he Australia Telescope Users Committee (ATUC) and the ATNF MNRF team have organised a half-day workshop to discuss the ATCA broadband backend upgrade. This meeting is open to all users of ATNF facilities and interested parties. The purpose of the meeting is to inform ATNF users of the planned capabilities of the ATCA broadband backend and to discuss these capabilities.

The ATCA Broadband Backend upgrade is being funded by the Major National Research Facilities (MNRF) program and in the next few years will deliver:

  • An increase in the ATCA continuum sensitivity of up to a factor of 4
  • Greatly enhanced spectral line performance
  • Connections to additional antennas, such as the New Technology Demonstrator
  • New correlator technologies for Square Kilometre Array (SKA) demonstrations.

The agenda for the meeting appears below. There are limited opportunities for the inclusion of additional contributions from ATCA users. Contact Steven Tingay and James Caswell to be added to the agenda.

Agenda

Monday, September 13, 2004

Lecture theatre, ATNF Headquarters, Marsfield

  • 13:30 – Introduction
    Steven Tingay, ATUC Chair
  • 13:35 – The ATCA Broadband Backend – technology, capabilities, and timescales
    Warwick Wilson, Broadband Backend Project Engineer
  • 14:05 – Scientific overview of the ATCA Broadband Backend
    Jim Caswell, Broadband Backend Project Scientist
  • 14:35 – The ATCA Broadband Backend as the next generation correlator for Australian VLBI
    Tasso Tzioumis
  • 15:00 – Afternoon tea
  • 15:30 – The ATCA Broadband Backend and pulsar science
    Simon Johnston
  • 15:50 – Broadbanding the ATCA frontend
    Naomi McClure-Griffiths
  • 16:10 – The ATCA Broadband Backend for remote single dish observations
    Chris Phillips
  • 16:20 – Open discussion
  • 17:30 – Meeting close