The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation
The Murchison Widefield Array is a new low-frequency interferometric radio telescope built in Western Australia at one of the locations of the future Square Kilometre Array. We describe the automated radio-frequency interference detection strategy implemented for the Murchison Widefield Array, which...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44191 |
| _version_ | 1848756926398070784 |
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| author | Offringa, A. Wayth, Randall Hurley-Walker, N. Kaplan, D. Barry, N. Beardsley, A. Bell, M. Bernardi, G. Bowman, J. Briggs, F. Callingham, J. Cappallo, R. Carroll, P. Deshpande, A. Dillon, J. Dwarakanath, K. Ewall-Wice, A. Feng, L. For, B. Gaensler, B. Greenhill, L. Hancock, P. Hazelton, B. Hewitt, J. Hindson, L. Jacobs, D. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kapinska, A. Kim, H. Kittiwisit, P. Lenc, E. Line, J. Loeb, A. Lonsdale, C. McKinley, B. McWhirter, S. Mitchell, D. Morales, M. Morgan, E. Morgan, J. Neben, A. Oberoi, D. Ord, Stephen Paul, S. Pindor, B. Pober, J. Prabu, T. Procopio, P. Riding, J. Shankar, N. Sethi, S. Srivani, K. Staveley-Smith, L. Subrahmanyan, R. Sullivan, I. Tegmark, M. Thyagarajan, N. Tingay, Steven Trott, C. Webster, R. Williams, A. Williams, C. Wu, C. Wyithe, J. Zheng, Q. |
| author_facet | Offringa, A. Wayth, Randall Hurley-Walker, N. Kaplan, D. Barry, N. Beardsley, A. Bell, M. Bernardi, G. Bowman, J. Briggs, F. Callingham, J. Cappallo, R. Carroll, P. Deshpande, A. Dillon, J. Dwarakanath, K. Ewall-Wice, A. Feng, L. For, B. Gaensler, B. Greenhill, L. Hancock, P. Hazelton, B. Hewitt, J. Hindson, L. Jacobs, D. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kapinska, A. Kim, H. Kittiwisit, P. Lenc, E. Line, J. Loeb, A. Lonsdale, C. McKinley, B. McWhirter, S. Mitchell, D. Morales, M. Morgan, E. Morgan, J. Neben, A. Oberoi, D. Ord, Stephen Paul, S. Pindor, B. Pober, J. Prabu, T. Procopio, P. Riding, J. Shankar, N. Sethi, S. Srivani, K. Staveley-Smith, L. Subrahmanyan, R. Sullivan, I. Tegmark, M. Thyagarajan, N. Tingay, Steven Trott, C. Webster, R. Williams, A. Williams, C. Wu, C. Wyithe, J. Zheng, Q. |
| author_sort | Offringa, A. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The Murchison Widefield Array is a new low-frequency interferometric radio telescope built in Western Australia at one of the locations of the future Square Kilometre Array. We describe the automated radio-frequency interference detection strategy implemented for the Murchison Widefield Array, which is based on the aoflagger platform, and present 72–231 MHz radio-frequency interference statistics from 10 observing nights. Radio-frequency interference detection removes 1.1% of the data. Radio-frequency interference from digital TV is observed 3% of the time due to occasional ionospheric or atmospheric propagation. After radio-frequency interference detection and excision, almost all data can be calibrated and imaged without further radio-frequency interference mitigation efforts, including observations within the FM and digital TV bands. The results are compared to a previously published Low-Frequency Array radio-frequency interference survey. The remote location of the Murchison Widefield Array results in a substantially cleaner radio-frequency interference environment compared to Low-Frequency Array’s radio environment, but adequate detection of radio-frequency interference is still required before data can be analysed. We include specific recommendations designed to make the Square Kilometre Array more robust to radio-frequency interference, including: the availability of sufficient computing power for radio-frequency interference detection; accounting for radio-frequency interference in the receiver design; a smooth band-pass response; and the capability of radio-frequency interference detection at high time and frequency resolution (second and kHz-scale respectively). |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:19:57Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-44191 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:19:57Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-441912017-09-13T14:29:23Z The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation Offringa, A. Wayth, Randall Hurley-Walker, N. Kaplan, D. Barry, N. Beardsley, A. Bell, M. Bernardi, G. Bowman, J. Briggs, F. Callingham, J. Cappallo, R. Carroll, P. Deshpande, A. Dillon, J. Dwarakanath, K. Ewall-Wice, A. Feng, L. For, B. Gaensler, B. Greenhill, L. Hancock, P. Hazelton, B. Hewitt, J. Hindson, L. Jacobs, D. