1,795 research outputs found
SARAS 2: A Spectral Radiometer for probing Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization through detection of the global 21 cm signal
The global 21 cm signal from Cosmic Dawn (CD) and the Epoch of Reionization
(EoR), at redshifts , probes the nature of first sources of
radiation as well as physics of the Inter-Galactic Medium (IGM). Given that the
signal is predicted to be extremely weak, of wide fractional bandwidth, and
lies in a frequency range that is dominated by Galactic and Extragalactic
foregrounds as well as Radio Frequency Interference, detection of the signal is
a daunting task. Critical to the experiment is the manner in which the sky
signal is represented through the instrument. It is of utmost importance to
design a system whose spectral bandpass and additive spurious can be well
calibrated and any calibration residual does not mimic the signal. SARAS is an
ongoing experiment that aims to detect the global 21 cm signal. Here we present
the design philosophy of the SARAS 2 system and discuss its performance and
limitations based on laboratory and field measurements. Laboratory tests with
the antenna replaced with a variety of terminations, including a network model
for the antenna impedance, show that the gain calibration and modeling of
internal additives leave no residuals with Fourier amplitudes exceeding 2~mK,
or residual Gaussians of 25 MHz width with amplitudes exceeding 2~mK. Thus,
even accounting for reflection and radiation efficiency losses in the antenna,
the SARAS~2 system is capable of detection of complex 21-cm profiles at the
level predicted by currently favoured models for thermal baryon evolution.Comment: 44 pages, 17 figures; comments and suggestions are welcom
On a class of optimization-based robust estimators
We consider in this paper the problem of estimating a parameter matrix from
observations which are affected by two types of noise components: (i) a sparse
noise sequence which, whenever nonzero can have arbitrarily large amplitude
(ii) and a dense and bounded noise sequence of "moderate" amount. This is
termed a robust regression problem. To tackle it, a quite general
optimization-based framework is proposed and analyzed. When only the sparse
noise is present, a sufficient bound is derived on the number of nonzero
elements in the sparse noise sequence that can be accommodated by the estimator
while still returning the true parameter matrix. While almost all the
restricted isometry-based bounds from the literature are not verifiable, our
bound can be easily computed through solving a convex optimization problem.
Moreover, empirical evidence tends to suggest that it is generally tight. If in
addition to the sparse noise sequence, the training data are affected by a
bounded dense noise, we derive an upper bound on the estimation error.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions on Automatic Contro
The effects of noise on binocular rivalry waves: a stochastic neural field model
We analyse the effects of extrinsic noise on traveling waves of visual perception in a competitive neural field model of binocular rivalry. The model consists of two one-dimensional excitatory neural fields, whose activity variables represent the responses to left-eye and right-eye stimuli, respectively. The two networks mutually inhibit each other, and slow adaptation is incorporated into the model by taking the network connections to exhibit synaptic depression. We first show how, in the absence of any noise, the system supports a propagating composite wave consisting of an invading activity front in one network co-moving with a retreating front in the other network. Using a separation of time scales and perturbation methods previously developed for stochastic reaction-diffusion equations, we then show how multiplicative noise in the activity variables leads to a diffusive–like displacement (wandering) of the composite wave from its uniformly translating position at long time scales, and fluctuations in the wave profile around its instantaneous position at short time scales. The multiplicative noise also renormalizes the mean speed of the wave. We use our analysis to calculate the first passage time distribution for a stochastic rivalry wave to travel a fixed distance, which we find to be given by an inverse Gaussian. Finally, we investigate the effects of noise in the depression variables, which under an adiabatic approximation leads to quenched disorder in the neural fields during propagation of a wave
Trapping Phenomenon Attenuates the Consequences of Tipping Points for Limit Cycles
We would like to thank the partial support of this work by the Brazilian agencies FAPESP (processes: 2011/19296-1, 2013/26598-0, and 2015/20407-3), CNPq and CAPES. MSB acknowledges EPSRC Ref. EP/I032606/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Output Filter Aware Optimization of the Noise Shaping Properties of {\Delta}{\Sigma} Modulators via Semi-Definite Programming
The Noise Transfer Function (NTF) of {\Delta}{\Sigma} modulators is typically
designed after the features of the input signal. We suggest that in many
applications, and notably those involving D/D and D/A conversion or actuation,
the NTF should instead be shaped after the properties of the
output/reconstruction filter. To this aim, we propose a framework for optimal
design based on the Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov (KYP) lemma and semi-definite
programming. Some examples illustrate how in practical cases the proposed
strategy can outperform more standard approaches.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, journal. Code accompanying the paper is
available at http://pydsm.googlecode.co
A Space Communications Study Final Report, Sep. 15, 1965 - Sep. 15, 1966
Reception of frequency modulated signals passed through deterministic and random time-varying channel
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