Using Multiple Beams to Distinguish Radio Frequency Interference from SETI Signals

Abstract

The Allen Telescope Array is a multi-user instrument and will perform simultaneous radio astronomy and radio SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) observations. It is a multi-beam instrument, with 16 independently steerable dual-polarization beams at 4 different tunings. Given 4 beams at one tuning, it is possible to distinguish RFI from true ETI signals by pointing the beams in different directions. Any signal that appears in more than one beam can be identified as RFI and ignored during SETI. We discuss the effectiveness of this approach for RFI rejection using realistic simulations of the fully populated 350 element configuration of the ATA as well as the interim 32 element configuration. Over a 5 minute integration period, we find RFI rejection ratios exceeding 50 dB over most of the sky.