Design and Implementation of Remote RFI Monitoring System for Ghana Radio Telescope Observatory-Nkutunse

Joseph A. K. Nsor^{1, 2,} , Abdul-Rahman Ahmed², Severin Azankpo¹, Eric Aggrey¹ and Sani Ellis Mubarak²

¹Ghana Space Science & Technology Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission

²Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, College of Engineering

Cite this paper:
Joseph A. K. Nsor, Abdul-Rahman Ahmed, Severin Azankpo, Eric Aggrey and Sani Ellis Mubarak. Design and Implementation of Remote RFI Monitoring System for Ghana Radio Telescope Observatory-Nkutunse. American Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. 2019; 7(1):8-13. doi: 10.12691/ajeee-7-1-2

Abstract

Radio telescope receivers are sensitive instruments designed to detect very weak signals radiating from astronomical sources. These signals travel several light years and are sometimes drain by the interference of man-made and terrestrials RFI’s. This work aims at the design of a cost-effective Radio Frequency Interference Monitoring System (RFIMS) for the Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory at Nkutunse. The design of automated RFIMS was constructed with a log-periodic antenna for receiving the electric field being radiated, Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) to amplify the weak signals for detectability, an attenuator to control the high power interfering signals, a filter to pass frequency of interest and a spectrum analyzer as backend. Ideally, telescopes are supposed to be sited at a radio quiet environment. The implementation is to continually monitor the radio space for potential interference at the telescope site for remedial actions since it has become a global candidate site by location and necessitation.

Keywords:
sensitivity automation interference observatory monitoring

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Joseph A. K. Nsor, Abdul-Rahman Ahmed, Joyce Koranteng-Acquah, Sani Ellis Mubarak “Investigation of Potential RFI Threats to Ghana Radio Telescope Observatory-Nkutunse” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181
[2]	Ellingson, S.W., RFI mitigation and the SKA. In The Square Kilometre Array: An Engineering Perspective (pp. 261-267). Springer Netherlands, 2005.
[3]	Dunn, S.B., A study of the SA SKA RFI measurement systems (Doctoral dissertation, University of Cape Town), 2008.
[4]	Ambrosini, R., Beresford, R., Boonstra, A.J., Ellingson, S., Tapping, K. and Terzian, Y., RFI measurement protocol for candidate ska sites. SKA Memo Series, 2003.
[5]	Banks, Paul Russell. Characterisation of the radio noise environment in New Zealand. Diss. Auckland University of Technology, 2009.
[6]	Hase, H., Gancio, G., Perilli, D., Larrarte, J.J., Guarrera, L., Garcia L., Kronschnabl, G. and Plotz, C., ‘Radio Frequency Interference Observations at IAR La Plata’2012.
[7]	Petrick, G., ‘Radio frequency interference measurements’, Engineer IT Magazine, (8), 2006, pp.32-36.
[8]	Joardar, S., ‘RFI monitoring system of GMRT and radio interference analysis on various radio astronomy bands’, Proceedings of the XXVIIIth General Assembly of International Union of Radio Science, 2005.
[9]	K. Jeeva Priya, Danish Roshi ‘An experimental to develop RFI mitigation techniques for radio astronomy’, Reman Research Institute, Bangalore 560080.
[10]	Raush, P., Kub, J., Bedford, B., Sparkman, T., Davidson, S. and Gray, E., 1998, August. ‘The radio frequency interference monitoring system (RFIMS)’, In Electromagnetic Compatibility, 1998. 1998 IEEE International Symposium on (Vol. 2, pp. 679-684). IEEE.
[11]	Raush, P., J. Kub, and E. Gray. "Automatic radio frequency monitoring measurements." 1999 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatability. Symposium Record (Cat. No. 99CH36261). Vol. 2. IEEE, 1999.
[12]	Melis, A., Gaudiomonte, F., Barbaro, M., Concu, R., Migoni, C., Trois, A. and Valente, G., 2014, July. ‘An RFI monitoring system based on a hybrid configuration for radio astronomy’, In SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation (pp. 915338-915338). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
[13]	Millenaar, R.P. and Schilizzi, R.T., ‘SKA site spectrum monitoring, measurement program and data processing’ 2011.
[14]	The Qt Company Bartel Jungin Aukio D3A02600 Espoo, Finland. www.qt.io.
[15]	Fritzing UG, Paul-Lincke-Ufer 39/40 10999; Berlin, Germany. www.f ritzing.org.
[16]	Shinano Kenshi Corporation, 6065 Bristol Parkway, Culver City, CA. www.shinano.com.
[17]	LIN ENGINEERING, LLC 16245, Vineyard Blvd, Morgan Hill, CA, 95037. www.linengineering.com.
[18]	MIT Open Course Ware. ‘State machine’, 145 Broadway Cambridge, MA02142, Spring 2011-April, 25 2011. www.ocw.mit.edu.
[19]	A Quick CNC ‘Stepper Motor Calculation’, Denver Colorado. www.aquickcnc.com.
[20]	EMI Technologies “Frequency Surveillance System” www.emitechnologies.com.