Determination of Noise Temperature and Beam Modelling of an Antenna Array with Example Application using MWA

Abstract

This thesis contains the tools for characterizing antenna arrays in a mutually coupled environment which includes phased arrays. Using the formulations derived, it enables the calculation of realized area, receiver noise temperature, radiation efficiency and sensitivity. The proposed formulation presented was rigorously verified using both electromagnetic simulation and data collected from astronomical observations showing excellent agreement. As an example application, we characterized the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) tile which forms the overall MWA radio telescope.