volume | PIER Journals

2013-02-07

Construction of a 12 GHz Total Power Radio Telescope for Teaching Purposes, Suitable for Noisy Environments, Using Satellite TV Devices

Maurizio Tinti

Dr. Maurizio Tinti

Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering

Università di Bologna

Italy

Homepage

Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 37, 159-170, 2013

doi:10.2528/PIERC12053103

Abstract

Schools and universities often need to support theoretical lectures on Radio Astronomy with practical lessons; in addition, science centres need instruments to explain this subject to the general public. However, professional radio telescopes are largely inaccessible to students and the public, because they tend to be very costly and are still fairly uncommon. It would seem, therefore, interesting to explore the possibility of designing a low-cost radio telescope for teaching purposes. The most critical part of a radio telescope is its receiver; considering the low intensity of radiation from the radio sky, this needs, among other features, to be very sensitive, necessitating the use of expensive low noise amplifiers, often cooled to low temperatures. For some time now, low-cost components for the reception of satellite TV have been available on the consumer market. These are known as Low Noise Block (LNB) and they include, as a front-end, an amplifier with very low intrinsic noise. In this study, we wanted to test the feasibility of designing and using a 12 GHz total power demonstrative radio telescope, using, as a front-end, an LNB mounted in the focus of an offset parabolic mirror. Unlike other designs, we made the system suitable for environments with high electromagnetic noise, such as schools in urban centres, by using a bandpass filter in the Intermediate Frequency section.

Citation

Copy Export

Maurizio Tinti, "Construction of a 12 GHz Total Power Radio Telescope for Teaching Purposes, Suitable for Noisy Environments, Using Satellite TV Devices," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 37, 159-170, 2013.
doi:10.2528/PIERC12053103

References

1. Kraus, J. D., Radio Astronomy, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966.

2. Bell, D. A., Electrical Noise, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., Princeton, 1960.

3. Kac, M. and A. J. F. Siegert, "On the theory of noise in radio receivers with square law detectors," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 18, 383, 1947.
doi:10.1063/1.1697662

4. Tiuri, M. E., "Radio astronomy receivers," IEEE Trans. Antennas, Propagation, Vol. 12, 930-938, December 1964.
doi:10.1109/TAP.1964.1138345

5. De Castro, E., Fondamenti di Comunicazioni Elettriche, Zanichelli, 1967.

6. Dammers, B. G., J. Haantjes, J. Otte, H. van Suchtelen, and , Application of the Electronic Valve in Radio Receivers and Amplifiers, book IV, N. V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken, Technical and Scienti¯c Literature Department, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 1950.

7. Seely, S., Radio Electronics, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1956.

8. White, I., "A simple way to design narrowband interdigital filters," Radio Communication, February 1984.

9. Dishal, M., "A simple design procedure for small percentage bandwidth round-rod interdigital filters," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 13, 696-698, September 1965.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.1965.1126066