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Today, in the Murchison Radio Quiet Zone: The Power and Signal Distribution (PaSD) SMART boxes (Small Modular Aggregation RFoF Trunk) are an essential compon

Today, in the Murchison Radio Quiet Zone: The Power and Signal Distribution (PaSD) SMART boxes (Small Modular Aggregation RFoF Trunk) are an essential component of the Square Kilometre Array Low frequency (SKA-Low) telescope, currently under construction at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, in Western Australia. The SMART boxes provide electrical power to the SKA-Low telescope's 131,072 antennas and collect signals received from the sky to go off-site for processing. [ .. ] “The ‘radio quiet’ results that the ICRAR-designed SMART boxes achieved were to the highest standards in radio astronomy. A mobile phone on the surface of the moon would cause more interference to the antennas than the SMART boxes that sit among them,” ~ https://www.australiandefence.com.au/defence/cyber-space/icrar-designs-radio-quiet-electronics-to-power-ska-low https://www.australiandefence.com.au/defence/cyber-space/icr... I still haven't found any vehicle guidelines for the Inner Zone ( 70 km radius ), but for anyone with an interest: * General introduction: https://www.industry.gov.au/science-technology-and-innovation/space-and-astronomy/ska-project-australia/australian-radio-quiet-zone-wa https://www.industry.gov.au/science-technology-and-innovatio... * Restricted airspace: https://www.avsef.gov.au/consultations/restricted-airspace-over-murchison-radio-observatory https://www.avsef.gov.au/consultations/restricted-airspace-o... * Limits of intereference by frequency and distance table: https://www.ursi.org/proceedings/procGA11/ursi/JP2-17.pdf https://www.ursi.org/proceedings/procGA11/ursi/JP2-17.pdf

walrus01 2y ago
RF over fiber is a fairly well established thing, it's used in two way data satellite earth stations to convert a L or S band signal into something that can go a longer distance from the antenna to a conditioned equipment room at the same place. https://www.vialite.com/market-sectors/satcom/ https://www.vialite.com/market-sectors/satcom/ https://dev-systemtechnik.com/rf-over-fiber/ https://dev-systemtechnik.com/rf-over-fiber/
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  Very cool. Is there a reason the RF has to be converted back to RF after the fiber link vs processing the RF spectrum data optically?
  - walrus01 2y ago
    your typical satellite modem will have an RF interface either somewhere between 70 to 140 MHz (where it's intended to be upconverted/downconverted by the LNB and BUC/SSPA at the antenna), or somewhere between 1100 to 1900 MHz, both intended for attachment to low loss coaxial cables. This works fine if you're putting the modem fairly close to the LNB and BUC/SSPA. If it needs to be a hundred meters away or something, it's a lot of RF loss, and path loss/link budgets in geostationary satellite are already hard enough without introducing any more loss at the ground side. https://www.comtechefdata.com/products/satellite-modems https://www.comtechefdata.com/products/satellite-modems
  - MadnessASAP 2y ago
    I would imagine it's because electrical amplifiers, filters, and other such items are cheap and well understood. Whereas optical amplifiers, filters, and other such things, particularly ones that operate at low-GHz frequencies are expensive and kinda wild
    - walrus01 2y ago
      well, an optical amplifier wouldn't do anything at all attached to a waveguide into a feed horn, in something like a 6.3 meter ku or c band cassegrain antenna design antenna aimed at a geostationary satellite... that's the job for a BUC/SSPA. You need. it needs to be RF. rf over fiber in a satellite teleport application is more about being able to separate the modem from the antenna-mounted LNB and BUC/SSPA which might be some distance away.

walrus01 2y ago

RF over fiber is a fairly well established thing, it's used in two way data satellite earth stations to convert a L or S band signal into something that can go a longer distance from the antenna to a conditioned equipment room at the same place. https://www.vialite.com/market-sectors/satcom/ https://www.vialite.com/market-sectors/satcom/ https://dev-systemtechnik.com/rf-over-fiber/ https://dev-systemtechnik.com/rf-over-fiber/

toomuchtodo 2y ago
Very cool. Is there a reason the RF has to be converted back to RF after the fiber link vs processing the RF spectrum data optically?
- walrus01 2y ago
  your typical satellite modem will have an RF interface either somewhere between 70 to 140 MHz (where it's intended to be upconverted/downconverted by the LNB and BUC/SSPA at the antenna), or somewhere between 1100 to 1900 MHz, both intended for attachment to low loss coaxial cables. This works fine if you're putting the modem fairly close to the LNB and BUC/SSPA. If it needs to be a hundred meters away or something, it's a lot of RF loss, and path loss/link budgets in geostationary satellite are already hard enough without introducing any more loss at the ground side. https://www.comtechefdata.com/products/satellite-modems https://www.comtechefdata.com/products/satellite-modems
- MadnessASAP 2y ago
  I would imagine it's because electrical amplifiers, filters, and other such items are cheap and well understood. Whereas optical amplifiers, filters, and other such things, particularly ones that operate at low-GHz frequencies are expensive and kinda wild
  - walrus01 2y ago
    well, an optical amplifier wouldn't do anything at all attached to a waveguide into a feed horn, in something like a 6.3 meter ku or c band cassegrain antenna design antenna aimed at a geostationary satellite... that's the job for a BUC/SSPA. You need. it needs to be RF. rf over fiber in a satellite teleport application is more about being able to separate the modem from the antenna-mounted LNB and BUC/SSPA which might be some distance away.