Two types of antennas

The KAIRA project will make use of proven LOFAR antenna designs. LOFAR is the Low Frequency Array — a pan-European radio telescope project that is currently under construction.

There are two main types of LOFAR antennas. These are the so-called 'low-band' and 'high-band' antennas. The low-band antennas are aerials, covering the range 30 to 80 MHz. Each one stands approximately 1.8m tall, and has a 3 × 3-metre base. The high-band antennas are tiles and are designed to operate in the range 120 to 240 MHz. These tiles are only 0.5 metres tall, but have a larger 5 × 5-metre footprint.

Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array

Welcome to KAIRA! This is the weblog of the Kilpisjärvi Atmospheric Imaging Receiver Array (KAIRA). This is a project of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, principally funded by the University of Oulu in Finland. KAIRA is a dual array of omni-directional VHF radio antennas. It makes extensive use of the proven LOFAR antenna and digital signal-processing hardware, and can act as either a stand-alone passive receiver, as a radar receiver for the VHF transmitter in Tromsø, or for use in conjunction with other Fenno-Scandinavian VHF experiments. It will be used for engineering experiments as well as conducting scientific observations of atmospheric and astrophysical phenomena. In additional to being a powerful observing instrument in its own right, KAIRA will act as a pathfinder for technologies to be used in the proposed EISCAT-3D system.