Green Bank Development Program

Introduction

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is the world's largest fully steerable telescope which has the capability to cover frequencies <0.3 through >100 GHz. Currently the GBT instrument suite is limited to priamrily 1-2 pixels at any given wavelength and has frequency coverage only up to 50 GHz for spectral line instruments.

The NRAO plans the development of a set of wide field multi-pixel cameras for the GBT. These instruments will include traditional feed-horn focal plane arrays of 60 - 100 elements, or more, to cover frequencies from 10 - 115 GHz, a ≥1,000 pixel bolometer array at 90 GHz, and beam-forming phased arrays at frequencies near 1 GHz. These instruments will increase the astronomical capabilities of the GBT by two or more orders of magnitude, provide an essential complement to ALMA and the EVLA, and enable new science in many areas of interest, including star formation, cosmology, and astrochemistry. These instruments will be built in partnership with the US astronomical community, and all costs associated with these projects will be in their research, development, and one-time construction. Ongoing operational costs of the instruments will be provided by the NRAO operations budget.

The Green Bank Program Development division role is to provide accurate long term planning of Green Bank's limited resources. Our goal is to insure the GBT remains at the forefront of research and to enable NRAO-GB to deliver products on time and within the scope promised to the outside community. Typical projects for the prgroam development division range from 1-10 people and budgets ranging from <$1k to >$1M.

GBT Development Projects

Ongoing development projects for the GBT include both the abovementioned multi-pixel camera program and the infrastructure needs to enable those instruments. The plans for the next ten years with the GBT include

Traditional feed-horn focal plane arrays

• Current:7-pixel prototype array at 18-1 GHz;
• Planned:100+ pixel array from <70 -> 110 GHz;
• Planned:60+ pixel array from 18-30 GHz;

Bolometer arrays

• Current:64-pixel bolometer array at 90 GHz;
• Planned:256-pixel bolometer array at 90 GHz;
• Planned:1000+-pixel bolometer array at 90 GHz;

Beam forming arrays

• TBD

Infrastructure Projects

• Configurable Instrument Collaboration for Agile Data Acquistion (CICADA)
  • Current:GUPPI - The Green Bank Unltimate Pulsar Processing Instrument
  • Planned:FPGA-based replacement for the GBT spectrometer
  • Planned:FPGA-based digitized IF transmission system to handle 100+ pixels
  • Planned:FPGA-based spectral line backend to handle 100+ pixels
• Current:Dynamic Scheduling System (DSS)
• Current:Precision Telescope Control Systems (PTCS)

Additional information on the development plans for the GBT can be obtained through contacting Karen O'Neil (koneil at nrao.edu).