RFI mitigation through prediction and avoidance

Balthasar T. Indermuehle; Lisa Harvey-Smith; Malte Marquarding; John Reynolds

doi:10.1117/12.2311917

10 July 2018 RFI mitigation through prediction and avoidance

Balthasar T. Indermuehle, Lisa Harvey-Smith, Malte Marquarding, John Reynolds

Proceedings Volume 10704, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII; 107042S (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2311917
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

Low frequency radio sites are susceptible to radio frequency interference (RFI) from a vast array of man-made interferers. For that reason, astronomers attempt to find sites far away from populated areas. Despite this, anomalous propagation on occasion leads to signals from far away population centres impinging on these otherwise radio quiet sites. Using an array of bespoke software and receivers, we are characterising the site of the Murchison Radio Observatory (MRO) in remote Western Australia (WA). This is the same site where the Australian Square Kilometre Pathfinder (ASKAP) is now in early science operations and also is the future site of the Australian contribution to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, SKA low. We describe the setup of the RFI detection system used to track all known emitters providing location information, including terrestrial mobile communications, aviation, marine, and space based transmitters, most of which are used to detect and analyse anomalous propagation events and cross correlate the data with meteorological model and observational data to validate a ducting prediction model.

Citation Download Citation

Balthasar T. Indermuehle, Lisa Harvey-Smith, Malte Marquarding, and John Reynolds "RFI mitigation through prediction and avoidance", Proc. SPIE 10704, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems VII, 107042S (10 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2311917

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