Low noise phased-array feed with CMOS LNAs

Phased-array feeds are being developed for expantion of the field-of-view of parabolic reflector antennas. The University of Calgary (UCalgary) and the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada have recently demonstrated a low-noise phased-array feed for possible use in the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope. NRC has made noise measurements of such an array equipped with CMOS low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) designed by the University of Calgary. In the design range from 0.7 GHz to 1.5 GHz, array beam-referred noise measurements, using an ambient load as a hot load and the sky as a cold load, show array beam-referred noise temperatures as low as 20 K. This paper describes the phased-array feed.