Northern Cross Radiotelescope: Test and Measurements of Reliability Performance on Radioreceiver Chains

In this paper, the results of reliability measurements and tests are presented. The systems taken into account concern two different architectures of a receiver chain for implementation in the Northern Cross Radiotelescope. A reliability analysis of the circuit and reliability tests implemented on critical parts of a fiber receiver chain were performed. The target was to chose the receiver chain with the highest value of mean time between failures and minimize faults in the structure. Moreover, since the reliability prediction indicated the front end, which was installed on the focal line of the antenna, as the more stressed block of the entire radioreceiver chain by environmental and climatic factors, we proposed specific development tests. The whole test plan has been characterized, and some results after a combination of temperature and humidity cycles, as well as random vibrations tests, are reported in this paper. The measurement and tests implemented in this paper for the solution of the receiver chain in the Northern Cross Radiotelescope can represent a useful aid for the new design of the international SKA project.