Dish verification antenna-1: A next generation antenna for cm-wave radio telescopes

Radio telescopes striving for orders of magnitude more sensitivity in the cm-wave band require reflector antennas with high performance at low relative cost compared to conventional approaches. The Composite Applications for Radio Telescopes (CART) programme at the National Research Council´s (NRC´s) Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, near Penticton Canada has been investigating ways to build such telescopes since 2005. In 2010 a collaboration between NRC and the US-Technology Development Project (US TDP) was formed to develop a prototype 15m Gregorian offset antenna for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The telescope uses NRC´s composite carbon fibre reflector technology to implement the highly optimized shaped optics design and innovative mechanical concepts developed by the US TDP. The result is Dish Verification Antenna-1 (DVA1), a next generation antenna that has exceptional sensitivity (> 9 m²/K), with low monotonically decreasing far out sidelobes (< −50 dB), and high stability over environmental conditions. As well, it is modular, highly reliable, and can be produced at competitive cost using mass production techniques.