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Small dishes:
> Small dishes - Solid surface
> Small dishes - Mesh surface
> Small dishes + focal plane arrays

Aperture arrays:
> Aperture plane Array (AA)

Other concepts which have been considered:
> KARST - LAR - Cylindrical reflectors - Luneburg Lens

> Other possible design - The Large Adaptive Reflector (LAR)

The Large Adaptative Reflector will be a very large steerable radio telescope. This is a concept for a low-cost, large-aperture, wideband, radio telescope, designed to operate over the wavelength range from 2 m to 1.4 cm.

The proposed design for the LAR includes two central components. The first is a long focal length, large-diameter parabolic reflector, composed of actuated hexagonal panels, mounted on the ground. The reflecting surface, made of flat panels, will be 200 metres in diameter. The overall reflector shape will be adjusted by computer-controlled actuators.

The second component is a focal package supported at a height of 500 m by a large helium balloon (aerostat) and a system of three or more taut tethers.

The telescope is steered by simultaneously changing the lengths of the tethers with winches (thus changing the position of the feed) and by modifying the shape of the reflector. Simulations have shown that in operating wind conditions, the position of the feed platform can be stabilized to within a few centimetres.

Construction of a 1/3-scale model of the tethered aerostat subsystem, with a footprint only 0.5 square km, is presently underway in Penticton, B.C. It will allow a validation of the underlying design and the study of some fascinating issues in the design and control of this system.

More about this design :
Major novel features and suitability of technologies required for the LAR concept
LAR-related Publications and Presentations
Animations: Sections of Reflector Surface - LAR Array fly by
On the web: National Research Council of Canada
Design concept white papers 2003 - 2002
Demonstrator white paper : 2004

Media coverage:
"Listening to the universe", GPS world, July 1 2004. Read...

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