We present a crucial step in converting a commercial telecommunication antenna system into a radio astronomy telescope. This step involved the development of a newly installed and simple control system to manage the telescope movement with relatively good pointing accuracy. The control system was designed using a programmable logic controller (PLC) that is robust and affordable. Based on the performance testing, this control system achieved average accuracies of 0.95 and 1.083 arcmin in azimuth and elevation positioning respectively, and an RMS of 9 arcmin across the open sky. In addition, it reached average rotation speeds of about 5.4, 2.4, and 4.8 arcmin/s for azimuth, elevation, and tracking rate, respectively. The results also showed that the converted radio telescope has an acceptable tracking accuracy of errors below 10% of the antenna half-power bandwidth at a frequency of 1.4 GHz while generating movement speed suitable for basic radio astronomy observations. These results show that this converted small radio telescope has the basic requirements for tracking and imaging celestial radio objects, primarily via interferometry with larger radio telescopes at low observation frequencies.
Zamri Z. Abidin, Zulfazli Rosli, Mohd S. Radzi, Noraisyah Shah, Mahidzal Dahari, Farah Ramadhani, Mohd I. Ghazali, Bahman Azarbad, Ungku F. S. Ibrahim, Norsiah Hashim
KEYWORDS: Electromagnetic coupling, Radio astronomy, Humidity, Telescopes, Radio telescopes, Signal attenuation, Observatories, Astronomy, Transmitters, Pollution
This study proposes general criteria to identify a radio quiet zone (RQZ) and a radio notification zone (RNZ) for the installation of a radio astronomical observatory on-site and safeguard the radio astronomy spectrum specifically in tropical regions. This study focuses on areas with a medium population density. Most RQZs selected in the world are mainly located in regions with a low population density, whereas this work studies the radio frequency interference (RFI) environment in humid tropical regions that have not been studied. The humidity in the tropical regions has a significant effect on radio signal, and this provides a unique perspective to the study. This study implements an algorithm to model the RFI level by considering important humidity factors. The ideal sites are chosen based on the RQZs criteria, whereas the realistic sites are based on the RNZs criteria. In Malaysia, four ideal and another four realistic candidate sites were identified, and the on-site RFI level measurement was conducted. From this study, Kuala Tembeling site is suggested as the RQZ and the Jelebu site as the RNZ in Malaysia.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.