A Field Programmable Gate Array Spectrometer for Radio Astronomy

Abstract

We describe the technological concept and the first-light results of a 1024-channel spectrometer based on field programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware. This spectrometer is the prototype for the seven beam L-band receiver to be installed at the Effelsberg 100-m telescope in autumn 2005. Using "of-the-shelf" hardware and software products, we designed and constructed an extremely flexible Fast-Fourier-Transform (FFT) spectrometer with unprecedented sensitivity and dynamic range, which can be considered prototypical for spectrometer development in future radio astronomy.

5 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (1)

• The Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey: I. Observing and Data Analysis Systems, Discovery and Timing of 100 Pulsars

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