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MeerKAT correlator-beamformer : a real-time processing back-end for astronomical observations

Van Der Byl, Andrew ; Smith, James A. ; Martens, Andrew ; Manley, Jason ; Van Balla, Tyrone ; Rust, Alec ; Patel, Amish ; Callanan, Gareth LU ; Isaacson, Adam and New, Wesley , et al. (2022) In Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 8(1).
Abstract

The MeerKAT radio telescope consists of 64 Gregorian-offset antennas located in the Karoo in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The antenna system consists of multiple subsystems working collaboratively to form a cohesive instrument capable of operating in multiple modes for defined science cases. We focus on the channelizing subsystem (F-engine), the correlation subsystem (X-engine), and the beamforming subsystem (B-engine). In the wideband instrument mode, the channelizing can produce 1024, 4096, or 32,768 channels with correlation up to 64 antennas. Narrowband mode decomposes sampled bandwidth into 32,768 channels. The F-engine also performs delay compensation, equalization, quantization, and grouping and ordering. The X-engine... (More)

The MeerKAT radio telescope consists of 64 Gregorian-offset antennas located in the Karoo in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The antenna system consists of multiple subsystems working collaboratively to form a cohesive instrument capable of operating in multiple modes for defined science cases. We focus on the channelizing subsystem (F-engine), the correlation subsystem (X-engine), and the beamforming subsystem (B-engine). In the wideband instrument mode, the channelizing can produce 1024, 4096, or 32,768 channels with correlation up to 64 antennas. Narrowband mode decomposes sampled bandwidth into 32,768 channels. The F-engine also performs delay compensation, equalization, quantization, and grouping and ordering. The X-engine provides both correlation and beamforming computations (independently). This document is intended to be a stand-alone entity covering the channelizing, correlation, and beamforming processes for the MeerKAT radio telescope. This includes data reception, pre- and post-processing, and data transmission.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
beamforming, channelizer, correlation, MeerKAT, polyphase filter bank, radio astronomy
in
Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
volume
8
issue
1
article number
011006
publisher
SPIE
external identifiers
  • scopus:85128293278
ISSN
2329-4124
DOI
10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.011006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2b0246ae-28ec-4ca8-805c-8aad0467f82c
date added to LUP
2022-07-06 13:40:56
date last changed
2022-07-06 17:00:21
@article{2b0246ae-28ec-4ca8-805c-8aad0467f82c,
  abstract     = {{<p>The MeerKAT radio telescope consists of 64 Gregorian-offset antennas located in the Karoo in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The antenna system consists of multiple subsystems working collaboratively to form a cohesive instrument capable of operating in multiple modes for defined science cases. We focus on the channelizing subsystem (F-engine), the correlation subsystem (X-engine), and the beamforming subsystem (B-engine). In the wideband instrument mode, the channelizing can produce 1024, 4096, or 32,768 channels with correlation up to 64 antennas. Narrowband mode decomposes sampled bandwidth into 32,768 channels. The F-engine also performs delay compensation, equalization, quantization, and grouping and ordering. The X-engine provides both correlation and beamforming computations (independently). This document is intended to be a stand-alone entity covering the channelizing, correlation, and beamforming processes for the MeerKAT radio telescope. This includes data reception, pre- and post-processing, and data transmission. </p>}},
  author       = {{Van Der Byl, Andrew and Smith, James A. and Martens, Andrew and Manley, Jason and Van Balla, Tyrone and Rust, Alec and Patel, Amish and Callanan, Gareth and Isaacson, Adam and New, Wesley and Van Wyk, Robin and Kapp, Francois and Kriel, Henno and Mahgoub, Omer}},
  issn         = {{2329-4124}},
  keywords     = {{beamforming; channelizer; correlation; MeerKAT; polyphase filter bank; radio astronomy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{SPIE}},
  series       = {{Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems}},
  title        = {{MeerKAT correlator-beamformer : a real-time processing back-end for astronomical observations}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.011006}},
  doi          = {{10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.011006}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}