Band 1 Receiver for the Square Kilometre Array
Coordinating university or institute
Facility
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)Project description
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope, capable of transforming our understanding of the universe and our place in it. The dish antennas to be built at the SKA site in South Africa need to be sensitive to a broad range of radio frequencies. The Band 1 receiver developed at Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers, for 350-1050 MHz (wavelengths 30-85 cm) is composed of a specially-designed quadridge flared horn (QRFH) and room-temperature low noise amplifiers from Low Noise Factory to minimise noise and maximise sensitivity over the required range. Each of the initial 133 dishes of the SKA will be equipped with one Band 1 receiver
Year
Team
Chalmers University of Technology:
- John Conway, Director, Onsala Space Observatory, Department of Space, Earth and Environment
- Jonas Flygare, feed design and testing,
- Magnus Dahlgren, microwave instrument design and testing
- Leif Helldner, mechanical design and testing
- Ulf Kylenfall, microwave instrument layout and circuitry
Core deliverables
- Pre-study and design of individual RF components for high performance receiver design
- Development and test of demonstration receiver model for proof of concept
- Development and test of receiver design
- Successful qualification tests of the final receiver design on the SKA precursor telescope MeerKAT in South Africa
Industry involvement
Leax Arkivator, Ventana Group, MegaMeta, Low Noise Factory, Omnisys.
Total budget
Collaborations
- Chalmers University of Technology
- EMSS, South Africa
- EMSS Antennas, South Africa
- South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)
- Chalmers Nanofabrication Laboratory
The project is part of the SKA DISH consortium.