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Origin of Major L-Band Interference Received by the HALCA Space Radio Telescope

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

S. Yu. Lioubtchenko
Affiliation:
Astro Space Center FIAN, Profsoyuznaya str. 84/32, Moscow 117810, RUSSIA
M. V. Popov
Affiliation:
Astro Space Center FIAN, Profsoyuznaya str. 84/32, Moscow 117810, RUSSIA
H. Hirabayashi
Affiliation:
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science 3-1-1 Yoshinodai Sagamihara Kanagawa 229–8510 JAPAN
H. Kobayashi
Affiliation:
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science 3-1-1 Yoshinodai Sagamihara Kanagawa 229–8510 JAPAN

Abstract

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About 40 hours of observing data received by the space radio telescope HALCA at L-band (1.6 GHz) were analyzed in order to investigate interference received by the space radio telescope. Autocorrelation spectra for this study were specially prepared at the DRAO S2-correlator with a 7.8125 kHz frequency resolution in each 16 MHz channel. It was found that during 20% of the observing time the interfering signal was above the tolerable level of 1% of total receiver noise in a 16 MHz channel. The major source of interference is identified with uplink communication from ships to geostationary satellites in the International Maritime Satellite service (INMARSAT). The frequency range allocated for INMARSAT is 1636.5–1645.0 MHz. INMARSAT uses four geostationary satellites, two of which are located above the Atlantic Ocean where the strongest interference was observed. To avoid this interference it is recommended to move the HALCA observing frequency range from the currently used 1634–1666 MHz to 1645–1677 MHz. A simple criterion is proposed to predict harmful interference from INMARSAT. This criterion may be used in scheduling of future HALCA observations at L-band.

Type
Part 4. Threats to Radio Astronomy
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001 

References

Zhilin, V.A. “International Maritime Satellite Service INMARSAT”, Handbook, pp.1159, Sudostroenie, Leningrad, 1988 (in Russian).Google Scholar
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