Radio-over-Fiber (RFoF) is the preferred solution for long distance (~kilometres) analog signal transport in radio astronomy due to low loss compared to coaxial cables. As we found through experimentation at the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory (MRO), RFoF links are highly stable under environmental exposure such as temperature variation. Certain science cases to be observed by next generation radio telescopes, however, require extreme flatness and stability in frequency response. There is no perfect instrument. We deal with imperfections by either keeping them below the required limit or by knowing them with less uncertainty than the limit to facilitate their removal through calibration. In practice, we employ a mixture of the two. This project is about developing the right “mixture” when it comes to RFoF links for next-generation low-frequency radio telescope such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and/or future expansion of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The student will likely work with processing RFoF measurement results taken from the MRO.
