Automated Detection of Antenna Malfunctions in Large-N Interferometers: A Case Study with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Storer, Dara, Dillon, Joshua S, Jacobs, Daniel C, Morales, Miguel F, Hazelton, Bryna J, Ewall-Wice, Aaron, Abdurashidova, Zara, Aguirre, James E, Alexander, Paul, Ali, Zaki S, Balfour, Yanga, Beardsley, Adam P, Bernardi, Gianni, Billings, Tashalee S, Bowman, Judd D, Bradley, Richard F, Bull, Philip, Burba, Jacob, Carey, Steven, Carilli, Chris L, Cheng, Carina, DeBoer, David R, Eloy de Lera Acedo, Dexter, Matt, Dynes, Scott, Ely, John, Fagnoni, Nicolas, Fritz, Randall, Furlanetto, Steven R, Gale-Sides, Kingsley, Glendenning, Brian, Gorthi, Deepthi, Greig, Bradley, Grobbelaar, Jasper, Halday, Ziyaad, Hewitt, Jacqueline N, Hickish, Jack, Huang, Tian, Josaitis, Alec, Austin, Julius, Kariseb, MacCalvin, Kern, Nicholas S, Kerrigan, Joshua, Kittiwisit, Piyanat, Kohn, Saul A, Kolopanis, Matthew, Lanman, Adam, Paul La Plante, Liu, Adrian, Loots, Anita, MacMahon, David, Malan, Lourence, Malgas, Cresshim, Martinot, Zachary E, Mesinger, Andrei, Molewa, Mathakane, Mosiane, Tshegofalang, Murray, Steven G, Neben, Abraham R, Nikolic, Bojan, Chuneeta Devi Nunhokee, Parsons, Aaron R, Pascua, Robert, Patra, Nipanjana, Pieterse, Samantha, Pober, Jonathan C, Razavi-Ghods, Nima, Riley, Daniel, Robnett, James, Rosie, Kathryn, Santos, Mario G, Sims, Peter, Singh, Saurabh, Smith, Craig, Tan, Jianrong, Thyagarajan, Nithyanandan, Williams, Peter K G, Zheng, Haoxuan
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 04.05.2022
• Subjects: Algorithms; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Case studies; Cross correlation; Data analysis; Failure modes; Ionization; Malfunctions; Outliers (statistics); Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics; Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Radio interferometers
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2109.12733

We present a framework for identifying and flagging malfunctioning antennas in large radio interferometers. We outline two distinct categories of metrics designed to detect outliers along known failure modes of large arrays: cross-correlation metrics, based on all antenna pairs, and auto-correlation metrics, based solely on individual antennas. We define and motivate the statistical framework for all metrics used, and present tailored visualizations that aid us in clearly identifying new and existing systematics. We implement these techniques using data from 105 antennas in the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) as a case study. Finally, we provide a detailed algorithm for implementing these metrics as flagging tools on real data sets.