Simulation of RFI Cancellation Using Subspace Projection Algorithm for PAF Receiver

The simulation of radio frequency interference(RFI) cancellation by applying a spatial filtering technique for phased array feed(PAF) is presented. In order to better reflect the characteristics of PAF, a new signal model is to add the coupling coefficient among elements of PAF to the conventional array signal model. Then the subspace projection(SP) algorithm is used to cancel RFI from the correlation matrix of the signal, and finally, the 2D power image is drawn. The power variation of signal-of-interest direction and RFI direction before and after using the SP algorithm is analyzed. The new signal model and simulation strategy can be used to test and verify the beamformer.

Development of Pulsar Digital Backend Based on RFSoC

Radio Frequency System on Chip(RFSo C)offers great potential for implementing a complete next generation signal processing system on a single board for radio astronomy.We designed a pulsar digital backend system based on the ZCU111 board.The system uses RFSo C technology to implement digitization,channelization,correlation and high-speed data transmission in the Xilinx ZU28 DR device.We have evaluated the performance of the eight 12-bit RF-ADCs,which are integrated in RFSo C,with the maximum sampling rate of 4.096 GSPS.The RF-ADC sampling frequency,channel bandwidth and time resolution can be configured dynamically in our designed system.To verify the system performance,we deployed the RFSo C board on the Nanshan 26 m radio telescope and observed the pulsar signal with a frequency resolution of 1 MHz and time resolution of 64μs.In the observation test,we obtained pulsar profiles with high signal-to-noise ratio and accurately searched the DM values.The experimental results show that the performance of RF-ADCs,FPGA and CPU cores in RFSo C is sufficient for radio astronomy signal processing applications.

Design of RFSoC-based Digital Phased Array Feed(PAF)and Hybrid Architecture Beamforming System

As the number of array elements and bandwidth increase,the design challenges of the Phased Array Feed(PAF)front-end and its signal processing system increase.Aiming at the ng-PAF of the 110 m radio telescope,this article introduces the concept of fully digital receivers and attempts to use Radio Frequency System-on-Chip(RFSo C)technology to digitize close to the feed array,reduce the complexity and analog components of the front-end,and improve the fidelity of the signals.The article discusses the digital beamforming topology and designs a PAF signal processing experimental system based on RFSo C+GPU hybrid architecture.The system adopts a ZCU111board to design RF-direct digitization and preprocessing front-end,which can sample eight signals up to 2.048GSPS,12 bit,channelize the signals into 1024 chunks,then reorder into four data streams and select one of the 256MHz frequency bands to output through four 10 Gb links.A GPU server is equipped with four RTX 3090 GPUs running four HRBF_HASHPIPE instances,each receiving a 64 MHz bandwidth signal for high-throughput realtime beamforming.The experimental system uses a signal generator to emulate Sa-like signals and propagates through rod antennas,which verifies the effectiveness of the beamforming algorithm.Performance tests show that after algorithm optimization,the average processing time for a given 4 ms data is less than 3 ms in the four-GPU parallel processing mode.The RFSo C integrated design shows significant advantages in power consumption and electromagnetic radiation compared with discrete circuits according to the measurement results.

Design of a multi-function high-speed digital baseband data acquisition system

A multi-function digital baseband data acquisition system is designed for the sampling,distribution and recording of wide-band multi-channel astronomical signals.The system hires a SNAP2board as a digital baseband converter to digitize,channelize and packetize the received signal.It can be configured dynamically from a single channel to eight channels with a maximum bandwidth of 4096 MHz.Eight parallel HASHPIPE instances run on four servers,each carrying two NVMe SSD cards,achieving a total continuous write rate of 8 GB s^(-1).Data are recorded in the standard VDIF file format.The system is deployed on a 25-meter radio telescope to verify its functionality based on pulsar observations.Our results indicate that during the 30-minute observation period,the system achieved zero data loss at a data recording rate of 1 GB s^(-1) on a single server.The system will serve as a verification platform for testing the functions of the QTT(Qi Tai radio Telescope)digital backend system.In addition,it can be used as a baseband/VLBI(Very Long Baseline Interferometry)recorder or D-F-engine of correlator/beamformer as well.

