An International Survey of Front-End Receivers and Observing Performance of Telescopes for Radio Astronomy

TL;DR

This survey provides a comprehensive overview of microwave front-end receivers used in global radio telescopes, comparing their specifications and performance, and discusses future development trends to support advanced astronomical research.

Contribution

It offers the first extensive international comparison of radio telescope front-end receivers and highlights upcoming technological trends in the field.

Findings

Detailed descriptions of 15 radio telescope receivers

Comparison of receiver characteristics and performance

Insights into future front-end development directions

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of microwave front-end receivers installed at radio telescopes throughout the World. This unprecedented analysis was conducted as part of a review of front-end developments for Italian radio telescopes, initiated by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics in 2016. Fifteen international radio telescopes have been selected to be representative of the instrumentation used for radio astronomical observations in the frequency domain from 300 MHz to 116 GHz. A comprehensive description of the existing receivers is presented and their characteristics are compared and discussed. The observing performances of the complete receiving chains are also presented. An overview of on-going developments illustrates and anticipates future trends in front-end projects to meet the most ambitious scientific research goals.