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kapinska, A. Kim, H. Kittiwisit, P. Lenc, E. Line, J. Loeb, A. Lonsdale, C. McKinley, B. McWhirter, S. Mitchell, D. Morales, M. Morgan, E. Morgan, J. Neben, A. Oberoi, D. Ord, Stephen Paul, S. Pindor, B. Pober, J. Prabu, T. Procopio, P. Riding, J. Shankar, N. Sethi, S. Srivani, K. Staveley-Smith, L. Subrahmanyan, R. Sullivan, I. Tegmark, M. Thyagarajan, N. Tingay, Steven Trott, C. Webster, R. Williams, A. Williams, C. Wu, C. Wyithe, J. Zheng, Q. The Murchison Widefield Array is a new low-frequency interferometric radio telescope built in Western Australia at one of the locations of the future Square Kilometre Array. We describe the automated radio-frequency interference detection strategy implemented for the Murchison Widefield Array, which is based on the aoflagger platform, and present 72–231 MHz radio-frequency interference statistics from 10 observing nights. Radio-frequency interference detection removes 1.1% of the data. Radio-frequency interference from digital TV is observed 3% of the time due to occasional ionospheric or atmospheric propagation. After radio-frequency interference detection and excision, almost all data can be calibrated and imaged without further radio-frequency interference mitigation efforts, including observations within the FM and digital TV bands. The results are compared to a previously published Low-Frequency Array radio-frequency interference survey. The remote location of the Murchison Widefield Array results in a substantially cleaner radio-frequency interference environment compared to Low-Frequency Array’s radio environment, but adequate detection of radio-frequency interference is still required before data can be analysed. We include specific recommendations designed to make the Square Kilometre Array more robust to radio-frequency interference, including: the availability of sufficient computing power for radio-frequency interference detection; accounting for radio-frequency interference in the receiver design; a smooth band-pass response; and the capability of radio-frequency interference detection at high time and frequency resolution (second and kHz-scale respectively). 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44191 10.1017/pasa.2015.7 CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS unknown |
| spellingShingle | Offringa, A. Wayth, Randall Hurley-Walker, N. Kaplan, D. Barry, N. Beardsley, A. Bell, M. Bernardi, G. Bowman, J. Briggs, F. Callingham, J. Cappallo, R. Carroll, P. Deshpande, A. Dillon, J. Dwarakanath, K. Ewall-Wice, A. Feng, L. For, B. Gaensler, B. Greenhill, L. Hancock, P. Hazelton, B. Hewitt, J. Hindson, L. Jacobs, D. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kapinska, A. Kim, H. Kittiwisit, P. Lenc, E. Line, J. Loeb, A. Lonsdale, C. McKinley, B. McWhirter, S. Mitchell, D. Morales, M. Morgan, E. Morgan, J. Neben, A. Oberoi, D. Ord, Stephen Paul, S. Pindor, B. Pober, J. Prabu, T. Procopio, P. Riding, J. Shankar, N. Sethi, S. Srivani, K. Staveley-Smith, L. Subrahmanyan, R. Sullivan, I. Tegmark, M. Thyagarajan, N. Tingay, Steven Trott, C. Webster, R. Williams, A. Williams, C. Wu, C. Wyithe, J. Zheng, Q. The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title | The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title_full | The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title_fullStr | The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title_short | The Low-Frequency Environment of the Murchison Widefield Array: Radio-Frequency Interference Analysis and Mitigation |
| title_sort | low-frequency environment of the murchison widefield array: radio-frequency interference analysis and mitigation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/44191 |