Engineering Physics students from TU Eindhoven's Van der Waals Study Association visited ASTRON in March.
Electrical engineer Lesley lectured on radio astronomy and shared his knowledge on photonics. The LOFAR telescope with all its technology, from antenna, low-noise amplifiers, filters, A/D conversion to supercomputing offered a complete overview of the technology used in radio telescopes and related physics. This technology was presented on a 2D screen and students could also see it live in the lab and outside on ASTRON's test field.
In the lab, students could see the analogue photonic link that Lesley co-developed. In Australia, there are already 500 photonic links at the first SKA station, a LOFAR-type telescope in the southern hemisphere that is part of a global project. Outside on the test field, students had the opportunity to see the radio telescope with a diameter of 25-metres.
The students asked the experts at ASTRON all kinds of questions. One student stood out for his critical questions. Later on during the tour, he said he was originally from Latvia and had already gained a lot of knowledge during the construction of a LOFAR station in Latvia a few years ago.
After a short lunch, the students left by bus for Resato, where they got an insider's view of the company that develops products for various high-pressure applications: cutting, testing, controlling, injection, compression and filling.
The students were enthusiastic about this day, which they found very interesting and educational.
(Keep our website posted for the report on the visit at Resato.)