Abstract:

A radio observation method with large field of view and multi-beam technique is proposed to detect the space targets. The uniform survey field with large angle can be obtained at the specific direction by the cylinder antenna array, and realize continuous monitoring of the large airspace. Real-time acquisition of the multiple space targets can be achieved based on the synthetic aperture sky imaging. Through the optimal interference combination between the small-caliber dish antennas, the precise tracking and measurement of the multiple targets is realized by the digital beam synthesis. With the method of software de-noising and array calibration, it can further improve the extraction and authentication ability of the weak target signals, and reduce the power and gain requirements of the system. The key technical experiments by using the Tianlai dark energy observation system with similar array structure are put forward, so as to shorten the research duration and reduce the scientific research cost. The feasibility of the experiments is analyzed from the detection range, signal characteristics and detectable time, etc. Results show that the Tianlai array has ability to support the new technology experiments.

Key words: Space target detection, Radio astronomy, Interference array, Synthetic aperture imaging, Digital multi beam, Software signal de noising, Dark energy