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At least 55 records · Page 3

A COTS RF Optical Software Defined Radio for the Integrated Radio and Optical Communications Test Bed

The Integrated Radio and Optical Communications (iROC) project at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is investigating the merits of a hybrid radio frequency (RF) and optical communication system for deep space missions. In an effort to demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of a hybrid RFOptical software defined radio (SDR), a laboratory prototype was assembled from primarily commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware components. This COTS platform has been used to demonstrate simultaneous transmission of the radio and optical communications waveforms through to the physical layer (telescope and antenna). This paper details the hardware and software used in the platform and various measures of its performance. A laboratory optical receiver platform has also been assembled in order to demonstrate hybrid free space links in combination with the transmitter.

waveforms↗

An Optical Receiver Post Processing System for the Integrated Radio and Optical Communications Software Defined Radio Test Bed

The Integrated Radio and Optical Communications (iROC) project at the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) Glenn Research Center is investigating the feasibility of a hybrid radio frequency (RF) and optical communication system for future deep space missions. As a part of this investigation, a test bed for a radio frequency (RF) and optical software defined radio (SDR) has been built. Receivers and modems for the NASA deep space optical waveform are not commercially available so a custom ground optical receiver system has been built. This paper documents the ground optical receiver, which is used in order to test the RF and optical SDR in a free space optical communications link.

waveforms↗

A Self-learning Neural Network Approach for Radio Frequency Interference Detection and Removal in Radio Astronomy

In this work, we present a novel neural network (NN) method for the detection and removal of radio frequency interference (RFI) from the raw digitized signal in the signal processing chain of a typical radio astronomy experiment. The main advantage of our method is that it does not require a training set. Instead, our method relies on the fact that the true signal of interest coming from astronomical sources is thermal and therefore described as a Gaussian random process, which cannot be compressed. We employ a variational encoder/decoder network to find the compressible information in the data stream that can explain the most variance with the fewest degrees of freedom. We demonstrate it on a set of toy problems and stored ring buffers from the Baryon Mapping eXperiment prototype. We find that the RFI subtraction is effective at cleaning simulated time streams: While we find that the power spectra of the RFI-cleaned time streams output by the NN suffer from extra signal consistent with additive noise, we find that it is generally around percent level across the band and sub 10% in contaminated spectral channels even when RFI power is an order of magnitude larger than the signal. We discuss the advantages and limitations of this method and possible implementation in the front end of future radio experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Radio-frequency heating of emission-line gas near compact extragalactic radio sources

High-brightness-temperature radio sources significantly heat by free-free absorption any nearby gas that has properties similar to those inferred for QSO emission-line gas. As a result, the outer layers of the gas clouds expand, and their visible line emission decreases. Moderate heating enhances the collisionally excited ultraviolet line of O VI at 1034 A. Stronger heating penetrates the entire cloud and extinguishes all lines. Strong enough radio fluxes cause a thermal instability by stimulated Compton heating that is only saturated by Compton cooling at very high temperatures. It is speculated that BL Lac objects differ from quasars by having higher radio turnover frequencies, lower gas pressures, or more violent variability, all of which make radio heating more effective.

Krolik, J. H.↗

Sco X-1 - A galactic radio source with an extragalactic radio morphology

VLA observations of radio emissions at 1465 and 4885 MHz, of Sco X-1 confirm the existence of a colinear triple structure. Evidence that the three components of Sco X-1 are physically associated is presented, including the morphology, spectrum, variability, volume emissivity and magnetic field strength. The possibility of a physical phenomenon occurring in Sco X-1 similar to that occurring in extragalactic radio sources is discussed, and two galactic sources are found having extended emission similar to that in extragalactic objects. The extended structure of Sco X-1 is also observed to be similar to that of the hot spots in luminous extragalactic sources, and a radio source 20 arcmin from Sco X-1 is found to lie nearly along the radio axis formed by the components of Sco X-1.

Geldzahler, B. J.↗

IRAS observations of radio-quiet and radio-loud quasars

Observations from 12 to 100 microns are presented of two radio-quiet and three radio-loud quasars. Over this wavelength range, all five have grossly similar continuum energy distributions. The continua of the radio-loud quasars are consistent with synchrotron radiation. There is an indication, however, of excess 100 micron emission in the two radio-quiet quasars.

