Argus Array Technical References page

Argus Array Technical References

Overview: Argus is an experimental "omnidirectional radio telescope," designed to achieve a instantaneous field of view covering most of the sky at L-band. Applications include searches for transient signals due to astrophysical and technological sources. The system is located on the West Campus of the Ohio State University. It was designed and built by S. Ellingson (now with Virginia Tech) and G. Hampson (now with CSIRO/ATNF) with effort from many graduate and undergraduate students and a local volunteer organization called NAAPO (see below). Funding has been received from the SETI Institute and local benefactors.

This page is http://argus.naapo.org/~rchilders/swe_argus_pubs/
This page is a variant of http://www.ece.vt.edu/swe/argus/
Maintainer: Russ Childers
Last Update: March 29, 2011

Introductory Information

Most Current Description: S.W. Ellingson, G.A. Hampson, and R.K. Childers, "Argus: An L-Band All-Sky Astronomical Surveillance System" (PDF), IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propagation, Vol. 56, No. 2, February 2008, pp. 294-302.
Most Recent Results: See above.
Why Search for Radio Transients? S. Ellingson, "Wide Field Searches for Radio Transients," (PDF) April 2004. Addresses astrophysical transients.
Information for Laymen: A local volunteer group known as NAAPO participates in the development of Argus. At their web site, you can find some less-technical information.

Media

Warning! Here are a few articles by others, addressing Argus. Please note: popular science writers, although generally well-meaning, are typically not scientists and usually refuse to provide copy so as to permit correction of errors before publication. So, it would be a big mistake to interpret anything in these articles as authoritative. Nevertheless, they are cited here for historical reasons and possible use in understanding context.

Paul Carr, "Actually, Wow!", The WOW! Signal Podcast, Season 2, Episode 7 - An audio interview featuring Dr. Robert Dixon (17 November 2014).
S. Nadis, "Miniature antennas will eavesdrop on the Universe", Nature, 405, 722 (15 June 2000).
A.M. MacRobert, "The Allen Telescope Array: SETI's Next Big Step", Sky & Telescope, July 2000. (Argus is described toward the end of the web version of this article.)
D. Sorid, "Argus Expands the Search for Life", Space.com (June 9, 2000).

Other Arrays

G.B. Taylor, S.W. Ellingson, et al, "First Light for the First Station of the Long Wavelength Array" (PDF), Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation, Vol. 1, No. 1, August 7, 2012, pp. 1250004-1-20.

Technical and Scientific Documents

In reverse chronological order.

