U.S. Scientists Bring Sub-GHz ‘First light’ to Jansky VLA

Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in conjunction with radio astronomers and engineers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, N.M. have achieved "First Light" at frequencies below 1 GHz using the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA). The research team developed a new, modern, wide-band receiver system for the JVLA covering 50 MHz to 500 MHz. The first five of the receivers were used to successfully map the radio sky at 337 MHz. Interferometric imaging using widely separated antennas is difficult because of the requirements for receiver sensitivity, stability and coherence.

"The use of over 100 megahertz of bandwidth in the first image is a dramatic illustration of the breakthrough to instantaneous wideband systems at frequencies below one gigahertz," said Dr. Namir Kassen, section head of the NRL Radio Astrophysics Section. "This represents a poorly explored part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is important for ionospheric and astrophysical research and to the Navy's mission for navigation and communications."

Another radio NRL astronomer, Dr. Tracy Clarke, also commented on the achievement.

"With the new greatly improved receivers and the demonstration that they work well with the JVLA, scientists are once again able to explore with greater veracity the low-frequency radio bands for high sensitivity astrophysics and high accuracy ionospheric research," said Clarke.

Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.