Correlated Radio Frequency Interference Monitor for Radio Telescopes

Abstract

Radio frequency interference (RFI) is one of the biggest challenges facing current radio astronomy experiments. Telescopes like the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio transient Detector (CHORD) need to accurately identify RFI to deliver on their science goals. For applications like HI intensity mapping for precision cosmology, long integrations consisting of hundreds to thousands of hours are needed, and thorough RFI flagging is required to avoid contaminating deep datasets. Currently, many major precision cosmology instruments are facing systematic limitations that include unflagged RFI contamination. For transients, false triggers due to RFI are common and interfere with the detection of real sources like fast radio bursts (FRBs). This paper presents a prototype design for an auxiliary array of horizon-pointed antennas that are cross-correlated in real-time at full cadence with the main telescope to assist in the identification and mitigation of RFI for the CHORD instrument. The major benefit of the version proposed here over a more traditional omnidirectional observatory monitor is the capability to synchronize with CHORD in real time and provide fine timescale flags and cross correlations. The general setup and techniques used here will be applicable to other radio telescopes as well.