Method of cosmic radiation recording in spectral lines

Abstract

We propose a method for recording of energy parameters of cosmic radio emission in spectral lines, differing in the principle of amplitude calibration of the reception-measurement channel. This method does not require the use of additional channels of signal-power measurement and reduces the source observation time required for extraction of a signal from noise and its recording. Radio emission is recorded using a standard high-sensitivity receiver of the RT-32 radio telescope and a digital spectrum analyzer based on the fast Fourier transform. We consider two variants of the recording system: a variant with off-shelf general-purpose spectrum analyzers (e.g., NI-5620), which use PC processors, and a variant with high-speed specialized analyzers based on programmable logical devices. The system with an XC4VLX25 integrated-circuit analyzer is operated in a frequency band of up to 32 MHz and has a minimum response time, which makes it possible to minimize the source observation time. The spectrum recording system developed at the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and “Radioelectronic Technological Equipment Ltd” and supported by a project of the Russian Science Agency was put into service in the “Svetloe” radioastronomical observatory in 2006.