The Long Wavelength Array: Site Selection RFI Tests and Results
Abstract
The LWA, the Long Wavelength Array, is a phased aperture array radio telescope that is being built in New Mexico. When completed the array will comprise 52 stations, each with 256 dipoles, spread across the state of New Mexico with baseline lengths up to 400 km. The LWA is optimized for the frequency range 20-80 MHz, thus corresponding to angular resolutions of about 2 arcseconds at the higher frequencies. Currently several locations are being evaluated as possible LWA station sites. The site selection is partly determined by the imaging capability of the final array, but is also affected by factors like availability of land, power, access to optical fiber, and the radio frequency intereference (RFI) environment. Here we describe the ongoing effort of characterizing the RFI environment at candidate LWA station sites.
The LWA project is led by the University of New Mexico and include as partners the Naval Research Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Applied Research Laboratory of the University of Texas, the University of Iowa, and Virginia Tech.- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AAS...211.1105P