Daily Image
02-01-2024
LOFAR Space Case
| Submitter: | Johan Pragt |
| Description: | Challenge students to come up with a new design for LOFAR-HBA and within a few hours you will be rewarded with great ideas, an energy boost and a stimulating title. The title fits perfect: with this case you will see space. A bit longer version: Imagine a case with inside a folded single HBA dual polarization antenna, a receiver and a groundplane. Open the case in the field, rotate one polarization of the antenna, fixate it to the ground, connect the coax to the summator board and ready to go. As simple as an Ikea manual. On behalf of ASTRON and Innovation Cluster Drachten, Jeroen Herrewijnen and Johan Pragt challenged the mechanical students of University Twente to come up with a new design of LOFAR HBA international Station what should be: shipped in 1 container (not in actual 16), is tested before shipment, rolled-out in the field within a few days (not in a few weeks) with a few people (not tens of people), easy to dis-assemble and more sustainable. We just gave them little freedom on e.g. coax cable on top of the soil (not deep in the ground), but the hart: antenna, receiver, summator, groundplane and station layout should not be modified. A lot of great ideas came up, but one design was unanimously selected by the jury (2x of UT, 2x of Principia and Jeroen and Johan) as the winner: Space Case design of Wouter Boerwinkel, Koen Geurtsen, Eva van Os, Mark van Donkersgoed.The price of 3000 euro was made available by Innovation Cluster Drachten and by Principia (the alumni association of the mechanical students of the UT). The organization was done by the W.S.G. Isaac Newton, the study association for mechanical engineers at the University of Twente (thank you Veralin Staring). |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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