Real-time Adaptive Cancellation of Satellite Interference in Radio Astronomy

Radio astronomy is the science of observing the heavens at radio frequencies, from a few kHz to approximately 300 GHz. In recent years, radio astronomy has faced a growing interference problem as radio frequency (RF) bandwidth has become an increasingly scarce commodity. A programmable real-time DSP least-mean-square interference canceller was developed and demonstrated as a successful method of excising satellite down-link signals from both an experimental platform at BYU, and the Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. A performance analysis of this cancellation system in the radio astronomy radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation regime constitutes the main contribution of this thesis. The real-time BYU test platform consists of small radio telescopes, low noise RF receivers, and a state-of-the-art DSP platform. This programmable real-time radio astronomy RFI mitigation tool is the first of its kind. Basic tools needed for radio astronomy observations and the analysis and implementation of interference mitigation algorithms were also implemented in the DSP platform, including a power spectral density estimator, a beamformer, and an array signal correlator.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Poulsen, Andrew Joseph

• real-time
• radio astronomy
• interference
• DSP
• least-mean-square
• LMS
• satellite
• Green Bank Telescope
• GBT
• NRAO
• National Radio Astronomy Observatory
• RFI
• radio frequency interference
• telescope
• RF
• radio frequency
• mitigation
• power spectral density
• PSD
• beamformer
• correlator
• Very Small Array
• VSA
• antenna
• software
• OH sources
• hydroxyl
• algorithm
• spectral analysis
• GLONASS
• red-shifted
• Green Bank
• Electrical and Computer Engineering

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/92

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-1091