Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (ETA)
Overview: The Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (ETA) is a joint project of Virginia Tech Departments of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics. ETA is a radio telescope array operating in the band 29-47 MHz that continuously monitors virtually the entire sky for transients from a variety of high-energy astrophysical phenomena including primordial black holes, gamma ray bursts, supernovae, and compact object mergers. It is supported through an NSF Advanced Techniques & Instrumentation (ATI) grant and was hosted at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) near Balsam Grove, NC from 2005 through 2008. A new mobile version of ETA is currently under construction. ETA people at VT currently include: Steve Ellingson (ECE), Cameron Patterson (ECE), John Simonetti (Physics), and students.
Quick Primer on ETA: We suggest starting with our URSI NRSM presentation "Searching for Low Frequency Radio Transients Using ETA" (Jan 2008). Then check out Publications (some of which are more recent) for details.
This page is http://www.ece.vt.edu/swe/eta/
Maintainer:
Steve Ellingson
Last 5 Updates:
2009 May 19: Added two reports.
2008 Nov 22: Updated JCAP paper citation, fixed many broken links.
2008 Nov 05: Added JCAP paper, also minor editing.
2008 Oct 19: Added ACM TRETS paper; also minor editing.
2008 Feb 02: Added reference to recent PBH articles in astro-ph and Nature Online.
Table of Contents
Publications
In reverse chronological order.
- M. Kavic, J.H. Simonetti, S.E. Cutchin, S.W. Ellingson, and C.D. Patterson, "Transient Pulses from Exploding Primordial Black Holes as a Signature of an Extra Dimension", J. Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, No. 11, 2008, 017 (10pp). http://stacks.iop.org/1475-7516/2008/i=11/a=017.
- C. Patterson, S. Ellingson, B. Martin, K. Deshpande, J. Simonetti, M. Kavic, and S. Cutchin, "Searching for Transient Pulses with the ETA Radio Telescope", ACM Trans. Reconfigurable Technology & Systems, Vol. 1, No. 4, Art. 20 (19pp), Jan. 2009.
- S.W. Ellingson, J.H. Simonetti, and C.D. Patterson, "Design and Evaluation of an Active Antenna for a 29-47 MHz Radio Telescope Array" (PDF), IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 55, No. 3, March 2007, pp. 826-31.
Reports
In reverse chronological order. See also Design Info.
- Q. Liu and S.W. Ellingson, Method of High-Speed Data Acquisition and Continuous Data Transfer using Altera Stratix II EP2S60 DSP Development Board", Internal Report, April 27, 2009.
- K. Deshpande and S.W. Ellingson, RFI Mitigation Algorithm for the Eight-meter wavelength Transient Array, Internal Report, March 10, 2009.
- B.S. Martin, Stream Communication and Computation in the
Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (ETA) Radio Telescope, M.S. Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, September 2008.
- M. Kavic, J.H. Simonetti, S.E. Cutchin, S.W. Ellingson, C.D. Patterson, "Transient Pulses from Exploding Primordial Black Holes as a Signature of an Extra Dimension," Internal Report VPI-IPNAS-08-04, Jan 25, 2008. Preprint released as astro-ph/0801.4023 (http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4023).
- B. Martin, An Analysis of Parallel FPGAs in a DSP Application, Jan 17, 2007.
- S. Ellingson, In Situ Testing of the ETA Analog Signal Path (PDF), Aug 11, 2006.
- D. Wyatt A. Taylor III, Design of Ultrawideband Digitizing Receivers for the VHF Low Band, M.S. Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, May 2006.
- Annual Progress Report to NSF (PDF), Apr 30, 2006.
- Antenna Direct Sampling @ PARI (HTML), Nov 21, 2005.
- Dipole / Active Balun Testing @ PARI (HTML), Nov 5, 2005.
- Dipole / Active Balun Testing @ PARI (HTML), Oct 15, 2005.
- Dipole / Active Balun "First Light" near Blacksburg (HTML), Oct 8, 2005.
- RFI Survey @ PARI (HTML), Sep 10, 2005.
Presentations
In reverse chronological order.
- "Searching for Low Frequency Radio Transients Using ETA" (PDF), K. Deshpande et al., URSI 2008 NRSM, Boulder, CO, Jan 3, 2008.
- C. Patterson, B. Martin, S. Ellingson, J. Simonetti, and S. Cutchin, "FPGA Cluster Computing in the ETA Radio Telescope", ICFPT 2007 (2007 Int'l Conf. on Field-Programmable Technology), Kitakyusyu, Japan, 12-14 Dec 2007, pp. 25-32.
- "Searching for Low Frequency Radio Transients," S. Ellingson, NRAO Colloquium Series, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Array Operations Center (AOC), Socorro, NM, September 1, 2006. Abstract.
- S.W. Ellingson, C.D. Patterson, J.H. Simonetti, "Design and Demonstration of an Antenna for a New 29 - 47 MHz Radio Telescope Array," 2006 IEEE Int'l Ant. and Prop. Symp., Albuquerque, NM, July 2006, pp. 339-342.
- "The Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (ETA)", J. H. Simonetti, S. W. Ellingson, C. D. Patterson, W. Taylor, V. Venugopal, S. Cutchin, and Z. Boor, AAS 207th Meeting, January 2006.
- The Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (PDF), S.W. Ellingson, Grote Reber Memorial Conf. on New Techniques and Results in Low-Frequency Radio Astronomy, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, December 7, 2005.
- The Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (PDF), C.D. Patterson, VT Computer Engineering Seminar, Blacksburg, VA, USA, October 13, 2005.
- ETA Observations of Crab Pulsar Giant Pulses (PDF), J.H. Simonetti, informal seminar, Blacksburg, VA, USA, October 7, 2005.
- The Eight-meter-wavelength Transient Array (PDF), S.W. Ellingson, VT Freshman Engineering Seminar, Blacksburg, VA, USA, Sep 30, 2005.
Design Info
In no particular order... warning: becoming badly out of date.
ETA People
Currently active:
- Steve Ellingson (ECE); PI
- John Simonetti (Physics); Co-PI
- Cameron Patterson (ECE); Co-PI
- Sean Cutchin (Physics); Ph.D. student
- Kshitija Deshpande (ECE); Ph.D. student
- Mahmud Harun (ECE); Ph.D. student
- Mike Kavic (Physics); Ph.D. student
Past Contributors:
- Zach Boor (Physics); Ph.D. student of J.H. Simonetti
- Anthony Lee (ECE); B.S. student of S.W. Ellingson
- Caleb Magruder (ECE); B.S. student of S.W. Ellingson
- Brian Martin (ECE); M.S. student of C.D. Patterson [graduated; thesis]
- Wyatt Taylor (ECE); M.S. student of S.W. Ellingson [graduated; thesis]
- Vivek Venugopal (ECE); Ph.D. student of C.D. Patterson
In reverse chronological order.
- "Astronomers look for exploding black holes: Extra dimensions in spacetime could trigger blast", Nature News [online], 1 Feb 2008.
- "Exotic Explosions" (HTML), Article from Bradley Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering 2006 Annual Report.
- "Science grant permits 'exotic physics' research" (HTML), Michael Sutphin, Collegiate Times, Sep 22, 2005.
- "Virginia Tech radio telescope will search sky for astronomical explosions" (HTML), Liz Crumbley, Virginia Tech Press Release, Sep 20, 2005.
Links
In reverse chronological order.
NSF Acknowledgment and Disclaimer
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. AST-0504677. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.