Subarrays for Phased Aperture Array Radio Telescopes

Journal article, 2025

One of the operation modes established for the new generation radio telescopes, such as SKA-low and LOFAR, is based on the synthesis of subarrays. A subarray consists of a subset of antennas composing an array, or station, of phased array radio telescopes. This operation mode offers larger field of view and shorter baselines meeting some of the scientific requirements. In this contribution, we aim presenting this functionality implemented in the new radio telescopes operating at low frequencies. In particular, we will investigate the effect of the mutual coupling between the antennas nearest to the edge of a subarray and, finally, we present a study focused on the trade-off between the sensitivity and the number of subarrays simultaneously synthesizable within one array of the radio telescope. A Square Kilometre Array prototype operating at low frequencies is taken as case study.