Study of Antennas for a Low Cost Interferometer

The project of a modern interferometric array similar to the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) Prototype Station (LOPES), to cover the LOFAR frequency range under 100 MHz is being developed at the Southern Space Observatory (SSO, 29.4o S, 59.4o W), S˜ao Martinho da Serra, RS, Brazil. Therefore, it is necessary to study different kinds of antennas that cover the large proportions of the interferometer necessity. The large number of antennas required for a LOFAR like interferometer suggests that the antenna design must have: a low development cost, avoid complex mechanical structures, robust mechanical facilities, and a large useful bandwidth dominated by the Galactic radio noise, in order to maintain a low station cost. This work presents a study of four kinds of antennas designs (NLTA, Inverted-V dipole, Fork and Half-wavelength dipole), the results of antennas simulations comparisons using the NEC-2 software and finally for each antenna a cost-benefit analysis.