Antenna design and distribution for a LOFAR Super Station in Nançay

Julien N. N Girard (1) , P. Zarka (1) , Michel Tagger (2) , Laurent Denis (3) , Didier Charrier (4) , A. Konovalenko (5)

1 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
2 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace
3 USN - Unité Scientifique de la Station de Nançay
4 SUBATECH - Laboratoire SUBATECH Nantes
5 IRA - Institute of Radio Astronomy of NAS of Ukraine

The Nançay radio astronomy observatory and associated laboratories are developing the concept of a " Super Station " for extending the LOFAR station now installed and operational in Nançay. The LOFAR Super Station (LSS) will increase the number of high sensitivity long baselines, provide short baselines and an alternate core, and be a large standalone instrument. It will operate in the low frequency band of LOFAR (30–80 MHz) and extend this range to lower frequencies. Three key developments for the LSS are described here: (i) the design of a specific antenna, and the distribution of such antennas (ii) at small-scale (analog-phased mini array) and (iii) at large-scale (the whole LSS).

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Julien N. N Girard, P. Zarka, Michel Tagger, Laurent Denis, Didier Charrier, et al.. Antenna design and distribution for a LOFAR Super Station in Nançay. General Assembly and Scientific Symposium, 2011 XXXth URSI, Aug 2011, Istanbul, Turkey. ⟨10.1109/URSIGASS.2011.6051277⟩. ⟨hal-01192881⟩