Design and Commissioning of the BURSTT-256 Main Antenna Array for the Fast Radio Burst Survey in the Local Universe

@misc{wang2026design,
  title = {{Design and Commissioning of the BURSTT-256 Main Antenna Array for the Fast Radio Burst Survey in the Local Universe}},
  author = {Shih-Hao Wang and Kai-Yang Lin and Chao-Te Li and Chau-Ching Chiong and Jen-Chieh Cheng and Chung-Cheng Chen and Hsien-Chun Tseng and Shu-Hao Chang and Pai-An Chen and Ta-Shun Wei and Chin-Ting Ho and Vigo Feng-Shun Wu and Yu-Chieh Huang and Sujin Eie and Yao-Huan Tseng and Ue-Li Pen and Chih-Yi Wen and Homin Jiang and Andrew Wang and Bishnu Kumar Sharma and Tzu-Hong Chen Lin and Yuan-Wei Hu and Shih-Wen Chung and Chen-Hui Peng and Ming-Tang Chen and Pisin Chen and Jiwoo Nam and Tomotsugu Goto and Tetsuya Hashimoto and Chin-Ping Hu and Yuan-Chang Hou and Daniel Baker and Michael Chiang and Somnath Dutta and Sun-Kun King and Hiroto Masaoka and Chung-Yun Kuo and Che-Wei Pai and Decmend Fang-Jie Ling},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07832},
  eprint = {2611.07832},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07832},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Design and Commissioning of the BURSTT-256 Main Antenna Array for the Fast Radio Burst Survey in the Local Universe
AU  - Shih-Hao Wang
AU  - Kai-Yang Lin
AU  - Chao-Te Li
AU  - Chau-Ching Chiong
AU  - Jen-Chieh Cheng
AU  - Chung-Cheng Chen
AU  - Hsien-Chun Tseng
AU  - Shu-Hao Chang
AU  - Pai-An Chen
AU  - Ta-Shun Wei
AU  - Chin-Ting Ho
AU  - Vigo Feng-Shun Wu
AU  - Yu-Chieh Huang
AU  - Sujin Eie
AU  - Yao-Huan Tseng
AU  - Ue-Li Pen
AU  - Chih-Yi Wen
AU  - Homin Jiang
AU  - Andrew Wang
AU  - Bishnu Kumar Sharma
AU  - Tzu-Hong Chen Lin
AU  - Yuan-Wei Hu
AU  - Shih-Wen Chung
AU  - Chen-Hui Peng
AU  - Ming-Tang Chen
AU  - Pisin Chen
AU  - Jiwoo Nam
AU  - Tomotsugu Goto
AU  - Tetsuya Hashimoto
AU  - Chin-Ping Hu
AU  - Yuan-Chang Hou
AU  - Daniel Baker
AU  - Michael Chiang
AU  - Somnath Dutta
AU  - Sun-Kun King
AU  - Hiroto Masaoka
AU  - Chung-Yun Kuo
AU  - Che-Wei Pai
AU  - Decmend Fang-Jie Ling
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/05
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07832
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07832
AB  - The Bustling Universe Radio Survey Telescope in Taiwan (BURSTT) is a radio interferometer array designed for surveying fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the nearby Universe with a wide instantaneous field of view (FoV) of ≈6000 deg^2 and precisely localizing them with sub-arcsecond angular resolution. The first phase of BURSTT, BURSTT-256, consists of a main antenna array comprising 256 log-periodic dipole antennas (LPDAs) observing at 400-800 MHz for real-time beamforming and FRB search, currently with 256 beams covering ≈ 3200 deg^2 FoV, together with several smaller outrigger stations with 16-64 antennas and separated by 𝒪(10^2 − 10^3) km baselines for joint observations to localize FRBs using very-long baseline interferometry. This work presents the design, deployment, and commissioning of the BURSTT-256 main array, including site selection, radio-frequency (RF) background characterization, receiver antenna array and RF front-end, as well as real-time, factorized digital beamforming backend that currently generates 256 beams. The system's on-sky performance, sensitivity, and beamforming fidelity have been calibrated through observations of bright celestial calibrators. The antenna array in the initial phase using commercial LPDAs has a system equivalent flux density of ≈11 kJy, and is expected to achieve ≈4 kJy using custom-design LPDAs after optimization in late 2026. BURSTT-256 serves as a critical pathfinder for future expansion of the array to 2048 elements and beyond, operating at 300-700 MHz with ≈6000 deg^2 FoV. It establishes the framework required to discover and localize nearby FRBs with sub-arcsecond precision. By substantially increasing the number of well-localized nearby FRBs, BURSTT will facilitate multi-wavelength and multi-messenger counterpart identification, helping to unveil the elusive origin of FRBs.
ER  -