The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera for Radio Astronomy and SETI

Welch, Jack; Backer, D. C.; Blitz, Leo; Bock, Douglas C.-J.; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Cheng, C.; Croft, Steve; Dexter, Matt; Engargiola, G.; Fields, Ed; Forster, J. R.; Gutierrez-Kraybill, Colby; Heiles, Carl; Helfer, Tamara T.; Jørgensen, Stine; Keating, Garrett K.; Lugten, J. B.; MacMahon, Dave; Milgrome, O.; Thornton, D.; Urry, Lynn; Leeuwen, J. van; Werthimer, Dan; Williams, Peter K. G.; Wright, M. C. H.; Tarter, Jill; Ackermann, R. F.; Atkinson, Shannon; Backus, P. R.; Barott, William C.; Bradford, Tucker; Davis, Mike; DeBoer, D.; Dreher, J. W.; Harp, G. R.; Jordan, Jane; Kilsdonk, Tom; Pierson, Tom; Randall, Kevin J.; Ross, John E.; Shostak, Seth; Fleming, M.; Cork, C.; Vitouchkine, Artyom; Wadefalk, Niklas; Weinreb, S.

doi:10.1109/jproc.2009.2017103

Cited by 120 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…To maximize FoV, each sub-array can simply be a single station pointing in a unique direction. This mode, referred to as Fly's Eye, is very similar to that developed for the Allen Telescope Array (ATA, Welch et al 2009) and will be used to monitor for rare, very bright, fast transient events. In this mode the localization of detected bursts can only be achieved to within the single station FoV, which ranges from a few square degrees to many hundred square degrees across the LOFAR band.…”

Section: Observing With Sub-arrays and Single Stationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

Stappers

Hessels

Alexov

et al. 2011

A&A

211

160

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Low frequency radio waves, while challenging to observe, are a rich source of information about pulsars. The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a new radio interferometer operating in the lowest 4 octaves of the ionospheric "radio window": 10-240 MHz, that will greatly facilitate observing pulsars at low radio frequencies. Through the huge collecting area, long baselines, and flexible digital hardware, it is expected that LOFAR will revolutionize radio astronomy at the lowest frequencies visible from Earth. LOFAR is a next-generation radio telescope and a pathfinder to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), in that it incorporates advanced multi-beaming techniques between thousands of individual elements. We discuss the motivation for low-frequency pulsar observations in general and the potential of LOFAR in addressing these science goals. We present LOFAR as it is designed to perform high-time-resolution observations of pulsars and other fast transients, and outline the various relevant observing modes and data reduction pipelines that are already or will soon be implemented to facilitate these observations. A number of results obtained from commissioning observations are presented to demonstrate the exciting potential of the telescope. This paper outlines the case for low frequency pulsar observations and is also intended to serve as a reference for upcoming pulsar/fast transient science papers with LOFAR.

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Section: Observing With Sub-arrays and Single Stationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

Stappers

Hessels

Alexov

et al. 2011

A&A

211

160

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show abstract

“…These technological innovations lie at the heart of LOFAR (Röttgering et al 2003), MWA (Lonsdale et al 2009), and LWA (Ellingson et al 2009). At centimeter wavelengths the "large number, small diameter" (LNSD) array approach (made possible by inexpensive signal processing, advances in commercial radio frequency (RF) technology, innovative ideas in the design of small diameter telescopes, and phased array focal planes) has now been demonstrated to be a cost effective method of building high speed mapping machines (Welch et al 2009;Dewdney et al 2009;Jonas 2009;Oosterloo et al 2009). The LNSD approach has motivated a new generation of radio facilities: Apertif/Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT; Oosterloo et al 2009), MeerKAT (Booth et al 2009), and ASKAP (Johnston et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Revised View of the Transient Radio Sky

Frail

Kulkarni

Ofek

et al. 2012

ApJ

134

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We report on a re-analysis of archival data from the Very Large Array for a sample of 10 long-duration radio transients reported by Bower and others. These transients have an implied all-sky rate that would make them the most common radio transient in the sky and yet most have no quiescent counterparts at other wavelengths and therefore no known progenitor (other than Galactic neutron stars). We find that more than half of these transients are due to rare data artifacts. The remaining sources have lower signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) than initially reported by 1σ -1.5σ . This lowering of S/N matters greatly since the sources are at the threshold. We are unable to decisively account for the S/N differences. By two orthogonal criteria one source appears to be a good detection. Thus the rate of long-duration radio transients without optical counterparts is, at best, comparable to that of the class of recently discovered Swift J1644+57 nuclear radio transients. We revisit the known and expected classes of long-duration radio transients and conclude that the dynamic radio sky remains a rich area for further exploration. Informed by the experience of past searches for radio transients, we suggest that future surveys pay closer attention to rare data errors and ensure that a wealth of sensitive multi-wavelength data be available in advance of the radio observations and that the radio searches should have assured follow-up resources.

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“…However, in order to meet the 35 m specification for maximum analog signal path length, as well as ensure future scalability of the system, HERA-350 will adopt an architecture of field-deployed amplification, digitization, and channelization nodes, building on MWA and Allen Telescope Array (Welch et al 2009) heritage. Digital data streams from multiple nodes will converge to a container adjacent to the HERA array, from which they will be routed to a central processor building where correlation and further processing will take place.…”

Section: Digital Signal Pathmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)

DeBoer

2016

2016 International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA)

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The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a staged experiment to measure 21 cm emission from the primordial intergalactic medium (IGM) throughout cosmic reionization (z = 6 − 12), and to explore earlier epochs of our Cosmic Dawn (z ∼ 30). During these epochs, early stars and black holes heated and ionized the IGM, introducing fluctuations in 21 cm emission. HERA is designed to characterize the evolution of the 21 cm power spectrum to constrain the timing and morphology of reionization, the properties of the first galaxies, the evolution of large-scale structure, and the early sources of heating. The full HERA instrument will be a 350-element interferometer in South Africa consisting of 14-m parabolic dishes observing from 50 to 250 MHz. Currently, 19 dishes have been deployed on site and the next 18 are under construction. HERA has been designated as an SKA Precursor instrument. In this paper, we summarize HERA's scientific context and provide forecasts for its key science results. After reviewing the current state of the art in foreground mitigation, we use the delay-spectrum technique to motivate high-level performance requirements for the HERA instrument. Next, we present the HERA instrument design, along with the subsystem specifications that ensure that HERA meets its performance requirements. Finally, we summarize the schedule and status of the project. We conclude by suggesting that, given the realities of foreground contamination, currentgeneration 21 cm instruments are approaching their sensitivity limits. HERA is designed to bring both the sensitivity and the precision to deliver its primary science on the basis of proven foreground filtering techniques, while developing new subtraction techniques to unlock new capabilities. The result will be a major step toward realizing the widely recognized scientific potential of 21 cm cosmology.

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The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera for Radio Astronomy and SETI

Cited by 120 publications

References 10 publications

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

A Revised View of the Transient Radio Sky

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)

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