R.S. Dixon, "A Sentry on the Universe", chapter 16 of the book Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence; SETI Past, Present, and Future, H. Paul Shuch, ed, Springer Praxis, 2011.
D. Needham, "Argus Radio Telescope Architecture", Slides from a presentation, Decenber 2010.
S.W. Ellingson, G.A. Hampson, and R.K. Childers, "Argus: An L-Band All-Sky Astronomical Surveillance System" (PDF), IEEE Trans. Antennas & Propagation, Vol. 56, No. 2, February 2008, pp. 294-302.
S.W. Ellingson and G.A. Hampson, "Detection and Localization of L-Band Satellites Using an Antenna Array," (PDF) 2004 IEEE Int'l Ant. and Prop. Sym., Monterey, CA, June 2004. See also the presentation slides.
S.W. Ellingson and G.A. Hampson, "Argus: An L-Band Array for Detection of Astronomical Transients," (PDF) 2003 IEEE Int'l Ant. and Prop. Sym., Columbus, OH, June 2003 (3:256-9). This is the presentation, which is shows the current hardware. The actual paper (PDF) is also useful, but describes the older, slightly different receivers.
S.W. Ellingson, "Detection of Tones and Pulses using a Large, Uncalibrated Array", 2003 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Soc. Int'l Symposium, Columbus, OH, June 2003 (4:196-9).
S.W. Ellingson and W. Cazemier, "Efficient Multibeam Synthesis with Interference Nulling for Large Arrays", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 51, No. 3, March 2003, pp. 503-511.
S.W. Ellingson, "What Will Argus See?" (PDF), Mar 1, 2003.
S.W. Ellingson, "Correcting I-Q Imbalance in Direct Conversion Receivers" (PDF), Feb 10, 2003.
S.W. Ellingson, "Testing Argus using a Spectrum Analyzer Mode" (PDF), Feb 9, 2003.
J. Tarter, J. Dreher, S.W. Ellingson, and W.J. Welch, "Recent Progress and Activities in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)", Chapter 36 of Review of Radio Science, 1999-2002, W. Ross Stone (Ed.), IEEE Press/John Wiley, 2002. (Includes discussion of the omnidirectional radio telescope concept.)
S.W. Ellingson and G.A. Hampson, Argus Telescope Development in 2002, The Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory Technical Report 531393-4, Jan 2003. Note: This is a compendium of reports.
E. Ranu and S.W. Ellingson, "A Low-Cost Wideband UHF Downconverter with 5:1 Tuning Range", IEEE Trans. Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 51, No. 5, Oct 2002, pp. 1080-1084.
S.W. Ellingson, "A High-Resolution Survey of RFI at 1200-1470 MHz as Seen by Argus" (PDF), October 29, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "RFI at SCF as Seen by Argus" (PDF), October 19, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A Survey of 1200-1800 MHz Using a Discone and a Spiral with the Argus Front End" (PDF), October 12, 2002.
G. Hampson, "Possible Ideas on a New DCR Backplane" (PDF), October 8, 2002.
G. Hampson, "Initial Argus Measurement Results" (PDF), October 8, 2002. (Reports on some testing of the DCR/ANP signal path.)
G. Hampson, "Argus Hardware Prost-Processor Ideas" (PDF), October 4, 2002.
S. Ellingson, "The Argus 2002 Architecture" (PDF), October 1, 2002.
G. Hampson and S. Ellingson, "A New Argus Direct Conversion Receiver and Digital Array Receiver/Processor" (PDF), Design Report, September 27, 2002; Revised Oct 3, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A Low-Cost L-Band Line Amplifier (Rev. 1)" (PDF), Design Report, October 9, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A Low-Cost L-Band Line Amplifier" (PDF), Design Report, September 9, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A 1-GHz Highpass PHEMT Low-Noise Amplifier (Rev. 1)" (PDF), Design Report, Oct 6, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A 1-GHz Highpass PHEMT Low-Noise Amplifier" (PDF), Design Report, Jul 26, 2002; revised Sep 10, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "A Low-Cost 1 GHz Highpass Low-Noise Amplifier" (PDF), Design Report, Jun 5, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "Spectral Detection of GPS and H-I Using a Single Omnidirectional Antenna" (PDF), Informal Memo, Jan 12, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson and G.A. Hampson, "A Subspace-Tracking Approach to Interference Nulling for Phased Array-Based Radio Telescopes", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 50, No. 1, Jan 2002, pp. 25-30.
S.W. Ellingson, "Detection and Localization of Tones and Pulses using an Uncalibrated Array" (PDF), Memo, Jan 24, 2002.
S.W. Ellingson, "Design and Evaluation of a Novel Antenna Array for Azimuthal Angle-of-Arrival Measurement", IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 49, No. 6, June 2001, pp. 971-979.
G.A. Hampson, "Antenna, Complex Receiver, Digital Receiver Integration Tests," October 30, 2001. Fun with GPS and the Hydrogen Line.
S.W. Ellingson, "RFI Detection Using an Array," International SKA Meeting, Berkeley, CA, July 2001.
G.A. Hampson and S.W. Ellingson, "Recent Developments in Low Cost Digital Receivers at OSU", LOFAR Workshop, MIT Haystack Observatory, October 2001.
S.W. Ellingson, "Radio Source Localization Using a Small Array", The Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory Technical Report 531393-3, March 2000.
E. Ranu, A Wideband UHF Downconverter with 5:1 Tuning Range, Master's Thesis, The Ohio State University, 2000.
T. Alferink, A Digital Signal Processing Engine for a Large Antenna Array, Master's Thesis, The Ohio State University, 2000.
S. Brown, Analysis of Performance of Multiple Beam Digital Beamforming Antenna Arrays by Simulation, Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 2000.
H.-J. Kim, An Experimental System for Low-SNR Direction Finding at L-Band, Master's thesis. The Ohio State University, 1999.
S.W. Ellingson and R.S. Dixon, "The OSU Omnidirectional Radio Telescope Project", The Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory Technical Report 531393-1, January 1999.
