Cost Effective Designs For Next-Generation Radio Telescopes

Abstract: Radio astronomy has entered its golden era, with many revolutionary facilities such as SKA, ngVLA, and LOFAR2.0 coming online in the next decade. These facilities are certain to redefine radio astronomy. However, on smaller scales-such as at institutional or amateur levels-radio astronomy is still mostly practiced for educational or personal interest. The primary reason small-scale radio astronomical experiments rarely produce cutting-edge scientific results is the limitation of funding available for procuring or developing components similar to those used in professional-grade facilities. A second major reason is the lack of tools and skills required for simulating components for a complete telescope. In this work, we address the first of these challenges and suggest novel ideas and designs for cost-effective, next-generation radio telescopes that can be built at small scales. We also describe the observational strategies required to produce cutting-edge scientific results with these telescopes-results comparable to those from professional facilities.