About PRATUSH Radiometer:
- Probing ReionizATion of the Universe using Signal from Hydrogen (PRATUSH) is a radio telescope to be sited on the moon’s far side.
- It is built by the Raman Research Institute(RRI) in Bengaluru with active collaboration from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- PRATUSH will carry a wideband frequency-independent antenna, operating over the frequency band 30-250 MHz, a self-calibratable analog receiver, and a digital correlator with high spectral resolution.
- The observing strategy of PRATUSH will be to continually observe large sky regions, and recording spectra of the beam-averaged radio emission with a high spectral resolution of 100 kHz.
- The nominal lifetime of the payload will be two years for achieving high signal-to-noise ratio with sufficient sky-coverage.
- The preferred orbit for the payload will be a circumlunar orbit to enable a measurement of radio sky spectrum from the dark and far side of the Moon.
- At the heart of PRATUSH’s innovative design lies an unexpectedly modest piece of technology: a compact single-board computer (SBC). Built initially around a Raspberry Pi, the SBC is serving as the master controller for the radiometer system.
- The SBC coordinates PRATUSH’s entire operation:
- Managing the antenna that collects cosmic signals
- Overseeing the analog receiver that amplifies them
- Controlling the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that converts these signals into digital fingerprints, mapping the brightness of the sky at different frequencies
- Recording and storing high-speed data streams while also carrying out preliminary data processing and calibrations.
