The Warm Receiver Section and the Digital Backend of the PHAROS2 Phased Array Feed
Date Issued
2019
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Abstract
We describe the development of a multi-channel
“warm receiver section” (WS) and of a digital beamformer for
the PHAROS2 Phased Array Feed (PAF), a PAF demonstrator
for radio astronomy application across the 4-8 GHz radio
frequency (RF) band. The PAF is based on an array of 10×11
dual-polarization Vivaldi antennas cryogenically cooled at
20 K along with low noise amplification modules (LNAs). The
WS receiver can process the signals from a subset of 24
antenna elements of the array by downconverting them to an
intermediate frequency (IF) range, 375-650 MHz, suitable for
digitization by the digital beamformer. The latter is based on
the iTPM (Italian Tile Processing Module), developed for the
Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Low Frequency Aperture
Array (LFAA). We modified the iTPM firmware to synthesize
four independent beams across the 275 MHz instantaneous IF
bandwidth in the iTPM FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate
Arrays). The 24 signals are sent from the WS to the iTPM
through analogue IFoF (IF over fiber) optical links. In this
paper we present the design and performance of the WS and of
the digital bemaformer for PHAROS2.
Coverage
2019 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array System & Technology (PAST)
Start page
1
Conferenece
2019 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array System & Technology (PAST)
Conferenece place
Waltham, MA, USA
Conferenece date
15-18 October, 2019
Rights
open.access
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