The Development of a Modern Correlator for the DRAO Synthesis Telescope
| dc.contributor.advisor | Brown, Jo C. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Freeman, Pamela | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Landecker, T. L. | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Spanswick, Emma L. | |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Belostotski, Leonid | |
| dc.date | 2020-06 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2019-12-19T21:24:06Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2019-12-19T21:24:06Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019-12-17 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The development of computationally powerful and efficient instrumentation is a necessity in radio astronomy, and is possible thanks to recent commercial technological advances. In this thesis project, I built and characterized a modern correlator to be used by the Synthesis Telescope (ST) at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). The current ST correlator is a decades-old, highly specified system that cannot be upgraded, and must be replaced, in order for the ST to have greater observational capability. The new ST correlator I constructed is based on the design implemented at the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment telescope at the DRAO. The system uses an FPGA-based digitizer and a liquid-cooled GPU-based correlator. I characterized the system’s performance and radio frequency emissions, then deployed the correlator to the DRAO and interfaced it with the ST. I first tested the correlator with artificial and telescope signals. Then, two observations of known calibrator sources were completed, with the old and new correlator systems in parallel, to compare data output and investigate the performance of the new correlator. The raw data output and the resulting images match quite closely, demonstrating the success of the system and the capability to proceed with further ST upgrades. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Freeman, P. (2019). The Development of a Modern Correlator for the DRAO Synthesis Telescope (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/37352 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111361 | |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Science | en_US |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Calgary | en |
| dc.rights | University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. | en_US |
| dc.subject.classification | Astronomy and Astrophysics | en_US |
| dc.title | The Development of a Modern Correlator for the DRAO Synthesis Telescope | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Physics & Astronomy | en_US |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Calgary | en_US |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science (MSc) | en_US |
| ucalgary.item.requestcopy | true | en_US |