Measurement of the Primary Beam of the Tianlai Cylindrical Antenna Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Fuente:
arXiv
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| _version_ | 1866913972335149056 |
|---|---|
| author | Li, Jixia Suo, Nanben Xu, Shenzhe Sun, Shijie Zuo, Shifan Wang, Yougang Wu, Fengquan Zhang, Juyong Timbie, Peter Ansari, Reza Stebbins, Albert Chen, Xuelei |
| author_facet | Li, Jixia Suo, Nanben Xu, Shenzhe Sun, Shijie Zuo, Shifan Wang, Yougang Wu, Fengquan Zhang, Juyong Timbie, Peter Ansari, Reza Stebbins, Albert Chen, Xuelei |
| contents | The Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder Array consists of three adjacent cylindrical reflectors fixed on the ground, each 40 meters long and 15 meters wide, with the cylinder axis oriented along the North-South (N-S)direction. Dual linear polarisation feeds are distributed along the focus line, parallel to the cylinder axis. Measurement of the primary beam profile of these cylindrical reflectors is difficult, as they are too large to be placed in an anechoic chamber. While the beam profile along the East-West (E-W) direction can be measured with the transit observations of bright astronomical radio sources, the beam profile along the N-S direction remains very uncertain. We present a preliminary measurement of the beam profile of the Tianlai cylindrical antenna along both the N-S direction and E-W direction in the frequency range of 700-800 MHz, using a calibrator source carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying in the far field. The beam profile of the Tianlai cylindrical antenna is determined from the analysis of the auto-correlation signals from the the cylinder array correlator, taking into account the emitter antenna beam profile, itself measured with a dipole antenna on the ground. The accuracy of the UAV-based determination of the cylinder beam profiles is validated by comparing the results with the one derived from bright astronomical source transits, and with simulated beams. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_01413 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Measurement of the Primary Beam of the Tianlai Cylindrical Antenna Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Li, Jixia Suo, Nanben Xu, Shenzhe Sun, Shijie Zuo, Shifan Wang, Yougang Wu, Fengquan Zhang, Juyong Timbie, Peter Ansari, Reza Stebbins, Albert Chen, Xuelei Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics The Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder Array consists of three adjacent cylindrical reflectors fixed on the ground, each 40 meters long and 15 meters wide, with the cylinder axis oriented along the North-South (N-S)direction. Dual linear polarisation feeds are distributed along the focus line, parallel to the cylinder axis. Measurement of the primary beam profile of these cylindrical reflectors is difficult, as they are too large to be placed in an anechoic chamber. While the beam profile along the East-West (E-W) direction can be measured with the transit observations of bright astronomical radio sources, the beam profile along the N-S direction remains very uncertain. We present a preliminary measurement of the beam profile of the Tianlai cylindrical antenna along both the N-S direction and E-W direction in the frequency range of 700-800 MHz, using a calibrator source carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying in the far field. The beam profile of the Tianlai cylindrical antenna is determined from the analysis of the auto-correlation signals from the the cylinder array correlator, taking into account the emitter antenna beam profile, itself measured with a dipole antenna on the ground. The accuracy of the UAV-based determination of the cylinder beam profiles is validated by comparing the results with the one derived from bright astronomical source transits, and with simulated beams. |
| title | Measurement of the Primary Beam of the Tianlai Cylindrical Antenna Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle |
| topic | Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.01413 |