Drone-based calibration of wide-field radio instruments.
Many modern radio arrays have very wide fields of view. The antenna directional response can be difficult to characterize. High redshift 21cm experiments like EDGES, OVRO LWA or HERA are particularly sensitive to unexpected systematics in beam response. With a transmitter mounted to a drone we can provide a known signal at a known location. Such measurements also support a wider range of science applications including stellar activity, exoplanets, planetary magnetospheres, and cosmic ray observatories. Learn More
The method paper answers many common questions. (Jacobs et al 2017, journal, arxiv preprint)
Open Source Hardware project
Software, hardware specs, 3d printable models etc on Github
ECHO is supported by the National Science Foundation, and the Low frequency Cosmology lab at Arizona State University