The nature of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) at energies >10 20 eV remains a mystery 1 . They are likely to be of extragalactic origin, but should be absorbed within ~50 Mpc through interactions with the cosmic microwave background. As there are no sufficient powerful accelerators within this distance

Abstract. LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is an innovative radio telescope optimized for the frequency range 30 -240 MHz. The telescope is realized as a phased aperture array without any moving parts. Digital beam forming allows the telescope to point to any part of the sky within a second. Transient buffering makes retrospective imaging of explosive short-term events possible. The scientific focus of LOFAR will initially be on four key science projects (KSPs): (i) Detection of the formation of the very first stars and galaxies in the universe during the so-called epoch of reionization by measuring the power spectrum of the neutral hydrogen 21-cm line (Shaver et al. 1999) on the ∼ 5 ′ scale; (ii) Low-frequency surveys of the sky with of order 10 8 expected new sources; (iii) All-sky monitoring and detection of transient radio sources such as γ-ray bursts, X-ray binaries, and exo-planets (Farrell et al. 2004); and (iv) Radio detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays and neutrinos (Falcke & Gorham 2003) allowing for the first time access to particles beyond 10 21 eV (Scholten et al. 2006). Apart from the KSPs open access for smaller projects is also planned. Here we give a brief description of the telescope.

Radio pulses emitted in the atmosphere during the air shower development of high-energy primary cosmic rays were measured during the late 1960ies in the frequency range from 2 MHz to 520 MHz. Mainly due to difficulties with radio interference these measurements ceased in the late 1970ies.LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is a new digital radio interferometer under development. Using high bandwidth ADCs and fast data processing it will be able to filter out most of the interference. By storing the whole waveform information in digital form one can analyze transient events like air showers even after they have been recorded.To test this new technology and to demonstrate its ability to measure air showers a "LOFAR Prototype Station" (LOPES) is set up to operate in conjunction with an existing air shower array (KASCADE-Grande).The first phase consisting of 10 antennas is already running. It operates in the frequency range of 40 to 80 MHz, using simple short dipole antennas and direct 2nd Nyquist sampling of the incoming wave. It has proven to be able to do simple astronomical measurements, like imaging of a solar burst. It has also demonstrated how digital interference suppression and beamforming can overcome the problem of radio interference and pick out air shower events.

Measuring radio pulses from cosmic ray air showers offers various new opportunities. New digital radio receivers allow measurements of these radio pulses even in environments that have lots of radio interference. With high bandwidth ADCs and fast data processing it is possible to store the whole waveform information in digital form and analyse transient events like air showers even after they have been recorded. Digital filtering and beam forming can be used to suppress the radio interference so that it is possible to measure the radio pulses even in radio loud environments. LOPES is a prototype station for the new digital radio interferometer LOFAR and is tailored to measure air showers. For this it is located at the site of the KASCADE-Grande air shower experiment. Already with the first phase of LOPES we have been able to measure radio pulses from air showers and show correlations between the radio pulse height and air shower parameters. The first part gives an introduction and presents the science results of LOPES, while the second part presents the hard- and software that enables LOPES to detect air short pulses.

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