RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope

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dc.contributor.advisorBlyth, Sarah-Louiseen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorKuttel, Michelle Maryen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorSchroeder, Anjaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSchollar, Christopheren_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-02-29T13:23:59Z
dc.date.available2016-02-29T13:23:59Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa is currently building MeerKAT, a 64 dish radio telescope array, as a pre-cursor for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Both telescopes will be located at a remote site in the Karoo with a low level of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). It is important to maintain a low level of RFI to ensure that MeerKAT has an unobstructed view of the universe across its bandwidth. The only way to effectively manage the environment is with a record of RFI around the telescope. The RFI management team on the MeerKAT site has multiple tools for monitoring RFI. There is a 7 dish radio telescope array called KAT7 which is used for bi-weekly RFI scans on the horizon. The team has two RFI trailers which provide a mobile spectrum and transient measurement system. They also have commercial handheld spectrum analysers. Most of these tools are only used sporadically during RFI measurement campaigns. None of the tools provided a continuous record of the environment and none of them perform automatic RFI detection. Here we design and implement an automatic, continuous RFI monitoring solution for MeerKAT. The monitor consists of an auxiliary antenna on site which continuously captures and stores radio spectra. The statistics of the spectra describe the radio frequency environment and identify potential RFI sources. All of the stored RFI data is accessible over the web. Users can view the data using interactive visualisations or download the raw data. The monitor thus provides a continuous record of the RF environment, automatically detects RFI and makes this information easily accessible. This RFI monitor functioned successfully for over a year with minimal human intervention. The monitor assisted RFI management on site during RFI campaigns. The data has proved to be accurate, the RFI detection algorithm shown to be effective and the web visualisations have been tested by MeerKAT engineers and astronomers and proven to be useful. The monitor represents a clear improvement over previous monitoring solutions used by MeerKAT and is an effective site management tool.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationSchollar, C. (2015). <i>RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Computer Science. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17396en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationSchollar, Christopher. <i>"RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Computer Science, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17396en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationSchollar, C. 2015. RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Schollar, Christopher AB - South Africa is currently building MeerKAT, a 64 dish radio telescope array, as a pre-cursor for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Both telescopes will be located at a remote site in the Karoo with a low level of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). It is important to maintain a low level of RFI to ensure that MeerKAT has an unobstructed view of the universe across its bandwidth. The only way to effectively manage the environment is with a record of RFI around the telescope. The RFI management team on the MeerKAT site has multiple tools for monitoring RFI. There is a 7 dish radio telescope array called KAT7 which is used for bi-weekly RFI scans on the horizon. The team has two RFI trailers which provide a mobile spectrum and transient measurement system. They also have commercial handheld spectrum analysers. Most of these tools are only used sporadically during RFI measurement campaigns. None of the tools provided a continuous record of the environment and none of them perform automatic RFI detection. Here we design and implement an automatic, continuous RFI monitoring solution for MeerKAT. The monitor consists of an auxiliary antenna on site which continuously captures and stores radio spectra. The statistics of the spectra describe the radio frequency environment and identify potential RFI sources. All of the stored RFI data is accessible over the web. Users can view the data using interactive visualisations or download the raw data. The monitor thus provides a continuous record of the RF environment, automatically detects RFI and makes this information easily accessible. This RFI monitor functioned successfully for over a year with minimal human intervention. The monitor assisted RFI management on site during RFI campaigns. The data has proved to be accurate, the RFI detection algorithm shown to be effective and the web visualisations have been tested by MeerKAT engineers and astronomers and proven to be useful. The monitor represents a clear improvement over previous monitoring solutions used by MeerKAT and is an effective site management tool. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope TI - RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17396 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/17396
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationSchollar C. RFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescope. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Computer Science, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17396en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Computer Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherComputer Scienceen_ZA
dc.titleRFI monitoring for the MeerKAT Radio Telescopeen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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