Project area/S
- Engineering
Project Details
Murchison widefield array (MWA) is a low frequency radio telescope located in Western Australia at the Murchison Radio astronomy Observatory (MRO). It constantly performs various scientific studies, including Epoch of Reionization science Galactic and extragalactic surveys, Solar, ionospheric and heliospheric research. Telescope’s front-end consists of 4,096 antennas that are arranged in tiles. Each tile collects 16 antennas arranged in a regular grid. This project offers unique hands on experience with the MWA aiming at measuring the input characteristics of each of the 16 bowtie antennas. You will learn the basics of low frequency low noise impedance measurements and processing the data to acquire receiver noise temperature and sensitivity. The project will begin from replicating an MWA tile in a CAD software FEKO numerical simulator in order to produce an accurate prediction of the characteristics of interest. Then, the same prototype will be assembled in the outside area at CIRA and multi-port parameters of the tile will be recorded. Programming skills will be required to post process the measurement results. The knowledge of simulation and measurement techniques gained through this internship will be valuable for electronics engineering students who wish to proceed to telecommunication industries, research and design companies and academia with the focus on RF/microwave electronics, 5G, satellite communications and similar fields.
Student Attributes
Academic Background
Electrical/electronics engineering and interest in radio astronomy.
Computing Skills
MATLAB/Python or C programming skills are desirable.
Training Requirement
LateX , Matlab, electronics lab.
Project Timeline
- Week 1 Inductions and project introduction
- Week 2 Initial Presentation
- Week 3 Introduction to numerical computation techniques an d FEKO
- Week 4 FEKO simulations of MWA array
- Week 5 Calculation of MWA sensitivity and SE FD
- Week 6 Measurement of the MWA antenna in the lab
- Week 7 Measurement of the array in the field
- Week 8 Data processing and report preparation
- Week 9 Final Presentation
- Week 10 Final Report
