The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder: Performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array
Abstract
We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array (BETA), the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope ASKAP. BETA is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarization beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of BETA's performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating BETA that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final ASKAP telescope.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1608.00750,
title = {The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder: Performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array},
author = {D. McConnell and J. R. Allison and K. Bannister and M. E. Bell and H. E. Bignall and A. P. Chippendale and P. G. Edwards and L. Harvey-Smith and S. Hegarty and I. Heywood and A. W. Hotan and B. T. Indermuehle and E. Lenc and J. Marvil and A. Popping and W. Raja and J. E. Reynolds and R. J. Sault and P. Serra and M. A. Voronkov and M. Whiting and S. W. Amy and P. Axtens and L. Ball and T. J. Bateman and D. C. -J. Bock and R. Bolton and D. Brodrick and M. Brothers and A. J. Brown and J. D. Bunton and W. Cheng and T. Cornwell and D. DeBoer and I. Feain and R. Gough and N. Gupta and J. C. Guzman and G. A. Hampson and S. Hay and D. B. Hayman and S. Hoyle and B. Humphreys and C. Jacka and C. A. Jackson and S. Jackson and K. Jeganathan and J. Joseph and B. S. Koribalski and M. Leach and E. S. Lensson and A. MacLeod and S. Mackay and M. Marquarding and N. M. McClure-Griffiths and P. Mirtschin and D. Mitchell and S. Neuhold and A. Ng and R. Norris and S. Pearce and R. Y. Qiao and A. E. T. Schinckel and M. Shields and T. W. Shimwell and M. Storey and E. Troup and B. Turner and J. Tuthill and A. Tzioumis and R. M. Wark and T. Westmeier and C. Wilson and T. Wilson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.00750},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in PASA