Two dimensional 256 element phased array system for radio astronomy

The first part of a phased-array demonstrator known as the thousand element array (THEA) has been constructed, of which first system results are presented in this paper. THEA is a phased-array system that is able to detect signals from different strong astronomical sources, as well as celestial sources, simultaneously due to multi-beaming capability. The completed parts consist of four tiles of one square meter with RF-beamforming and a digital back-end with digital beamforming and correlation. THEA operates in the frequency band of 600-1700 MHz.