MeerKAT correlator-beamformer : a real-time processing back-end for astronomical observations

• The MeerKAT radio telescope consists of 64 Gregorian-offset antennas located in the Karoo in the Northern Cape in South Africa. The antenna system consists of multiple subsystems working collaboratively to form a cohesive instrument capable of operating in multiple modes for defined science cases. We focus on the channelizing subsystem (F-engine), the correlation subsystem (X-engine), and the beamforming subsystem (B-engine). In the wideband instrument mode, the channelizing can produce 1024, 4096, or 32,768 channels with correlation up to 64 antennas. Narrowband mode decomposes sampled bandwidth into 32,768 channels. The F-engine also performs delay compensation, equalization, quantization, and grouping and ordering. The X-engine provides both correlation and beamforming computations (independently). This document is intended to be a stand-alone entity covering the channelizing, correlation, and beamforming processes for the MeerKAT radio telescope. This includes data reception, pre- and post-processing, and data transmission.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Signalbehandling (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Signal Processing (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

beamforming

channelizer

correlation

MeerKAT

polyphase filter bank

radio astronomy

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