Transient Radio Frequency Interference Detection Using MeerKAT’s D-Engine

Transient radio frequency interference (RFI) detection, classification and mitigation is becoming a more prevalent undertaking due to the increasing sensitivity of radio astronomy observatories. While monitoring RFI using standalone stations has benefits, there are shortcomings such as high maintenance and the need for stringent shielding. Thus, a transient detection system within the main signal chain at the digitisation stage is proposed due to the potential of better resource management and earlier detection. This paper presents a time domain transient detection firmware using moving average filtering implemented on the MeerKAT D-engine which performs digitisation at the feed of the MeerKAT antennas [6]. The firmware was designed using the CASPER toolflow. Thereafter, simulation testing and lab testing were performed. Lab testing included the hardware to capture and to generate transients from typical transient emitting devices. Both lab and simulation testing showed positive results. Lastly, the test setup was performed in an anechoic chamber where transients were recorded successfully. The data set captured would form the basis for further classification algorithms in the future.