First PAF successfully installed on ASKAP antenna

The first full-sized PAF was installed on an ASKAP antenna at the MRO in October 2011. Credit: Steve Barker, CSIRO.

24 October 2011

On Sunday 23 October, the first full-sized phased array feed (PAF) receiver was successfully installed on an Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) antenna at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Western Australia.

PAFs, or 'radio cameras', are innovative receivers with many separate, simultaneous beams designed to detect radio waves. They will provide the ASKAP telescope (which is currently being constructed) with a wide field-of-view, allowing it to map the sky far more quickly than alternative technologies.

The PAF installation marks important progress in CSIRO's ASKAP project and, more specifically, is a significant step towards the major ASKAP milestone known as BETA or the 'Boolardy Engineering Test Array'.

BETA will consist of ASKAP's first six antennas in an array – with all antennas hosting their own receiver or PAF. The operation of the initial BETA array will allow both engineering and scientific commissioning to take place in advance of the full ASKAP array which will consist of 36 antennas.

In the meantime, further PAF and systems testing will take place over coming weeks and months at the MRO. The installation follows recent successful PAF testing at the CSIRO's Parkes Observatory.

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