Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA
Date of Award
4-2014
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Dr. Teviet Creighton
Second Advisor
Dr. Joseph D. Romano
Third Advisor
Dr. Volker Quetschke
Abstract
The Low Frequency All Sky Monitor (LoFASM) is a distributed array of dipole antennas that are sensitive to radio frequencies from 10 to 88 MHz. The primary science goals of LoFASM are the detection and study of low-frequency radio transients, a high priority science goal as deemed by the National Research Council's decadal survey. LoFASM consists of antennas and front-end electronics that were originally developed for the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) by the U.S. Naval Research Lab, the University of New Mexico, Virginia Tech, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. LoFASM, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, will initially consist of four stations, each consisting of 12 dual-polarization dipole antennas. In a single station, RF signals from each of the individual LoFASM dipoles are combined in phase in order to synthesize LoFASM's beam. The LoFASM RF signals are phased up so that the resulting beam is sensitive to radio emission that originates from the zenith and RF signals approaching from the horizon are attenuated. Digitally, this is achieved using a full Stokes 100MHz correlating spectrometer constructed using eld programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. In this thesis I will describe the design and usage of the LoFASM Correlator.
Granting Institution
University of Texas Brownsville
Comments
Copyright 2014 Louis Percy Dartez. All Rights Reserved.