Astronomy
  Authors: Darrel Emerson and Al Wootten, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Tucson (AZ) and Charlottesville (VA)
• Title: LOFAR: The first of a new generation of Radio Telescopes
  Author: Marco de Vos, ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
• Title: Wide-field imaging problems in Radio Astronomy
  Author: Tim Cornwell, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Socorro (NM)
• Title: Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) Mitigation in radioastronomy
  Author: Michael Kesteven, Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO, Epping, Australia
• Title: Calibration and interference mitigation for future radio telescopes
  Author: Albert-Jan Boonstra, ASTRON, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands