Instrumentation and Methods for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
- Paper number
IAC-10.A4.1.3
- Author
Mr. Andrew Siemion, University of California, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Dan Werthimer, University of California, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Peter McMahon, Stanford University, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Eric Korpela, U.C. Berkeley, United States
- Coauthor
Dr. Andrew Howard, U.C. Berkeley, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Jeff Cobb, University of California, United States
- Year
2010
- Abstract
Our group is currently conducting seven separate searches for electromagnetic signatures of extraterrestrial intelligence, spanning wavelengths from radio to visible light, over ten orders of magnitude in characteristic time scale. SETI@home, the Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations (SERENDIP) and Astropulse are commensal searches at Arecibo Radio Observatory, sensitive to a wide variety of both spectrally narrow signals and dispersed pulsed emissions. The Fly's Eye searches a very wide field (nearly 200 square degrees) for bright, dispersed radio pulses using the Allen Telescope Array. The Search for Extraterrestrial Visible Emission from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations (SEVENDIP) and SPOCK projects search for pulsed and continuous/monochromatic signals from extraterrestrial visible-light lasers. The DYSON project analyzes stellar spectra for infrared excess that could indicate massive energy usage by an extremely advanced civilization (e.g. from a Dyson sphere). We are also developing high-performance and sensitive instrumentation for use in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, all of which is completely open-source and available to the international SETI community. These efforts include our recently deployed SERENDIP V.v spectrometer system, capable of processing a 200 MHz bandwidth with ~1.5 Hz spectral resolution, and two instruments currently under development; the Heterogeneous Radio SETI Spectrometer (HRSS) for SETI observations in the radio spectrum and Open Source Pulsed Optical SETI Hardware (OSPOSH) for SETI observations in the optical and near-IR bands. These instruments may be built using low-cost, modular components and programmed and operated by students using common languages, e.g. ANSI C. Here we describe our ongoing and nascent SETI searches, search methodology and instrumentation development efforts.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)