S.W. Ellingson, "A DSP Engine for a 64-Element Array," Technologies for Large Antenna Arrays, Dwingeloo, The Netherlands, April 1999.
S.W. Ellingson, "A Software-Defined Digital Signal Processing Architecture for Large Antenna Arrays", The Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory Technical Report 531393-2, March 1999.
B. Baertlein, "Status Report on Antenna Development", July 1999. About the Argus planar spiral antenna element, leading to the first-generation antenna.
R.S. Dixon, "The Argus Telescope", presented at an invited lecture series of ABB Corporation, March 25, 1998, Columbus, Ohio
R.S. Dixon, "Optimization of the Argus Omnidirectional Array with Software and Hardware Subarrays", presented at the One Kilometer Telescope/Square Kilometer Array Interferometer Workshop, Dec 15-18, 1997, Sydney, Australia
R.S. Dixon, "Argus with Software and Hardware Subarrays", 1kT Workshop, Sydney, Australia, December 1997.
R.S. Dixon, "The Big Idea", "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Radio Telescope", in Proc. High-Sensitivity Radio Astronomy, Jodrell Bank / Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, University of Manchester, England, January 1996. Reprinted in N. Jackson and R.J. Davies, High-Sensitivity Radio Astronomy, Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 260-8.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus Telescope Design Approaches and their Applicability to the Square Kilometer Telescope", invited paper presented at the Square Kilometer Telescope Antennas and Architectures workshop, Sept 9-10, 1996, Delft, Netherlands
R.S. Dixon, "Argus - A New Approach for Radio Telescopes" presented at the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) General Assembly Aug 28- Sept 5, 1996, Lille, France
R.S. Dixon, "The Ohio SETI Program and the Argus Telescope", invited paper presented at the International Astronomical Union Commission 51 Symposium, July 1-5, 1996, Capri, Italy.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Radio Telescope", invited paper presented at the High-Sensitivity Radio Astronomy Symposium, January 22-26, 1996, Manchester, England.
R.S. Dixon, ARGUS: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Radio Telescope, Proceedings of the 3rd meeting of the Large Telescope Working Group and of a Workshop on Spherical Radio Telescopes, International Academic Publishers, Beijing, China, 1996.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Radio Telescope", invited poster paper presented at the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI) Large Telescope Working Group Symposium, October 2-6, 1995, Guiyang, China.
R.S. Dixon, "Mass Storage Requirements for the Next Generation of Radio Telescopes", presented at the IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems, September 11-14, 1995, Monterey, California.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Future SETI Telescope", Progress In the Search for Extraterrestrial Life, Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series Vol. 74, 1995, 355-366
R.S. Dixon, "Argus - A Future SETI Telescope", Bioastronomy News, Vol 7, No 1 (First Quarter 1995): 1
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Powerful Radiotelescope", Acta Astronautica, Vol. 35, No. 9-11: 745 1995
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Powerful Radiotelescope", Acta Astronautica, Vol. 35, No. 9-11, 1995, pp. 745-752.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Future SETI Telescope," presented at the International Astronomical Union Commission 51 Symposium, August 20, 1993, in Santa Cruz, California.
R.S. Dixon, "Argus: A Next-Generation Omnidirectional Powerful Radiotelescope": presented at: a) the 44th Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, October 19, 1993, in Graz, Austria b) the International Conference on Space Missions and Astrodynamics II, October 26, 1993, in Turin, Italy c) the Medicina RadioTelescopes Colloquium, October 28, 1993, in Bologna, Italy
R.S. Dixon and C.A. Klein, "On the Detection of Unknown Signals." Third Decennial US-USSR Conference on SETI, ASP Conference Series Vol. 47, (August 1993): 129-140.
S.B. Brown, Radio Camera Arrays for Radio Astronomy, Master's thesis. The Ohio State University, 1993.
R.S. Dixon, "The ARGUS Radio Camera Project: A Concept for a Powerful Omni-Directional Radio Telescope," invited paper presented February 23, 1993, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
R.S. Dixon and C.A. Klein, "On the Detection of Unknown Signals," invited paper presented at the USA-USSR Joint Conference on The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, August 8, 1991, in Santa Cruz, California.
R.S. Dixon, "The ARGUS Radio Camera Project: A Concept for a Powerful Omni-Directional Radio Telescope," invited paper presented February 22, 1993, at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.
R.S. Dixon, "A Radio Camera Approach to SETI," presented at the International Astronomical Union's 20th General Assembly, August 2-11, 1988, in Baltimore, Maryland.
J. Bolinger, A Simultaneous Multi-beam Phased Array Using Digital Processing Techniques, Master's thesis. The Ohio State University, 1988.
A summary of Jim Bolinger's 1988 Master's Thesis, by Jerry Ehman of NAAPO.
R.S. Dixon, "Wide Angle SETI," presented at the International Astronautical Congress, October 10-17, 1987, in Brighton, England.
R.S. Dixon, "Walsh Waves for Extraterrestrial Communications," presented at the Commission J Meeting of the International Scientific Radio Union on October 12-16, 1976, in Amherst, Massachusetts.
D.M. Cole, "A Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Beacons at the Hydrogen Line", Master's Thesis, The Ohio State University, 1976.