Abstract
Context. We describe the concept, construction, and testing of TasPGA, a new, versatile digital signal processing device designed for radio astronomy applications. Aims. A minimalist design philosophy was used to develop a general-purpose radio astronomy instrument based on field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. The design emphasises reliability and flexibility, facilitating the rapid development of new FPGA firmware for a wide range of experiments. Methods. Hardware and firmware for TasPGA were designed using software provided by Altium Ltd. and Xilinx Inc. We tested the instrument by implementing a Fourier transform spectrometer capable of dividing 100 MHz of bandwidth into 16 384 channels. Results. We present data taken with a TasPGA spectrometer at the Mt. Pleasant radio observatory, including the spectra of two astronomical methanol masers.
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