Sep 5 – 9, 2023
ASU Memorial Union (2nd Floor)
US/Arizona timezone
GRCon23 will be running from Tuesday Sept 5 to Saturday Sept 9 this year.

A brief overview of the ALBATROS cosmology experiment

Sep 8, 2023, 1:45 PM
15m
Arizona (MU 221) (ASU Memorial Union 2nd Floor)

Arizona (MU 221)

ASU Memorial Union 2nd Floor

Talk Radio Astronomy Main Track

Speaker

Francis McGee (McGill University)

Description

The Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Seventy-ninth parallel (ALBATROS) is a 21cm cosmology experiment that uses multiple autonomous antenna stations operating in the high Arctic of Canada to lay the groundwork for probing into the cosmic “dark ages” before star formation began. An overview of the ALBATROS project will be provided, along with a primer on where Software Defined Radios and open source software fit in with the tech stack of the project. Using a mix of hobbyist grade equipment, the team has managed to connect over a quarter of a petabyte of storage to a Raspberry Pi control system, allowing the experiment to take continual measurements over the arctic winter. The talk will cover existing hardware for the antenna stations and control systems, and will end with a brief overview of the new autonomous ground penetrating radar drone the team is constructing using GNURadio as a core component.

Talk Length 15 Minutes

Primary author

Francis McGee (McGill University)

Presentation materials