AMI Technical Information
AMI Technical Information
| Each of the AMI arrays observes using a nominal 6-GHz bandwidth centred at 15 GHz. The band is divided into eight equal-bandwidth channels of 0.75 GHz. However, the two lowest frequency channels are not ordinarily used, owing to contamination from geostationary satellites. Therefore, the six usable channels span frequencies from 13.5 to 18 GHz. The table below contains some key technical information for each of the arrays. A detailed description of AMI can be found in AMI Consortium: Zwart J. T. L. et al. (2010). |
| Small Array | Large Array | |
| Number of antennas | 10 | 8 |
| Antenna diameter | 3.7 m | 12.8 m |
| Antenna efficiency | 75% | 67% |
| Antenna mount | Equatorial | Equatorial |
| Baseline lengths | 5 to 20 m | 18 to 110 m |
| Primary beam (15.7 GHz) | 20.1 arcmin | 5.5 arcmin |
| Synthesised beam | ≈ 3 arcmin | ≈ 30 arcsec |
| Polarisation measured | Stokes I + Q | Stokes I + Q |
| Flux sensitivity | 30 mJy s-1/2 | 3 mJy s-1/2 |
| Declination range | > -15° | > -20° |
| In practice we rarely observe below declination +20° because of interference from satellites. |