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24-09-2014
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SKA LFAA antenna pattern measurements using Uniboard processing in Cambridge

Submitter: Leon Hiemstra
Description: After the recent delivery of an Uniboard processing rack to Cambridge, the first antenna measurement results are now presented. This measurement campaign was a collaboration of the Astrophysics group of Cambridge University, INAF, Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and ASTRON.

As shown in the pictures, the setup consists of an array of 16 dual polarized antennas, 2 receiver racks and 1 UniRack with 4 ADUs (Analog to Digital converter Unit), and 2 Uniboards.

A hexacopter was used to create an artificial radio source above the array. It flew 100-150 m above the antenna field, with a speed of 3-4 m/s along a GPS-controlled path. It made several 10-minute flights, carrying a RF source transmitting on different frequencies in the range of 50-450 MHz. One of the photos shows it carrying a dipole antenna for a 50 MHz test.

The output signals of the array antannas were captured from the Uniboards using the modified EMBRACE Capture software. The Uniboards are in full control with the Uniserver software.

The plot shows a first result of the 50 MHz flight, in which the hexacopter flew several times through zenith. It shows the signal power of the Y polarization from the 16 antennas and the blue line is the sum of all 16 antennas.
Copyright: Astron/DESP
 
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