Radio Frequency (RF) & Wireless Design

I'm not sure if there are many out there who are aware of one of the largest Radio Telescope Arrays in the world is here in a very remote part of New Mexico state - the Very Large Array also known as the VLA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array

The VLA has been operating for over 5 decades now and there has been interest in upgrading the receiver electronics and feed horns that started back in 2015. The VLA covers the RF spectrum from 74 MHz to 50 GHz, but the upgrades will take the frequency ranges from 1 GHz to 116 GHz across these microwave bands (L, S, C, X, Ku, K, Ka, V, W). For more information on the RF Architecture see : https://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/technology

The upgraded project is called the next generation VLA or ngVLA. https://ngvla.nrao.edu/

As part of that upgrade, much debate has been considered about the best way to get the maximum performance and it has been decided that the spectrum will be divided into six bands for coverage, each with a separate antenna feed horn and amplifier/filter for the 25 meter antenna dish. https://ngvla.nrao.edu/page/performance

I have visited the VLA many years ago and one of the things that give you an appreciation of the VLA is that all of the antennas are mobile and moved on top of railroad cars ! So looking at just one antenna is impressive, but the scale of all of the antenna arrays together is amazing ! Here's some photos of just one for scale : https://www.cnhi.com/featured_stories/new-mexicos-very-large-array-reveals-secrets-of-the-cosmos/article_a292bc48-9032-11e8-acee-5bb70db3e438.html

For directions and some more photos here's someone's link: https://gregdisch.com/2019/12/19/vla-very-large-array-radio-telescope/

This is a very good video on the VLA upgrade progress by Jodie Foster (star of the movie 'Contact'):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqX9vLj3_7w

You may have already seen the VLA in the movies and not have known that this is real, not CGA such as in the 'Terminator Salvation' movie : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDVovgcEZk0