Frames to go!

In order to limit the amount of drift snow that banks up on or against the antennas, the KAIRA project plans to put the high-frequency tiles on a raised platform, made from a series of frames. By raising the tiles, they will be subjected to greater wind speeds and will avoid the immediate ground boundary layer.

To test this, and various other concepts, two test tiles will be deployed at the site this year. They will be monitored over the winter and fully inspected in the spring. Of the two tiles, one will be placed on a 1-metre high platform and the other directly to the ground (like is done at conventional LOFAR sites).

The deployment of these test tiles will be carried out over the next couple of days. And, although the tiles themselves will be delivered directly to the site, the frames will be taken up from the institute.

In this photograph, the set of timber frames has just been loaded onto the trailer, ready to be towed up to the site.