A Multi-Messenger Radio Survey Camera
Radio Camera Products
- 10 wideband continuum channels (I, 0.7 – 2.0 GHz)
- 605 continuum channels (IQUV, 0.7 – 2.0 GHz @ 2.15 MHz resolution)
- 5600 low-resolution channels (0.7 – 1.45 GHz @ 134 kHz resolution, HI: 56 km/s @ z = 1, 28 km/s @ z = 0)
- Tuneable zoom band A: 4096 channels (I), 8 kHz (1.8 km/s) [extragalactic HI, D < 100 Mpc]
- Tuneable zoom band B: 1048 channels (I), 1.05 kHz (0.22 km/s) [Galactic HI, Δv = 225 km/s]
- Output: 1 image / cubes (16k images) / 16k × 16k pixels per primary beam
Pulsar Timing Beams
- 1.3 GHz bandwidth (0.7 – 2.0 GHz)
- 4 steerable, full polarization beams
- Output: folded profiles with 2048 phase bins, 1 second integration time, and 605 coherently dedispersed channels
- 200 pulsars monitored monthly
Chronoscope Products
- 4000 targeted beams for pulsar searching and timing (0.1ms, 134kHz res)
- 200,000 uniformly spaced beams for pulsar searching (0.1ms, 134kHz res)
- 6,000,000 uniformly spaced beams FRB searching (1ms, 134kHz res)
- Output: low-latency FRB alerts, pulsar folded profiles.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Antennas | 1650 × 6.15-m dishes |
| Frequency coverage | 0.7 – 2.0 GHz |
| Primary beam FWHM | 2.5° at 1.35 GHz |
| Synthesized beam FWHM | 3.0″ at 1.35 GHz |
| Continuum sensitivity | 600 nJy in 1 hr |
| All-sky survey | 31,000 deg² @ 500 nJy/beam |
| Number of unique radio sources | >1 billion |
| HI: z < 1 (5600 × 130 kHz) | 5 million galaxies |
| HI: < 100 Mpc (4192 × 8 kHz) | 100,000 galaxies |
| HI: Galactic (960 × 1 kHz) | 10″ resolution at 0.25 km/s |
| RM grid (625 × 2.1 MHz) | 10 million sources |
| Fast radio bursts | 100,000 localized to < 0.5″ |
| Pulsar search | 22,000 new pulsars |
| Millisecond pulsar timing | TOA data for 200 pulsars |
Unparalleled Survey Speed
The DSA will operate as a dedicated survey telescope. This allows the array design to be highly optimized to maximize survey speed—a low cost antenna with an ambient temperature receiver will operate at a single frequency band, with all observations conducted in blocks of 20 minutes. The homogeneous nature of the resulting data is a key factor that enables the radio camera approach for the DSA, with data products that will bypass the growing data deluge problem in radio astronomy, enabling broader community access to the radio sky. This strategy will allow the DSA to provide the essential radio complement to the next generation of astronomical surveys (e.g., Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Argus Array, SPHEREx, SRG/eROSITA, Roman, Euclid), and an unparalleled all-sky reference in advance of the ngVLA and SKA.