CHORD
Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector
CHORD is a next-generation radio telescope under construction at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO). It is composed of 512 close-packed, ultra-deep (f/D = 0.21) 6 m dishes, each equipped with a dual-polarization ultra-wideband (UWB) feed covering 300 MHz – 1500 MHz in a single band — three times the bandwidth of CHIME's 400 – 800 MHz, on a much wider lever arm in frequency space.
As co-PI and Telescope Architect, I'm responsible for the overall instrument design and lead several individual components:
- The UWB feed (Mackay et al., 2023).
- The analog signal chain following the feed.
- The backend spatial correlator.
CHORD's science cases span FRB detection and localization, pulsar timing, 21cm intensity mapping at higher redshifts than CHIME can reach, and continuum surveys. The full design rationale is in the early whitepaper.
Funded primarily through CFI's Innovation Fund. A collaboration of U of T, McGill, UBC, DRAO/NRC, Yale, and others.