2-6 September 2024
CJD Bonn Castell
Europe/Berlin timezone
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Contribution

CJD Bonn Castell

Commissioning of the BRAND receiver at Effelsberg

Speakers

  • Mrs. Parisa RAHIMI

Primary authors

Co-authors

Content

The BRAND receiver is a new system mainly intended for the EVN that covers the remarkably broad contiguous frequency range of 1.5 GHz to 15.5 GHz. It includes all required components of the entire signal path from the cryogenic frontend, feed, amplifiers, hybrids, the 56 Gsps sampler up to the VLBI backend and is intended for VLBI and single-dish work. This band coverage offers flexibility for redshifted spectral lines, sensitivity and frequency agility in the EVN.

In this talk I will present work recently carried out as part of my master thesis to integrate the BRAND components into a prototype system to be installed in the Effelsberg 100-m telescope, which continues the development from the RadioNet BRAND-EVN project. The Effelsberg prototype will enable - for the first time - on-sky measurements with a new generation of very broad-band receivers. This will allow to assess the real-world performance in various scenarios, e.g. astronomical as well as geodetic VLBI and single-dish applications and should help inform the decision-making about future EVN capabilities. The work presented is based on technical tests on the cryogenic-, IF-, and data-acquisition system in Bonn and Effelsberg. On-sky tests include single dish spectroscopy, pulsar observations, and VLBI and I will present results as available.