The Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients Survey (CRAFT)
CRAFT is the high-time resolution survey for fast radio transients on the 36-element, 30 deg2 field of view Australian SKA Pathfinder. Its aim is to survey the Universe for impulsive astrophysical phenomena at radio frequencies between about 700 and 1500 MHz. A particular target of interest is the newly-discovered class of highly-luminous Fast Radio Bursts. The cause of FRB emission is a topic of hot debate, as are their progenitor objects. FRBs occur at cosmological distances , and their radiation, which is subject to dispersion by the tenuous matter in the ionized Inter-Galactic Medium, hold the potential to probe the structure, physical properties and evolution of the IGM in a manner that has not previously been possible.
Principal investigators
- Dr Keith Bannister (CASS)
- Associate Professor Ryan Shannon (Swinburne)
- Dr Clancy James (ICRAR-Curtin)
Technical specifications
- 1 ms time resolution
- 1 MHz spectral resolution across 336 MHz
- Total powers are searched from each of the phased array feed (PAF) beams from each telescope. The telescopes can be operated in either fly’s eye mode (to achieve a total field of view of N x 30 sq.deg. with N antennas), or a collimated incoherent mode in which all antennas target a common pointing centre
- Buffers within the PAF beamformers implement a voltage capture mode for all bursts detected in real time. This feeds the interferometric localisation pipeline.