Neugebauer, G.↗

An X-ray and radio study of steep-spectrum radio soruces. I - Four fields from the Clark Lake Observatory 26 MHz survey

A multifrequency study of fields containing steep-spectrum radio sources is presented. New spectral and spatial data are used to determine the locations and optical identifications of steep-spectrum sources which previously had either poor positions or questionable correspondence to known sources. X-ray images from the Einstein Observatory provide estimates of the extent, temperature, density, and thermal pressure of hot gas associated with galaxies and clusters of galaxies. From the equations relating synchrotron emission to inverse Compton scattering of 3 K background photons, lower limits to the average magnetic field strength in the source are derived. For the resolved radio sources of known distance, the minimum nonthermal pressure and the corresponding magnetic field strength are also calculated. For the four fields discussed in this paper, it is found that three out of five steep-spectrum sources are embedded in a cluster atmosphere and two are unidentified. Except for unresolved radio structures associated with cores of galaxies, the estimated thermal pressure is sufficient to confine the radio sources.

Harris, D. E.↗

An X-ray and radio study of steep-spectrum radio sources. II - Four fields from a 22 MHz polar cap survey

Four fields containing radio sources with spectral indices greater than unity at low frequencies have been observed over a wide range of radio wavelengths and at X-ray wavelengths. For most of the steep-spectrum sources no optical identifications have been found to the detection limit of the Palomar Schmidt prints, even with the positional precision of about 1 arcsec from VLA maps. This implies that the associated galaxies or clusters lie at a great distance. X-ray emission was not detected from any of the steep-spectrum radio sources. In one case, an extended source appears to be a radio halo in an uncataloged cluster of galaxies at a redshift of 0.125, and it is suggested that this object is a promising candidate for the detection of inverse Compton X-rays, since it is not a high-luminosity source of thermal X-rays.

Dewdney, P. E.↗

The evolution of weak radio galaxies at radio and optical wavelengths

The statistical properties of radio sources are reviewed. The linear sizes of gE radio galaxies increase mildly with radio power, and decrease drastically with redshift. Combined with the redshift distribution, this causes angular sizes to decrease continuously towards fainter fluxes. Nonetheless, the fraction of large sources is not negligible at any flux level, requiring a revision of the resolution correction to the source counts. The 1.4 GHz counts are now well established (within 5 percent) from 10,575 sources in 24 different surveys. This makes it possible to study fied-to-field anisotropies. None are found in the wide area surveys for S(1.4) greater than 10 mJy, and only marginal anisotropies in some small-area surveys. These are compared to the redshift distribution and the angular correlation function of radio sources.

Windhorst, Rogier↗

A radio optical reference frame. IV - Additional radio source positions in the Northern Hemisphere

Seventy-seven extragalactic radio sources north of -2 deg declination have been observed using Mark III VLBI during 13 experiments from 1988 October to 1989 November. Radio positions derived from these observations supplement an ongoing project to define and maintain an all-sky radio/optical reference frame of 400 or more extragalactic sources with milliarcsecond (mas) accurate radio and optical positions. Positions for 11 new sources are presented along with improved positions for 54 sources already in the reference-frame catalog. An additional five sources have been determined to be unsuitable reference-frame objects. Observations of seven calibration sources tie the new positions to the existing catalog. The radio positions of the new sources have formal mean errors of about 0.7 mas in each coordinate. Sources for which improved positions are reported now have formal errors not greater than 1 mas, an improvement in some cases by as much as 85 percent. The complementary optical program is addressed briefly.

Fey, A. L.↗

Phenomenology of Neptune's radio emissions observed by the Voyager planetary radio astronomy experiment

The Neptune flyby in 1989 added a new planet to the known number of magnetized planets generating nonthermal radio emissions. We review the Neptunian radio emission morphology as observed by the planetary radio astronomy experiment on board Voyager 2 during a few weeks before and after closest approach. We present the characteristics of the two observed recurrent main components of the Neptunian kilometric radiation, i.e., the 'smooth' and the 'bursty' emissions, and we describe the many specific features of the radio spectrum during closest approach.

Pedersen, B. M.↗

A radio telescope for the calibration of radio sources at 32 gigahertz

A 1.5-m-diameter radio telescope has been designed, developed, and assembled to directly measure the flux density of radio sources in the 32-GHz (Ka-band) frequency band. The main goal of the design and development was to provide a system that could yield the greatest absolute accuracy yet possible with such a system. The accuracy of the measurements have a heritage that is traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. At the present time, the absolute accuracy of flux density measurements provided by this telescope system, during Venus observations at nearly closest approach to Earth, is plus or minus 5 percent, with an associated precision of plus or minus 2 percent. Combining a cooled high-electron mobility transistor low-noise amplifier, twin-beam Dicke switching antenna, and accurate positioning system resulted in a state-of-the-art system at 32 GHz. This article describes the design and performance of the system as it was delivered to the Owens Valley Radio Observatory to support direct calibrations of the strongest radio sources at Ka-band.

