# Calibration of the Logarithmic-Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) Radio Stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an Octocopter **Authors:** The Pierre Auger Collaboration: A. Aab, P. Abreu, M. Aglietta, I. Al, Samarai, I.F.M. Albuquerque, I. Allekotte, A. Almela, J. Alvarez Castillo, J., Alvarez-Mu\~niz, G.A. Anastasi, L. Anchordoqui, B. Andrada, S. Andringa, C., Aramo, F. Arqueros, N. Arsene, H. Asorey, P. Assis, J. Aublin, G. Avila, A.M., Badescu, A. Balaceanu, F. Barbato, R.J. Barreira Luz, J.J. Beatty, K.H., Becker, J.A. Bellido, C. Berat, M.E. Bertaina, X. Bertou, P.L. Biermann, P., Billoir, J. Biteau, S.G. Blaess, A. Blanco, J. Blazek, C. Bleve, M., Boh\'a\v{c}ov\'a, D. Boncioli, C. Bonifazi, N. Borodai, A.M. Botti, J. Brack,, I. Brancus, T. Bretz, A. Bridgeman, F.L. Briechle, P. Buchholz, A. Bueno, S., Buitink, M. Buscemi, K.S. Caballero-Mora, L. Caccianiga, A. Cancio, F., Canfora, L. Caramete, R. Caruso, A. Castellina, G. Cataldi, L. Cazon, A.G., Chavez, J.A. Chinellato, J. Chudoba, R.W. Clay, A. Cobos, R. Colalillo, A., Coleman, L. Collica, M.R. Coluccia, R. Concei\c{c}\~ao, G. Consolati, F., Contreras, M.J. Cooper, S. Coutu, C.E. Covault, J. Cronin, S. D'Amico, B., Daniel, S. Dasso, K. Daumiller, B.R. Dawson, R.M. de Almeida, S.J. de Jong,, G. De Mauro, J.R.T. de Mello Neto, I. De Mitri, J. de Oliveira, V. de Souza,, J. Debatin, O. Deligny, C. Di Giulio, A. Di Matteo, M.L. D\'iaz Castro, F., Diogo, C. Dobrigkeit, J.C. D'Olivo, Q. Dorosti, R.C. dos Anjos, M.T. Dova, A., Dundovic, J. Ebr, R. Engel, M. Erdmann, M. Erfani, C.O. Escobar, J., Espadanal, A. Etchegoyen, H. Falcke, G. Farrar, A.C. Fauth, N. Fazzini, F., Fenu, B. Fick, J.M. Figueira, A. Filip\v{c}i\v{c}, O. Fratu, M.M. Freire, T., Fujii, A. Fuster, R. Gaior, B. Garc\'ia, D. Garcia-Pinto, F. Gat\'e, H., Gemmeke, A. Gherghel-Lascu, P.L. Ghia, U. Giaccari, M. Giammarchi, M. Giller,, D. G{\l}as, C. Glaser, G. Golup, M. G\'omez Berisso, P.F. G\'omez Vitale, N., Gonz\'alez, A. Gorgi, P. Gorham, A.F. Grillo, T.D. Grubb, F. Guarino, G.P., Guedes, M.R. Hampel, P. Hansen, D. Harari, T.A. Harrison, J.L. Harton, A., Haungs, T. Hebbeker, D. Heck, P. Heimann, A.E. Herve, G.C. Hill, C. Hojvat,, E. Holt, P. Homola, J.R. H\"orandel, P. Horvath, M. Hrabovsk\'y, T. Huege, J., Hulsman, A. Insolia, P.G. Isar, I. Jandt, S. Jansen, J.A. Johnsen, M., Josebachuili, A. K\"a\"ap\"a, O. Kambeitz, K.H. Kampert, I. Katkov, B., Keilhauer, N. Kemmerich, E. Kemp, J. Kemp, R.M. Kieckhafer, H.O. Klages, M., Kleifges, J. Kleinfeller, R. Krause, N. Krohm, D. Kuempel, G. Kukec Mezek, N., Kunka, A. Kuotb Awad, D. LaHurd, M. Lauscher, R. Legumina, M.A. Leigui de, Oliveira, A. Letessier-Selvon, I. Lhenry-Yvon, K. Link, D. Lo Presti, L., Lopes, R. L\'opez, A. L\'opez Casado, Q. Luce, A. Lucero, M. Malacari, M., Mallamaci, D. Mandat, P. Mantsch, A.G. Mariazzi, I.C. Mari\c{s}, G. Marsella,, D. Martello, H. Martinez, O. Mart\'inez Bravo, J.J. Mas\'ias Meza, H.J., Mathes, S. Mathys, J. Matthews, J.A.J. Matthews, G. Matthiae, E. Mayotte,, P.O. Mazur, C. Medina, G. Medina-Tanco, D. Melo, A. Menshikov, K.-D. Merenda,, M.I. Micheletti, L. Middendorf, I.A. Minaya, L. Miramonti, B. Mitrica, D., Mockler, S. Mollerach, F. Montanet, C. Morello, M. Mostaf\'a, A.L. M\"uller,, G. M\"uller, M.A. Muller, S. M\"uller, R. Mussa, I. Naranjo, L. Nellen, P.H., Nguyen, M. Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M. Niechciol, L. Niemietz, T. Niggemann, D., Nitz, D. Nosek, V. Novotny, H. No\v{z}ka, L.A. N\'u\~nez, L. Ochilo, F., Oikonomou, A. Olinto, M. Palatka, J. Pallotta, P. Papenbreer, G. Parente, A., Parra, T. Paul, M. Pech, F. Pedreira, J. P\k{e}kala, R. Pelayo, J., Pe\~na-Rodriguez, L. A. S. Pereira, M. Perl\'in, L. Perrone, C. Peters, S., Petrera, J. Phuntsok, R. Piegaia, T. Pierog, P. Pieroni, M. Pimenta, V., Pirronello, M. Platino, M. Plum, C. Porowski, R.R. Prado, P. Privitera, M., Prouza, E.J. Quel, S. Querchfeld, S. Quinn, R. Ramos-Pollan, J. Rautenberg,, D. Ravignani, B. Revenu, J. Ridky, M. Risse, P. Ristori, V. Rizi, W., Rodrigues