Absolving the SSINS of Precision Interferometric Radio Data: A New Technique for Mitigating Faint Radio Frequency Interference

Abstract

We introduce a new pipeline for analyzing and mitigating radio frequency interference (RFI), which we call Sky-Subtracted Incoherent Noise Spectra (SSINS). SSINS is designed to identify and remove faint RFI below the single baseline thermal noise by employing a frequency-matched detection algorithm on baseline-averaged amplitudes of time-differenced visibilities. We demonstrate the capabilities of SSINS using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. We successfully image aircraft flying over the array via digital television (DTV) reflection detected using SSINS and summarize an RFI occupancy survey of MWA Epoch of Reionization data. We describe how to use SSINS with new data using a documented, publicly available implementation with comprehensive usage tutorials.

arXiv commentPublication Draft

References in corpus (25)

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Cited by in corpus (45)

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• First Results from HERA Phase I: Upper Limits on the Epoch of Reionization 21 cm Power Spectrum
• First Season MWA Phase II EoR Power Spectrum Results at Redshift 7
• A new MWA limit on the 21 cm Power Spectrum at Redshifts $\sim$ 13 $-$ 17
• The AARTFAAC Cosmic Explorer: observations of the 21-cm power spectrum in the EDGES absorption trough
• First SETI Observations with China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST)
• Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) Phase II Deployment and Commissioning
• Calibration and 21-cm Power Spectrum Estimation in the Presence of Antenna Beam Variations
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• New EoR Power Spectrum Limits From MWA Phase II Using the Delay Spectrum Method and Novel Systematic Rejection
• Deeper multi-redshift upper limits on the Epoch of Reionization 21-cm signal power spectrum from LOFAR between z=8.3 and z=10.1
• A Map of Diffuse Radio Emission at 182 MHz to Enhance Epoch of Reionization Observations in the Southern Hemisphere
• Statistical analysis of the causes of excess variance in the 21 cm signal power spectra obtained with the Low-Frequency Array
• Evidence of Ultra-faint Radio Frequency Interference in Deep 21~cm Epoch of Reionization Power Spectra with the Murchison Widefield Array
• Exploring the cosmic dawn and epoch of reionization with 21cm line
• Detecting the HI Power Spectrum in the Post-Reionization Universe with SKA-Low
• Forecasts and Statistical Insights for Line Intensity Mapping Cross-Correlations: A Case Study with 21cm x [CII]
• Constraints on the state of the IGM at $z\sim 8-10$ using redshifted 21-cm observations with LOFAR
• The Role of the Instrumental Response in 21 cm EoR Power Spectrum Gridding Analyses
• SKA-Low Intensity Mapping Pathfinder Updates: Deeper 21 cm Power Spectrum Limits from Improved Analysis Frameworks
• Transient RFI environment of LOFAR-LBA at 72-75 MHz: Impact on ultra-widefield AARTFAAC Cosmic Explorer observations of the redshifted 21-cm signal
• The Impact of Tandem Redundant/Sky-Based Calibration in MWA Phase II Data Analysis
• Stochastic Calibration of Radio Interferometers
• Spectral modelling of Cygnus A between 110 and 250 MHz. Impact on the LOFAR 21-cm signal power spectrum
• Near-field imaging of local interference in radio interferometric data: Impact on the redshifted 21 cm power spectrum
• General Signature Kernels
• Constraining the 21cm brightness temperature of the IGM at $z$=6.6 around LAEs with the Murchison Widefield Array
• Why and When to Expect Gaussian Error Distributions in Epoch of Reionization 21-cm Power Spectrum Measurements
• First upper limits on the 21-cm signal power spectrum of neutral hydrogen at $z=9.16$ from the LOFAR 3C196 field
• An interference detection strategy for Apertif based on AOFlagger 3
• A Comparative Analysis To Deal With Missing Spectral Information Caused By RFI In Cosmological HI 21CM Observations
• Altitude Estimation of Radio Frequency Interference Sources via Interferometric Near Field Corrections
• 21 cm Intensity Mapping with the DSA-2000
• Ionospheric effect on the synthetic Epoch of Reionization observations with the SKA1-Low
• Strategy for mitigation of systematics for EoR experiments with the Murchison Widefield Array
• Performance of the Segment Anything Model in Various RFI/Events Detection in Radio Astronomy
• Epoch of Reionization Power Spectrum Limits from Murchison Widefield Array Data Targeted at EoR1 Field
• A Matched Survey for the Enigmatic Low Radio Frequency Transient ILT J225347+862146
• Operational Non-identifiability of Single-epoch Low-rank RFI Mitigation: Controlled Failure-mode Analysis and HERA Evidence
• Mitigating incoherent excess variance in high-redshift 21 cm observations with multi-output cross-Gaussian process regression
• Power spectrum multipoles and clustering wedges during the Epoch of Reionization
• A Multi-Site Study of Radio Environment for Cosmology Experiments
• The MWA Long Baseline Epoch of Reionisation Survey: I. Improved Source Catalogue for the EoR 0 field