The Room Temperature Multi-Channel Heterodyne Receiver Section of the PHAROS2 Phased Array Feed

Navarrini, A.; Scalambra, A.; Rusticelli, Simone; Maccaferri, A.; Cattani, A.; Perini, Federico; Ortu, Pierluigi; Roda, J.; Marongiu, P.; Saba, Andrea; Poloni, M.; Ladu, A.; Schirru, Luca

doi:10.3390/electronics8060666

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A PAF is made up of closely packed antenna elements that, by spatially sampling the focal plane, can synthesize multiple independent beams. Beam shapes and directions are controlled electronically by weighting the amplitudes and phases of the signals applied to the individual antennas by a beam-former [35][36][37][38]. Consequently, through the beam-forming process, PAFs are able to synthesize multiple beams and optimize each of them, enhancing aperture efficiency as well as effective FOV.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ad Hoc Back-End of the BIRALET Radar to Measure Slant-Range and Doppler Shift of Resident Space Objects

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Space debris is a term for all human-made objects orbiting the Earth or reentering the atmosphere. The population of space debris is continuously growing and it represents a potential issue for active satellites and spacecraft. New collisions and fragmentation could exponentially increase the amount of debris and so the level of risk represented by these objects. The principal technique used for the debris monitoring, in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) between 200 km and 2000 km of altitude, is based on radar systems. The BIRALET system represents one of the main Italian radars involved in resident space objects observations. It is a bi-static radar, which operates in the P-band at 410–415 MHz, that uses the Sardinia Radio Telescope as receiver. In this paper, a detailed description of the new ad hoc back-end developed for the BIRALET radar, with the aim to perform slant-range and Doppler shift measurements, is presented. The new system was successfully tested in several validation measurement campaigns, the results of which are reported and discussed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ad Hoc Back-End of the BIRALET Radar to Measure Slant-Range and Doppler Shift of Resident Space Objects

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Analyzing the plot of Figure 11a, it is visible that the GAIA board generates narrowband signals at 4,12,32,36,192, and 875 MHz with regard to the P-band [53]. This last RFI represents the highest of signals gave off by GAIA in P-band, but it does not represent an issue for the receiver, since it is far from the P-band receiver bandwidth (i.e., the bandwidth of the P-band feed is 305-410 MHz).…”

Section: Mitigation Of the Rfis Generated By The Electronic Control S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Four radio frequency receivers are available at present, covering a portion of P-band (305-410 MHz), L-band (1300-1800 MHz), C-band (5.7-7.7 GHz) and K-band (18-26.5 GHz) [8,9]. Moreover, two new receivers are currently under design and development: a C-band phased array feed (PAF), based on the PHAROS2 project [10][11][12], which covers the whole frequency range between 4 and 8 GHz, and a 7-feeds S-band receiver (3-4.5 GHz) [13][14][15]. Although SRT has been designed for radio astronomy observations up to 116 GHz, currently the maximum frequency of observation is 26.5 GHz.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upgrading of the L-P Band Cryogenic Receiver of the Sardinia Radio Telescope: A Feasibility Study

Ladu

Schirru

Gaudiomonte

et al. 2022

Sensors

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Sardinia Radio Telescope is a quasi-Gregorian system with a shaped 64 m diameter primary reflector and a 7.9 m diameter secondary reflector. It was designed to operate with high efficiency across the 0.3–116 GHz frequency range. The telescope is equipped with a cryogenic coaxial dual-frequency L-P band receiver, which covers a portion of the P-band (305–410 MHz) and the L-band (1300–1800 MHz). Although this receiver has been used for years in its original design, with satisfactory results, it presents some parts that could be upgraded in order to improve the performances of the system. With the passing of time and with technology advances, the presence of unwanted human-made signals in the area around the telescope, known as radio frequency interferences, has grown exponentially. In addition, the technology of the receiver electronic control system became obsolete and it could be replaced with next-generation electronic boards, which offer better performances both service reliability and low generation of unwanted radio frequency signals. In this paper, a feasibility study for improving the L-P band receiver is discussed, taking into account the mitigation of the main radio frequency interferences. With this study, it is possible to have a sensitive instrument that can be used for scientific research at low frequencies (P- and L-bands), which are usually populated by signals from civil and military mobile communications, TV broadcasting and remote sensing applications.

show abstract

“…Amplitude modulation (AM) and phase modulation (PM) noises have always been important concerns in radio communication, radar, radiometry, or RF and microwave particle acceleration, among other applications (see, for instance, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]). The study of AM and PM noise is a useful diagnostic tool for device technology optimization and aging studies [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The AM and PM noise power produced in one amplifier depend on the carrier level, both in the near-carrier and white regions of the carrier noise spectra [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. For a given carrier frequency and power, different levels of flicker and white AM and PM noise can be obtained depending on device bias or matching conditions [12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study of AM and PM Noise in Cascaded Amplifiers

Badillo

Portilla

2022

Electronics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An experimental study of amplitude modulation (AM) and phase modulation (PM) noise spectra in cascaded amplifiers was carried out as a function of the number of amplification stages and the input power. Flicker and white noise contributions were determined, as well as effective noise figure (NF) from AM and PM noise spectra from small-signal to large-signal regimes. Simultaneous measurements of AM and PM noise were performed, and associated correlation was measured as a function of the offset frequency from the carrier. Measurements exhibited, in general, quite low AM–PM correlation levels both in the flicker and white noise parts of the spectrum. In some particular amplifier configurations, however, measurements showed some peaks in the correlation at some specific input power levels in the transition zone, from a quasi-linear to strong compression. The results show that the effective noise figure decreases with the number of stages for a given carrier output power level.

show abstract

The Room Temperature Multi-Channel Heterodyne Receiver Section of the PHAROS2 Phased Array Feed

Cited by 8 publications

References 12 publications

The Ad Hoc Back-End of the BIRALET Radar to Measure Slant-Range and Doppler Shift of Resident Space Objects

The Ad Hoc Back-End of the BIRALET Radar to Measure Slant-Range and Doppler Shift of Resident Space Objects

Upgrading of the L-P Band Cryogenic Receiver of the Sardinia Radio Telescope: A Feasibility Study

Experimental Study of AM and PM Noise in Cascaded Amplifiers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About