出版社：SISSA, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
摘要：We present here two similar RFI monitoring systems now operational at the radio astronomy observatories at Medicina (30 Km East of Bologna) and the Sardinia Radio Telescope (SRT, a 115 GHz fully steerable 64 m dish, expected to see the first light by the end of 2010, at 35 Km North of Cagliari). Both systems were specifically designed for monitoring the radio spectrum with an extremely wide frequency range, in combination with very high sensitivity and dynamic range. Their frequency coverage spans both over the narrow bands (internationally) allocated to the Radio Astronomy Service as well as across the much wider frequency bands receivable by the advanced radio astronomical receivers operating at both observatories. While these systems are expected to monitor the interferences generated mainly outside our own premises, we are well aware that all modern electronics are susceptible to produce RFI. Then we are also planning to search for any self-interference case originated within our radio observatories. In order to identify the exact location of the RFI source, we make use of a fixed monitoring station, with antennas on top of a tower placed nearby the radio telescope, as well as of a mobile laboratory. This last is composed of a van fully equipped with high performance instrumentation (spectrum analyzers, receivers, extensible antennas, filtered preamplifiers, etc) and their associated ancillary devices (GPS navigators, antenna pointing readouts, autonomous power supplies, living aids, etc). We will describe in details all the RF components and the careful calibration of their electrical characteristics.
