Brazilian Decimetric Array (BDA) project - Phase II

The configuration of the second phase of the Brazilian Decimetric Array (BDA), installed at Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil (Longitude 45° 0′ 20″ W and Latitude 22° 41′ 19″ S), is a T-shaped array where 21 antennas are being added to existing 5 antennas of the first phase. In the third phase, in each arm of the T array, four more antennas will be added and baselines will be increased to 2.5 × 1.25 km in east-west and south directions, respectively. The antennas will be equally spaced at the distances of 250 meters from the central antenna of the T-array. Also, the frequency range will be increased to 1.2–1.7, 2.8 and 5.6 GHz. The Second phase of the BDA should be operational by the middle of 2010 and will operate in the frequency range of (1.2–1.7) GHz for solar and non solar observations. Here, we present the characteristics of the second phase of the BDA project, details of the array configuration, the u-v coverage, the synthesized beam obtained for the proposed configuration.