The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview

We describe the motivation and design details of the "Phase II" upgrade of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope. The expansion doubles to 256 the number of antenna tiles deployed in the array. The new antenna tiles enhance the capabilities of the MWA in several key science a...

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Main Authors: Wayth, Randall, Tingay, S., Trott, Cathryn, Emrich, David, Johnston-Hollitt, M., McKinley, B., Gaensler, B., Beardsley, A., Booler, T., Crosse, B., Franzen, T., Horsley, L., Kaplan, D., Kenney, D., Morales, M., Pallot, D., Sleap, G., Steele, K., Walker, M., Williams, A., Wu, C., Cairns, I., Filipovic, M., Johnston, S., Murphy, T., Quinn, P., Staveley-Smith, L., Webster, R., Wyithe, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2018
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE160100849
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72850
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author Wayth, Randall
Tingay, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Emrich, David
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
McKinley, B.
Gaensler, B.
Beardsley, A.
Booler, T.
Crosse, B.
Franzen, T.
Horsley, L.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Sleap, G.
Steele, K.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Cairns, I.
Filipovic, M.
Johnston, S.
Murphy, T.
Quinn, P.
Staveley-Smith, L.
Webster, R.
Wyithe, J.
author_facet Wayth, Randall
Tingay, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Emrich, David
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
McKinley, B.
Gaensler, B.
Beardsley, A.
Booler, T.
Crosse, B.
Franzen, T.
Horsley, L.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Sleap, G.
Steele, K.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Cairns, I.
Filipovic, M.
Johnston, S.
Murphy, T.
Quinn, P.
Staveley-Smith, L.
Webster, R.
Wyithe, J.
author_sort Wayth, Randall
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description We describe the motivation and design details of the "Phase II" upgrade of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope. The expansion doubles to 256 the number of antenna tiles deployed in the array. The new antenna tiles enhance the capabilities of the MWA in several key science areas. Seventy-two of the new tiles are deployed in a regular configuration near the existing MWA core. These new tiles enhance the surface brightness sensitivity of the MWA and will improve the ability of the MWA to estimate the slope of the Epoch of Reionisation power spectrum by a factor of ~3.5. The remaining 56 tiles are deployed on long baselines, doubling the maximum baseline of the array and improving the array u,v coverage. The improved imaging capabilities will provide an order of magnitude improvement in the noise floor of MWA continuum images. The upgrade retains all of the features that have underpinned the MWA's success (large field-of-view, snapshot image quality, pointing agility) and boosts the scientific potential with enhanced imaging capabilities and by enabling new calibration strategies.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-728502022-09-13T04:34:27Z The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview Wayth, Randall Tingay, S. Trott, Cathryn Emrich, David Johnston-Hollitt, M. McKinley, B. Gaensler, B. Beardsley, A. Booler, T. Crosse, B. Franzen, T. Horsley, L. Kaplan, D. Kenney, D. Morales, M. Pallot, D. Sleap, G. Steele, K. Walker, M. Williams, A. Wu, C. Cairns, I. Filipovic, M. Johnston, S. Murphy, T. Quinn, P. Staveley-Smith, L. Webster, R. Wyithe, J. We describe the motivation and design details of the "Phase II" upgrade of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope. The expansion doubles to 256 the number of antenna tiles deployed in the array. The new antenna tiles enhance the capabilities of the MWA in several key science areas. Seventy-two of the new tiles are deployed in a regular configuration near the existing MWA core. These new tiles enhance the surface brightness sensitivity of the MWA and will improve the ability of the MWA to estimate the slope of the Epoch of Reionisation power spectrum by a factor of ~3.5. The remaining 56 tiles are deployed on long baselines, doubling the maximum baseline of the array and improving the array u,v coverage. The improved imaging capabilities will provide an order of magnitude improvement in the noise floor of MWA continuum images. The upgrade retains all of the features that have underpinned the MWA's success (large field-of-view, snapshot image quality, pointing agility) and boosts the scientific potential with enhanced imaging capabilities and by enabling new calibration strategies. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72850 10.1017/pasa.2018.37 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE160100849 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE160100031 Cambridge University Press fulltext
spellingShingle Wayth, Randall
Tingay, S.
Trott, Cathryn
Emrich, David
Johnston-Hollitt, M.
McKinley, B.
Gaensler, B.
Beardsley, A.
Booler, T.
Crosse, B.
Franzen, T.
Horsley, L.
Kaplan, D.
Kenney, D.
Morales, M.
Pallot, D.
Sleap, G.
Steele, K.
Walker, M.
Williams, A.
Wu, C.
Cairns, I.
Filipovic, M.
Johnston, S.
Murphy, T.
Quinn, P.
Staveley-Smith, L.
Webster, R.
Wyithe, J.
The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title_full The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title_fullStr The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title_full_unstemmed The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title_short The Phase II Murchison Widefield Array: Design overview
title_sort phase ii murchison widefield array: design overview
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE160100849
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE160100849
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72850