de Carvalho, G. Rodriguez Fernandez, J. Rodriguez Rojo, D. Rogozin,, M.J. Roncoroni, M. Roth, E. Roulet, A.C. Rovero, P. Ruehl, S.J. Saffi, A., Saftoiu, F. Salamida, H. Salazar, A. Saleh, F. Salesa Greus, G. Salina, F., S\'anchez, P. Sanchez-Lucas, E.M. Santos, E. Santos, F. Sarazin, R. Sarmento,, C.A. Sarmiento, R. Sato, M. Schauer, V. Scherini, H. Schieler, M. Schimp, D., Schmidt, O. Scholten, P. Schov\'anek, F.G. Schr\"oder, A. Schulz, J., Schumacher, S.J. Sciutto, A. Segreto, M. Settimo, A. Shadkam, R.C. Shellard,, G. Sigl, G. Silli, O. Sima, A. \'Smia{\l}kowski, R. \v{S}m\'ida, G.R. Snow,, P. Sommers, S. Sonntag, J. Sorokin, R. Squartini, D. Stanca, S. Stani\v{c},, J. Stasielak, P. Stassi, F. Strafella, F. Suarez, M. Suarez Dur\'an, T., Sudholz, T. Suomij\"arvi, A.D. Supanitsky, J. Swain, Z. Szadkowski, A., Taboada, O.A. Taborda, A. Tapia, V.M. Theodoro, C. Timmermans, C.J. Todero, Peixoto, L. Tomankova, B. Tom\'e, G. Torralba Elipe, P. Travnicek, M. Trini,, R. Ulrich, M. Unger, M. Urban, J.F. Vald\'es Galicia, I. Vali\~no, L. Valore,, G. van Aar, P. van Bodegom, A.M. van den Berg, A. van Vliet, E. Varela, B., Vargas C\'ardenas, G. Varner, R.A. V\'azquez, D. Veberi\v{c}, I.D. Vergara, Quispe, V. Verzi, J. Vicha, L. Villase\~nor, S. Vorobiov, H. Wahlberg, O., Wainberg, D. Walz, A.A. Watson, M. Weber, A. Weindl, L. Wiencke, H., Wilczy\'nski, T. Winchen, M. Wirtz, D. Wittkowski, B. Wundheiler, L. Yang, D., Yelos, A. Yushkov, E. Zas, D. Zavrtanik, M. Zavrtanik, A. Zepeda, B., Zimmermann, M. Ziolkowski, Z. Zong, F. Zuccarello arXiv: 1702.01392 · 2018-06-15 ## TL;DR This paper presents an in-situ calibration method for LPDA radio antennas at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an octocopter to improve cosmic ray detection accuracy. ## Contribution It introduces a novel calibration technique employing a remotely piloted aircraft to accurately determine antenna response characteristics. ## Key findings - Achieved an uncertainty of about 8.8% in the vector effective length components. - Validated that ground conditions have negligible influence on antenna response. - Provided corrected antenna response simulations based on in-situ measurements. ## Abstract An in-situ calibration of a logarithmic periodic dipole antenna with a frequency coverage of 30 MHz to 80 MHz is performed. Such antennas are part of a radio station system used for detection of cosmic ray induced air showers at the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the so-called Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). The directional and frequency characteristics of the broadband antenna are investigated using a remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) carrying a small transmitting antenna. The antenna sensitivity is described by the vector effective length relating the measured voltage with the electric-field components perpendicular to the incoming signal direction. The horizontal and meridional components are determined with an overall uncertainty of 7.4^{+0.9}_{-0.3} % and 10.3^{+2.8}_{-1.7} % respectively. The measurement is used to correct a simulated response of the frequency and directional response of the antenna. In addition, the influence of the ground conductivity and permittivity on the antenna response is simulated. Both have a negligible influence given the ground conditions measured at the detector site. The overall uncertainties of the vector effective length components result in an uncertainty of 8.8^{+2.1}_{-1.3} % in the square root of the energy fluence for incoming signal directions with zenith angles smaller than 60{\deg}. ## Full text _Full body text omitted from this summary view._ Fetch the complete paper as Markdown: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.01392/full.md ## Figures 57 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.01392/full.md ## References 52 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.01392/full.md --- Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.01392