T.B.H. Kuiper, R.M. Monroe, L.A. White, C. Garcia Miro, S.M. Levin, W.A. Majid, M. Soriano. 2016. DSN Transient Observatory. Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation 5, 4, DOI: 10.1142/S2251171716410129
The Deep Space Network (DSN) Transient Observatory (DTO) is a signal processing facility that can monitor up to four DSN downlink bands for astronomically interesting signals. The monitoring is done commensally with reception of deep space mission telemetry. The initial signal processing is done with two CASPER a ROACH1 boards, each handling one or two baseband signals. Each ROACH1 has a 10 GBe interface with a GPU-equipped Debian Linux workstation for additional processing. The initial science programs include monitoring Mars for electrostatic discharges, radio spectral lines, searches for fast radio bursts and pulsars and SETI. The facility will be available to the scientific community through a peer review process.
