The Engineering Development Array 2: design, performance and lessons from an SKA-Low prototype station

TL;DR

The paper details the design, performance, and lessons learned from the Engineering Development Array 2, a prototype station for the SKA-Low, highlighting its capabilities and improvements over previous models.

Contribution

It introduces the second-generation prototype station for SKA-Low, describing its design, modifications, and performance evaluation as an imaging interferometer.

Findings

Measured sensitivity across 70-320 MHz frequencies.

Demonstrated array's dual operation as phased array and interferometer.

Provided insights into design improvements for future SKA-Low stations.

Abstract

We present the Engineering Development Array 2, which is one of two instruments built as a second generation prototype station for the future Square Kilometre Array Low Frequency Array. The array is comprised of 256 dual-polarization dipole antennas that can work as a phased array or as a standalone interferometer. We describe the design of the array and the details of design changes from previous generation instruments, as well as the motivation for the changes. Using the array as an imaging interferometer, we measure the sensitivity of the array at five frequencies ranging from 70 to 320 MHz.