SKA-low prototypes deployed in Australia : synoptic of the UAV-based experimental results

As the Square Kilometre Array progresses toward the construction phase, the first prototypes of the low-frequency instrument were deployed in Australia. To support such a crucial phase, a measurement campaign took place in the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory area to validate the electromagnetic models of the arrays by characterizing the embedded element patterns and the array beams. This article shows the significant campaign results in a comprehensive and readable way. Such a synoptic visualization allows for a direct evaluation of the complete dataset.peer-reviewe

Characterization of the SKA1-Low prototype station Aperture Array Verification System 2

The low frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA1-Low) will be an aperture phased array located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) site in Western Australia. It will be composed of 512 stations, each consisting of 256 log-periodic dual-polarized antennas, and will operate in the low frequency range (50 to 350 MHz) of the SKA bandwidth. The Aperture Array Verification System 2 (AAVS2), operational since late 2019, is the last full-size engineering prototype station deployed at the MRO site before the start of the SKA1-Low construction phase. The aim of this paper is to characterize the station performance through commissioning observations at six different frequencies (55, 70, 110, 160, 230, and 320 MHz) collected during its first year of activities. We describe the calibration procedure, present the resulting all-sky images and their analysis, and discuss the station calibratability and system stability. Using the difference imaging method, we also derive estimates of the SKA1-Low sensitivity for the same frequencies and compare them with those obtained through electromagnetic simulations across the entire telescope bandwidth, finding good agreement (within 13%). Moreover, our estimates exceed the SKA1-Low requirements at all considered frequencies by up to a factor of ∼2.3. Our results are very promising and allow for an initial validation of the AAVS2 prototype station performance, which is an important step toward the coming SKA1-Low telescope construction and science

First Results on the Experimental Validation of the SKA-low Prototypes Deployed in Australia Using an Airborne Test Source

As the Square Kilometre Array progresses toward the construction phase, the first prototypes of the low-frequency instrument have been deployed in Australia. To support such a crucial phase, a measurement campaign took place in the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory area in order to validate the electromagnetic models of the arrays by characterizing the embeddedelement patterns and the array beams. A set of significant results is shown in this contribution