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Performance and uses of a refurbished 30‐m former satellite communications antenna: The Georgia Tech Woodbury Research Facility
Author(s) -
DeBoer David R.,
Steffes Paul G.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/1999rs900033
Subject(s) - communications satellite , telecommunications , upgrade , satellite , scale (ratio) , antenna (radio) , computer science , electrical engineering , engineering , geography , aerospace engineering , cartography , operating system
A class of large satellite communication antennas built in the 1970s for commercial purposes comprises a potential set of large antennas useful for education, research, satellite communications, or radio astronomy upon upgrade. Many of these facilities were abandoned as the advent of low‐noise electronics obviated the need for such large antennas with their associated maintenance costs. Although many have sat idle and decaying over the intervening years, these facilities remain a potential resource for research and education. One such facility located south of Atlanta near the town of Woodbury, Georgia, was acquired for use by the Georgia Institute of Technology. This facility consists of a pair of 30‐m antennas built in the mid‐1970s that were used by AT&T through the early 1980s for satellite communications. Initially as a set of small‐scale student projects and later as a full‐scale project funded by the SETI Institute, one of the 30‐m antennas has recently been fully renovated and used for radio astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). This paper discusses the process and results of refurbishing the Woodbury facility.