Characterization of a dense aperture array for radio astronomy

TL;DR

This paper discusses the EMBRACE@Nancay prototype, a densely packed antenna array for radio astronomy, highlighting its design, calibration, and potential for large-scale sky surveys with the SKA.

Contribution

It presents the design, calibration methods, and initial results of a dense aperture array prototype for radio astronomy, advancing large field-of-view survey technology.

Findings

Successful calibration of the array

Demonstrated large field of view capabilities

Prototype performance aligns with SKA requirements

Abstract

EMBRACE@Nancay is a prototype instrument consisting of an array of 4608 densely packed antenna elements creating a fully sampled, unblocked aperture. This technology is proposed for the Square Kilometre Array and has the potential of providing an extremely large field of view making it the ideal survey instrument. We describe the system,calibration procedures, and results from the prototype.