Seminar: Radio Frequency Interference: To avoid or attack?

Prof Avinash Deshpande 

Raman Research Institute

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) from fluorescent lamps.  Credit: T.J. Nelson http://brneurosci.org/fluorescent-lamp-rf-spectra.png

Download the pdf poster.

Man-made Radio Frequency Interference, or RFI, has increasingly invaded the electromagnetic spectrum of interest to radio astronomers, and can seriously hinder sensitive measurements of the radio sky from most locations on the Earth, particularly at lower radio frequencies (below about 2 GHz) where several interesting new investigations with newer instruments have been proposed. Over the past decades, a number of techniques have been developed to characterize and mitigate the RFI. However, the mitigation strategies, often developed to deal with specific RFI situations, have largely been found wanting due to their lack of broader applicability. The talk will attempt to highlight the issues and challenges involved, as well as present a few possible detection and excision techniques, illustrated and assessed through relevant case studies.