RADIO PHYSICS AND RADIO ASTRONOMY

PACS number: 84.40.Ba

Purpose: theoretical and experimental investigations of sensitivity by the signal-to-noise ratio criterion active antenna used as a phased array element of the GURT radio telescope of new generation.

Design/methodology/approach: A mathematical model of active antenna is proposed, the technique of its application for calculation of the active phased array element sensitivity being described.

Findings: Numerical and experimental studies of the temperatures of external and internal noises at the active phased array element output of the GURT radio telescope are carried out, as well as element sensitivity estimated over a wide frequency range from 10 to 80 MHz.

Conclusions: The obtained agreement between the results of computation and experiment points to correctness of the proposed technique of calculating the sensitivity of active antennas, and the results of studies of the phased array element confirm the possibility of its effective use in construction of the antenna system for the GURT radio telescope.

Key words: radio telescope, phased antenna array, active antenna, signal-to-noise ratio

Manuscript submitted 15.02.2016

Radio phys. radio astron. 2016, 21(1): 48-57

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