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A new radio astronomical receiver for Finland’s only radio observatory, is currently under construction at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany. This is not just any receiver -- it will be the world's widest bandwidth radio astronomical receiver, marking a major boost to the equipment portfolio of the Metsähovi Radio Observatory. AMD, the high performance and adaptive computing leader, will provide a single-chip adaptable radio platform for the radio observatory. Metsähovi is also working with Knowledge Resources, a company that will install the devices in easy-to-deploy modules.

The existing receivers at Metsähovi Radio Observatory have been monitoring quasars and the sun in two narrow, gigahertz-wide bands around 22 GHz and 37 GHz. The new receiver measures at an unprecedented range: 18-50 GHz and 80-116 GHz bands, simultaneously.

The aim of the receiver project is to help unravel the mysteries of the universe in a completely new way. The new receiver will be used, for example, to study the composition of jets launched by supermassive black holes, for which Academy researcher Talvikki Hovatta recently received funding from the European Research Council. Hovatta's research project started in March 2025.

Creative problem solving

These types of astronomical receivers need a data processing “back end” that processes the collected radio frequency (RF) signals. As the new receiver is unique in the world, the back end cannot be found off the shelf, but has to be custom-designed and built in Metsähovi.

Kaj Wiik from the University of Turku, who works also in Hovatta’s project, took up the challenge of designing the back end. The work started in 2019 in a project funded by the Research Council of Finland. Wiik's design is based on FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) that can efficiently handle the wide bandwidth of the receiver. He says that designing the hardware has been a very challenging and interesting process.

'I have been able to use almost all the experience I have gained during my career, from radio observations to radio engineering to programming and digital signal processing (DSP). I have also had to learn a lot of new things, such as programming FPGAs for DSP and electromagnetic simulation of printed circuit boards,' says Wiik. 

The best possible equipment 

The RF back end system is powered by AMD Zynq™ UltraScale+™ RFSoCs – provided as part of the AMD University Program. 

'At AMD, we power products and services that help solve the world’s most important challenges. Our involvement in the Metsähovi Radio Observatory project, which advances radio astronomy, is a great example. Our adaptive RFSoC technology will enable researchers to develop a powerful digital backend that can fully harness the capabilities of the ultra-wideband receiver. We are excited to see how our technology contributes to new scientific discoveries and inspires future innovation in the field,' commented Gilles Garcia, Senior Director, Wired and Wireless Group, AMD.  

'The data collection system is a critical component without which we will not be able to do the science we want to do. This collaboration will allow us to focus on the essentials – developing the best possible hardware without having to compromise on any technical features. This will also allow us focus on expediting the scientific process,' says Talvikki Hovatta.

In addition to AMD, Metsähovi is also working with a Swiss company Knowledge Resources (KR), which will install the AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoCs in easy-to-use modules it manufactures.