Technical Development

Signal processing is a fundamental key element of radio astronomy and comes into play in the entire measurement process. The innovative use of modern technologies is of particular importance here and forms the foundation for new observation and analysis methods and ultimately thus enables new scientific discoveries.

The Division is responsible for the development and operation of receiving systems for the 100-m-telescope as well as the development of low noise amplifiers, modules and backends.

The development and construction of scientific cameras and detector systems for infrared interferometry is one of the main tasks of the department. In addition to instrument hardware, we also develop the software for data reduction and image reconstruction. The camera systems are used by our astronomers as visitor instruments for astronomical observations at large telescopes around the world. We provide technical support on site. As we specialize in developing low-noise, fast readout detector electronics and reliable data reduction software, we participate in international projects for the instrumentation of the ESO-VLTI and LBT.

Our mission is to provide state-of-the-art instruments for the detection of both coherent and incoherent submillimeter radiation from space. We operate receivers at novel ground-based telescopes like APEX, and develop subsystems for near-future space (Herschel) and airborne (SOFIA) platforms.

The department supports the scientific department Radio Astronomy/VLBI (Anton Zensus) in all aspects which have to do with VLBI
• operating a VLBI software correlator on a High Performance Computer (HPC) Cluster
• development of VLBI data acquisition at the highest data rates
• developing VLBI for very short wavelengths of 1 mm
• developing software for adding the signals of all dishes of the ALMA array to a gigantic telescope for VLBI.