Gatti, M. S.↗

The Radio JOVE Project - Shoestring Radio Astronomy

Radio JOVE is an education and outreach project intended to give students and other interested individuals hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy. They can do this through building a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive kit that includes the parts for a receiver and an antenna as well as software for a computer chart recorder emulator (Radio Skypipe) and other reference materials

Thieman, J.↗

From Radio with Love: An Overview of the Role of Radio Observations in Understanding High-Energy Emission from Active Galaxies

The gamma-ray satellite Fermi and the ground based TeV facilities MAGIC, VERITAS and HESS have ushered in a new era in the observation of high-energy emission from active galaxies. The energy budgets of these objects have a major contribution from gamma-rays and it is simply not possible to understand their physics without high-energy observations. Though the exact mechanisms for high-energy production in galaxies remains an open question, gamma-rays typically result from interactions between high-energy particles. Via different interactions these same particles can produce radio emission. Thus the non-thermal nature of gamma-ray emission practically guarantees that high-energy emitters are also radio loud. Aside from their obvious role as a component of multiwavelength analysis, radio observations provide two crucial elements essential to understanding the source structure and physical processes of high-energy emitters: very high timing resolution and very high spatial resolution. A brief overview of the unique role played by radio observations in unraveling the mysteries of the high energy Universe as presented here.

Ojha, Roopesh↗

Integrated Power, Avionics, and Software (iPAS) Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Radio User's Guide -- Advanced Exploration Systems (AES)

The Integrated Power, Avionics and Software (IPAS) software defined radio (SDR) was implemented on the Reconfigurable, Intelligently-Adaptive Communication System (RAICS) platform, for radio development at NASA Johnson Space Center. Software and hardware description language (HDL) code were delivered by NASA Glenn Research Center for use in the IPAS test bed and for development of their own Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) waveforms on the RAICS platform. The purpose of this document is to describe how to setup and operate the IPAS STRS Radio platform with its delivered test waveform.

space communications↗

Contemporaneous optical-radio observations of a fast radio burst in a close galaxy pair

ABSTRACT We present the MeerKAT discovery and MeerLICHT contemporaneous optical observations of the fast radio burst (FRB) 20230808F, which was found to have a dispersion measure of $\mathrm{DM}=653.2\pm 0.4\mathrm{\, pc\, cm^{-3}}$. FRB 20230808F has a scattering time-scale $\tau _{s}=3.1\pm 0.1\, \mathrm{ms}$ at 1563.6 MHz, a rotation measure $\mathrm{RM}=169.4\pm 0.2\, \mathrm{rad\, m^{-2}}$, and a radio fluence $F_{\mathrm{radio}}=1.72\pm 0.01\, \mathrm{Jy\, ms}$. We find no optical counterpart in the time immediately after the FRB, nor in the 3 months after the FRB during which we continued to monitor the field of the FRB. We set an optical upper flux limit in MeerLICHT’s q-band of $11.7\, \mathrm{\mu Jy}$ for a 60 s exposure which started ${\sim}3.4$ s after the burst, which corresponds to an optical fluence, $F_{\mathrm{opt}}$, of $0.039\, \mathrm{Jy\, ms}$ on a time-scale of ${\sim}3.4$ s. We obtain an estimate for the $q-$band luminosity limit of $vL_{v}\sim 1.3\times 10^{43}\, \mathrm{erg\, s^{-1}}$. We localize the burst to a close galaxy pair at a redshift of $z_{\mathrm{spec}}=0.3472\pm 0.0002$. Our time delay of ${\sim}3.4$ s between the FRB arrival time and the start of our optical exposure is the shortest ever for an as yet non-repeating FRB, and hence the closest to simultaneous optical follow-up that exists for such an FRB.

Hanmer, K. Y. (ORCID:0000000234757752)↗

Radio Astronomy Explorer /RAE/. I - Observations of terrestrial radio noise.

Radio Astronomy Explorer (RAE) I data are analyzed to establish characteristics of HF terrestrial radio noise at an altitude of about 6000 km. Time and frequency variations in amplitude of the observed noise well above cosmic noise background are explained on the basis of temporal and spatial variations in ionospheric critical frequency coupled with those in noise source distributions. It is shown that terrestrial radio noise regularly breaks through the ionosphere and reaches RAE with magnitudes 15 dB and more above cosmic noise background, on frequencies above the F-layer critical frequency.

Herman, J. R.↗

Affirmation of triggered Jovian radio emissions and their attribution to corotating radio lasers

It is argued that the original statistical evidence for the existence of triggered radio emissions and corotating radio lasers on Jupiter remains valid notwithstanding the critique of Desch and Kaiser (1985). The Voyager radio spectrograms used to identify the triggered emissions are analyzed and the results are discussed. It is shown that the critique by Desch and Kaiser is unjustified because it is not based on the original event criteria, i.e., the correlation between the occurrence of Jovian auroral kilometric radiation and fast-drift type III solar bursts in the same frequency.

Calvert, W.↗