X band receiver noise temperature improvement in ESA deep space antennas

This paper shows a simultaneous tri-band (S: 2.2–2.7 GHz, X: 7.5–9 GHz and Ka: 28–33 GHz) low-noise cryogenic receiver for geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (geo-VLBI) which has been developed at Yebes Observatory laboratories in Spain. A special feature is that the whole receiver front-end is fully coolable down to cryogenic temperatures to minimize receiver noise. It was installed in the first radio telescope of the Red Atlántica de Estaciones Geodinámicas y Espaciales (RAEGE) project, which is located in Yebes Observatory, in the frame of the VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS). After this, the receiver was borrowed by the Norwegian Mapping Autorithy (NMA) for the commissioning of two VGOS radiotelescopes in Svalbard (Norway). A second identical receiver was built for the Ishioka VGOS station of the Geospatial Information Authority (GSI) of Japan, and a third one for the second RAEGE VGOS station, located in Santa María (Açores Archipelago, Portugal). The average receiver noise temperatures are 21, 23, and 25 Kelvin and the measured antenna efficiencies are 70%, 75%, and 60% in S-band, X-band, and Ka-band, respectively.

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Dependence of receiver noise-temperature measurement on source impedance

Electronics Letters ◽

10.1049/el:19660103 ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 130 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

I.A. Harris

Keyword(s):

Temperature Measurement ◽

Noise Temperature ◽

Receiver Noise ◽

Source Impedance

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Multi-Beam Electronically Steerable Antenna Array concepts for an X-Band Deep Space Gateway Data Link

2021 15th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP) ◽

10.23919/eucap51087.2021.9411503 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cesar Dominguez ◽

Alessandro Garufo ◽

Antonio Montesano ◽

Stefania Monni ◽

Benedetta Fiorelli

Keyword(s):

Antenna Array ◽

Deep Space ◽

Data Link ◽

X Band ◽

Steerable Antenna

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Analysis and Research on the Centimeter Band Receiver Amplitude Calibration Method

Advances in Astronomy ◽

10.1155/2020/8484610 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Kai Wang ◽

Maozheng Chen ◽

Jun Ma ◽

Xuefeng Duan ◽

Yang Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Noise Temperature ◽

Method Comparison ◽

Calibration Method ◽

Test Accuracy ◽

Receiver Noise ◽

Time Calibration ◽

Test Platform ◽

Calculation Results ◽

Receiver Performance ◽

Telescope System

The receiver is a signal receiving device in a radio telescope system. As an important parameter to characterize the receiver performance, noise temperature is very practical to calibrate accurately. The traditional receiver noise temperature calibration method is the cold and ambient load method. Through the establishment of K-band ambient receiver, and its amplitude calibration test platform of the cold and ambient load method, chopper wheel method, and ambient and hot load method, comparison and analysis of the above three methods were carried out. The test and calculation results show that the test accuracy of the cold and ambient load method is about 1.3%, that of the chopper wheel method (nonlow elevation) is about 3%, and that of the ambient and hot load method is about 9%. The test accuracy of the ambient and hot load method is slightly lower than that of the above two methods. The analysis is mainly due to the uncertainty of the hot load temperature and the small temperature difference between the two loads, which leads to the deterioration of the overall accuracy. But the advantage is that the method can perform real-time calibration in the process of observation, and it is easier to implement than the traditional cold and ambient load method. The results of noise temperature measurement are compared with those of theoretical calculation, the error is basically within 10%, and it can satisfy the demand of the noise temperature test. In the future, we expect that on the basis of increasing the hot load temperature, further experiments were carried out on the thermostatic treatment of hot load and the accuracy of temperature acquisition, and finally we hope that this method can better meet the testing requirements of receiver noise temperature and radio source amplitude calibration.

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