GBD-DART-II: 175 MHz Polarimetric Observation of Pulsars from Gauribidanur and a New Pulsar Signal Processing Pipeline

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: B, Arul Pandian, Bagchi, Joydeep, Thiagaraj, Prabu, Rao, K. B. Raghavendra, Chandrashekar, Vinutha
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912866553036800
author B, Arul Pandian
Bagchi, Joydeep
Thiagaraj, Prabu
Rao, K. B. Raghavendra
Chandrashekar, Vinutha
author_facet B, Arul Pandian
Bagchi, Joydeep
Thiagaraj, Prabu
Rao, K. B. Raghavendra
Chandrashekar, Vinutha
contents A new pulsar signal-processing pipeline has been developed for observing pulsars with the Diamond Array Radio Telescope at the Gauribidanur radio observatory. The array consists of 32 off-axis dual-polarised LPDAs, with a nominal gain of 22 dBi between 130 and 350 MHz and a 15-degree HPBW at 175 MHz for transit observations on pulsars. Custom-built receivers and real-time data-capture and analysis tools have been developed and used. Receiver output voltages from a transient buffer, as well as full-polar spectral data at both high and low resolutions, suitable for transient searches and pulsar studies. Additionally, full-polar folded profile archives are generated for known pulsars in subintegrations and both coherent and incoherent dedispersion. Custom-developed Python routines, FFT libraries, DSPSR, PSRCHIVE, and Presto modules have been used to build the pipeline. The functionalities of the pipeline were validated with artificially generated pulsar signals and strong celestial sources before it was released for routine observations. Presently, the pipeline is configured to observe pulsars between 170 and 196 MHz, with a daily cadence. Recorded data are reduced in-line immediately following each observation, nearly matching the observation time at a 1:1 ratio. An Intel i9 server captures the data, and an AMD R9 CPU does the primary data reduction. The archives are routinely backed up to a remote system via the internet. The paper presents the architecture of the signal processing pipeline developed, its validation, and initial polarimetric results observing five bright pulsars at 175 MHz. Results also include RM estimates and single-pulse study results for B0953+08, B0531+21, and B1133+16, as well as from monitoring the spin-down of the Crab pulsar over 200 days of observation. Finally, it presents a discussion on the potential improvements for the array.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_00736
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle GBD-DART-II: 175 MHz Polarimetric Observation of Pulsars from Gauribidanur and a New Pulsar Signal Processing Pipeline
B, Arul Pandian
Bagchi, Joydeep
Thiagaraj, Prabu
Rao, K. B. Raghavendra
Chandrashekar, Vinutha
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
A new pulsar signal-processing pipeline has been developed for observing pulsars with the Diamond Array Radio Telescope at the Gauribidanur radio observatory. The array consists of 32 off-axis dual-polarised LPDAs, with a nominal gain of 22 dBi between 130 and 350 MHz and a 15-degree HPBW at 175 MHz for transit observations on pulsars. Custom-built receivers and real-time data-capture and analysis tools have been developed and used. Receiver output voltages from a transient buffer, as well as full-polar spectral data at both high and low resolutions, suitable for transient searches and pulsar studies. Additionally, full-polar folded profile archives are generated for known pulsars in subintegrations and both coherent and incoherent dedispersion. Custom-developed Python routines, FFT libraries, DSPSR, PSRCHIVE, and Presto modules have been used to build the pipeline. The functionalities of the pipeline were validated with artificially generated pulsar signals and strong celestial sources before it was released for routine observations. Presently, the pipeline is configured to observe pulsars between 170 and 196 MHz, with a daily cadence. Recorded data are reduced in-line immediately following each observation, nearly matching the observation time at a 1:1 ratio. An Intel i9 server captures the data, and an AMD R9 CPU does the primary data reduction. The archives are routinely backed up to a remote system via the internet. The paper presents the architecture of the signal processing pipeline developed, its validation, and initial polarimetric results observing five bright pulsars at 175 MHz. Results also include RM estimates and single-pulse study results for B0953+08, B0531+21, and B1133+16, as well as from monitoring the spin-down of the Crab pulsar over 200 days of observation. Finally, it presents a discussion on the potential improvements for the array.
title GBD-DART-II: 175 MHz Polarimetric Observation of Pulsars from Gauribidanur and a New Pulsar Signal Processing Pipeline
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.00736