Antennas for radioastronomy

We have been collaborating over the past 5 years with the Netherlands Foundation for Radiastronomy (AASTRON or NFRA) on broadband antenna sub-arrays integrated with low-noise amplifiers. The application is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a non-cryogenic very large aperture radiotelescope planned to be in operation in the next decade.

We have designed multi-band dual-polarized Vivaldi arrays with multi-level ground planes to cover the 1-5GHz range. We have also demonstrated (thesis of Jan Peeters Weem) that noise coupling in a receiving array limits the scanning performance and can be determined indirectly if the LNA and geometric array parameters are known.

Current work: we are looking into new antenna candidates and continuing work on multi-band arrays of “fractal” topology (Jacques Hong Loui) and printed log-periodic active antennas (Christopher Nalepa).

Shown below: a multiband (two-band) Vivaldi slot array with dual-polarized elements (Jan Peeters Weem).