ARA IceCube-Rooftop Pulser at the South Pole

The ARA Icecube-Rooftop Pulser is used to "ping" the installed ARA stations, deployed under the ice several kilometers away.  Pulses several kV in magnitude and on the order of a ns in width are dumped into this antenna.

The Pulser Controller has a GPS, to time-stamp each pulse, Ethernet communications, to allow control from Kansas, a small heater, to make sure all components are warm to at least -40C, and backup storage of all events.  This system is capable of sending either vertically-polarized or horizontally-polarized pulses.

ARA Rooftop Pulser, South Pole.  Block Diagram of the high voltage pulser deployed by the IDL near the South Pole.