CCAPP Antarctic RF Test Facility
The CCAPP Antarctic RF Test Facility (CART) was designed to provide OSU and its academic partners with access to advanced facilities for the development, fabrication, and testing of ultra-fast (>3 GHz), ultra-sensitive, research quality RF-electronics.
OSU is a lead hardware developer for Askaryan Radio Array (ARA), Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), and ExaVolt Antenna (EVA). The OSU involvement focuses on developing the hardware and firmware for the triggering and digitization of RF-signals. Developing robust hardware requires researchers understand the long-term behavior of detectors at Antarctic temperatures and be capable of making rapid improvements. CART empowers OSU with the resources to make this possible.
CART’s hallmark facilities are:
- A 41 cubic-foot thermal chamber, capable of achieving Antarctic temperatures (<-70°F) for weeks-on-end
- A 6000 cubic-foot RF isolated room (soon to be an anechoic chamber)
- A high-precision Printed Circuit Board Mill, capable of <35 μm depth precision for circuit board milling
- A “Pick and Place” machine for precision placement, orientation, and alignment of small circuit board components
CART is a collaborative research center between the Connolly-Beatty Laboratory and the Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics at the Ohio State University, with partial funding from NSF. It is housed on the third floor of the Physics Research Building at the Columbus Campus of the Ohio State University, and can be accessed by members OSU’s research collaborations.