Development of a Front End Array for Broadband Phased Array Receiver

The receiver is a signal receiving device placed at the focus of the telescope.In order to improve the observation efficiency,the concept of phased array receiver has been proposed in recent years,which places a small phased array at the focal plane of the reflector,and flexible pattern and beam scanning functions can be achieved through a beamforming network.If combined with the element multiplexing,all beams within the entire field of view can be observed simultaneously to achieve continuous sky coverage.This article focuses on the front-end array of phased array receiver at 0.7-1.8 GHz for QiTai Telescope,and designs a Vivaldi antenna array of PCB structure with dual line polarization.Each polarization antenna is designed to arrange in a rectangle manner by 11×10.Based on the simulation results of the focal field,32,18,and eight elements were selected to form one beam at 0.7,1.25,and1.8 GHz.An analog beamforming network was constructed,and the measured gains of axial beam under uniform weighting were 19.32,13.72,and 15.22 dBi.Combining the beam scanning method of reflector antenna,the pattern test of different position element sets required for PAF beam scanning was carried out under independent array.The pattern optimization at 1.25 GHz was carried out by weighting method of conjugate field matching.Compared with uniform weighting,the gain,sidelobe level,and main beam direction under conjugate field matching have been improved.Although the above test and simulation results are slightly different,which is related to the passive array and laboratory testing condition,the relevant work has accumulated experience in the development of the front-end array for the phased array receiver,and has good guiding significance for future performance verification after the array is installed on the telescope.

A Search Technique Based on Deep Learning for Fast Radio Bursts and Initial Results for FRB 20201124A with the NSRT

The origin and phenomenology of Fast Radio Bursts(FRBs) remain unknown. Fast and efficient search technology for FRBs is critical for triggering immediate multi-wavelength follow-up and voltage data dump. This paper proposes a dispersed dynamic spectra search(DDSS) pipeline for FRB searching based on deep learning, which performs the search directly from observational raw data, rather than relying on generated FRB candidates from single-pulse search algorithms that are based on de-dispersion. We train our deep learning network model using simulated FRBs as positive and negative samples extracted from the observational data of the Nanshan 26 m radio telescope(NSRT)at Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory. The observational data of PSR J1935+1616 are fed into the pipeline to verify the validity and performance of the pipeline. Results of the experiment show that our pipeline can efficiently search single-pulse events with a precision above 99.6%, which satisfies the desired precision for selective voltage data dump. In March 2022, we successfully detected the FRBs emanating from the repeating case of FRB 20201124A with the DDSS pipeline in L-band observations using the NSRT. The DDSS pipeline shows excellent sensitivity in identifying weak single pulses, and its high precision greatly reduces the need for manual review.

The Qitai radio telescope

This study presents a general outline of the Qitai radio telescope(QTT)project.Qitai,the site of the telescope,is a county of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China,located in the east Tianshan Mountains at an elevation of about 1800 m.The QTT is a fully steerable,Gregorian-type telescope with a standard parabolic main reflector of 110 m diameter.The QTT has adopted an umbrella support,homology-symmetric lightweight design.The main reflector is active so that the deformation caused by gravity can be corrected.The structural design aims to ultimately allow high-sensitivity observations from 150 MHz up to115 GHz.To satisfy the requirements for early scientific goals,the QTTwill be equipped with ultra-wideband receivers and large field-of-view multi-beam receivers.A multi-function signal-processing system based on RFSo C and GPU processor chips will be developed.These will enable the QTT to operate in pulsar,spectral line,continuum and Very Long Baseline Interferometer(VLBI)observing modes.Electromagnetic compatibility(EMC)and radio frequency interference(RFI)control techniques are adopted throughout the system design.The QTT will form a world-class observational platform for the detection of lowfrequency(nano Hertz)gravitational waves through pulsar timing array(PTA)techniques,pulsar surveys,the discovery of binary black-hole systems,and exploring dark matter and the origin of life in the universe.The QTT will also play an important role in improving the Chinese and international VLBI networks,allowing high-sensitivity and high-resolution observations of the nuclei of distant galaxies and gravitational lensing systems.Deep astrometric observations will also contribute to improving the accuracy of the celestial reference frame.Potentially,the QTT will be able to support future space activities such as planetary exploration in the solar system and to contribute to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.