Blade Antenna-SDR System Prototype for the CANTAR Global 21-cm Experiment: Simulations, Measurements, and In-Situ Results

Abstract

We present the design and initial testing of a low-frequency radio telescope prototype developed for the CANTAR (Colombian Antarctic Telescope for 21-cm Absorption during Reionization) experiment. Operating from 100 to 200 MHz, the system integrates a blade dipole antenna inspired by the EDGES high-band design with a software-defined radio (SDR) receiver. We report simulations of antenna impedance and beam chromaticity, along with SDR performance tests (Limenet Mini, Ettus E310, USRP2920). A dual-stage low-noise amplifier reduces system temperature, enabling foreground-sensitive observations. Radiometric estimates suggest sub-mK sensitivity is achievable with 1000 h of integration. This prototype forms part of Colombia's emerging infrastructure for 21-cm cosmology, with deployments planned in low-RFI sites in the Colombian Andes and Antarctica.

23 pages, 17 figures, Published in RMxAA

References in corpus (19)

• Cosmology at Low Frequencies: The 21 cm Transition and the High-Redshift Universe
• An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum
• Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)
• Detecting the Earliest Galaxies Through Two New Sources of 21cm Fluctuations
• The CMBR fluctuations from HI perturbations prior to reionization
• Foreground Contamination in Interferometric Measurements of the Redshifted 21 cm Power Spectrum
• Design and characterization of the Large-Aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Age (LEDA) radiometer systems
• BIGHORNS - Broadband Instrument for Global HydrOgen ReioNisation Signal
• Bayesian constraints on the global 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn
• The REACH radiometer for detecting the 21-cm hydrogen signal from redshift 7.5 to 28
• SARAS 2: A Spectral Radiometer for probing Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization through detection of the global 21 cm signal
• Calibration of the EDGES High-Band Receiver to Observe the Global 21-cm Signature from the Epoch of Reionization
• Characterizing Signal Loss in the 21 cm Reionization Power Spectrum: A Revised Study of PAPER-64
• Interacting Dark Energy: Possible Explanation for 21-cm Absorption at Cosmic Dawn
• Limits on Foreground Subtraction from Chromatic Beam Effects in Global Redshifted 21 cm Measurements
• Mapper of the IGM spin temperature: instrument overview
• 21cm signal sensitivity to dark matter decay
• Constraints on the state of the IGM at $z\sim 8-10$ using redshifted 21-cm observations with LOFAR
• Optimization of Antenna Performance for Global 21-cm Observations and Verification Using Scaled Copies