LOFAR: A digital aperture array radio telescope

Author

Gunst, André W. ; Van Haarlem, Michiel P. ; Vermeulen, Rene C.

Author_Institution

ASTRON, Dwingeloo, Netherlands

fYear

2011

fDate

13-20 Aug. 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

1

Abstract

Construction of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is nearly complete. It consists of 48 stations, mostly concentrated within the Netherlands, and spreading into Europe. Each station has 48 or 96 dipole antennas and antenna tiles, optimized for 30-240 MHz. LOFAR uses a combination of true time delay and phased-array techniques. Digital beam-forming gives the system agility and allows rapid repointing and the potential for multiple simultaneous observations. Digital buffering allows a posteriori imaging of transient events. LOFAR has automated processing pipelines interacting with its long-term archive. In all its aspects LOFAR is an important pathfinder for the SKA.

Keywords

array signal processing; dipole antennas; radiotelescopes; Europe; Netherlands; antenna tiles; automated processing pipelines; digital aperture array radio telescope; digital beam-forming; digital buffering; dipole antennas; low frequency array; phased-array techniques; time delay; Antennas; Array signal processing; Arrays; Imaging; Tiles; Transient analysis;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

General Assembly and Scientific Symposium, 2011 XXXth URSI

Conference_Location

Istanbul

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-5117-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/URSIGASS.2011.6051279

Filename

6051279