Radio Environment Analysis at Balai Cerap KUSZA for Solar Burst Study

Abstract

Solar radio burst study is one of the new researches done in radio astronomy field in Malaysia. Solar radio burst is associated with Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). It occurs when magnetic storm collides with Earth’s magnetosphere. In this paper, we present the level of radio frequency interference (RFI) at selected sites in Malaysia; ESERI (ECE), Balai Cerap KUSZA (BCK), Sungai Chantek (SGC) and Hentian Serdang (HSRDG) focusing on wideband (30kHz-1000 MHz. The threshold for all selected sites is -76.3741 dBm (7.3887), -74.4022 dBm (9.8143), -73.736 dBm (9.4494) and -66.4082 dBm (13.4290) respectively. This study was done to survey the status of frequency allocation in Malaysia for radio astronomy study. In this frequency ranges, radio astronomical sources found are pulsar, deuterium line (DI) and solar radio burst. These radio astronomical sources can be studied best at BCK compared to other sites. This is important to radio astronomer in Malaysia especially in solar burst detection to identify the best site for observation. This study also may provide RFI database to radio astronomers to refer to before conducting an observation.