Characterization of RF signal coupling between MeerKAT telescope structures

The impact of self-generated radio frequency interference (RFI) on astronomical data depend greatly on the infrastructural design of the observatory and the shielding of the equipment. Care has been taken in the shielding design of critical areas on the MeerKAT structure including the receiver indexer (RI) and cable entry point (stub-up). Due to the extreme sensitivity of the project, we qualify the shielding effectiveness with scale modelling and on-site radio frequency (RF) coupling investigations on the MeerKAT dish structures. A simplified physical scale model and a computational model are used for electromagnetic (EM) characterization on a single dish. Together with field measurements, the verified computational model can be used for further investigations into coupling between MeerKAT telescope structures.