A sweeping local oscillator system for pulsar observations

Abstract

The paper discusses the design details of an inexpensive programmable sweeping local oscillator system (SLOS) built for use in a 'swept frequency dedispersion scheme' for pulsar observations. A useful extension of the basic divide-and-add algorithm for frequency synthesis is developed for this purpose. A SLOS based on this design has been built and used for high time-resolution observations of pulsars at low radio-frequencies.