Specifications

LWA1 / LWA-SV Specification Summary


The table below lists the specifications of the LWA full stations (LWA1 and LWA-SV).

Specification Details Comment
Number of stands 256 Plus one outrigger antenna at 300m baseline
Frequency coverage ν 3-88 MHz  
Number of beams 4
Number of tunings 2 per beam  
Number of polarizations, Npol 2 per beam per tuning  
Bandwidth per beam, B 19.6 MHz max 16 MHz usable due to band edges
Declination range -30° to 90°  
All sky transient mode TBS 100-300 kHz bandwidth Continuous observing all dipoles
All sky transient mode TBT 75 MHz bandwidth Periodic bursts observing all dipoles
Spectrometer See table Minimum channel width 7.8125 kHz
SEFD 6 kJy At zenith
Sensitivity Smin 5 Jy 5 sigma, 1 sec, 16MHz, zenith
Confusion noise (zenith)1 25 Jy/beam for a 2° beam at 74 MHz, only theoretical estimate

 

1 The confusion limit will be reached in about 1 msec using 8 MHz bandwidth. Longer integrations can be achieved for narrower bandwidths.



LWA-NA Specification Summary


The table below lists the specifications of the LWA-NA mini-station.

Specification Details Comment
Number of stands 64 Plus one outrigger antenna at 300m baseline
Frequency coverage ν 3-88 MHz  
Number of beams 4
Number of tunings 2 per beam  
Number of polarizations, Npol 2 per beam per tuning  
Bandwidth per beam, B 19.6 MHz max 16 MHz usable due to band edges
Declination range -30° to 90°  
All sky transient mode TBS 100-300 kHz bandwidth Continuous observing all dipoles
All sky transient mode TBT 75 MHz bandwidth Periodic bursts observing all dipoles
Spectrometer See table Minimum channel width 7.8125 kHz
SEFD 24 kJy At zenith
Sensitivity Smin 20 Jy 5 sigma, 1 sec, 16MHz, zenith
Confusion noise (zenith)2 ~75 Jy/beam for a 3.5° beam at 74 MHz, only theoretical estimate

 

2 The confusion limit will be reached in about 2 msec using 8 MHz bandwidth. Longer integrations can be achieved for narrower bandwidths.