A New Facility for the Investigation of Low Noise Millimeter Wave Techniques

This paper describes a new state-of-the-art facility for millimeter-wave radioastronomy and instrumentation research presently nearing completion at the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (FCRAO), in Amherst, Massachusetts, U.S.A. The system, employing a precision 13.7 meter reflector and state-of-the-art cooled receiver technology at 94 GHz, will demonstrate an order of magnitude increase in channel capacity over all presently used satellite communications systems. This bandwidth enhancement will be accomplished with lower total system noise figures than any other system presently operational at millimeter wavelengths. It is also argued that developing the 94 GHz band will result in reduced cost-per-unit-bandwidth for future satellite communications facilities.