A High Time Resolution All-Sky Monitor for Fast Radio Bursts and Technosignatures

Abstract

Despite hundreds of Fast Radio Burst (FRB) detections at frequencies above 400 MHz, only a handful of FRBs have been observed at lower frequencies, hence the FRB rates at frequencies below 350 MHz remain highly uncertain. This paper describes our efforts to increase the observing bandwidth (to ∼40 MHz) and imaging time resolution (to ∼10 ms) of the Engineering Development Array 2 (EDA2), a prototype station of the low-frequency Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Low), which will increase its sensitivity to short, FRB-like, radio pulses by two orders of magnitude and convert it into a high-time resolution all-sky monitor for FRBs and signals from extraterrestrial intelligence (techno-signatures). Based on highly uncertain FRB rates at these frequencies and sensitivity of SKA-Low stations, we expect to detect up to hundreds of FRBs per year and firmly establish the FRB rates in this relatively under-explored parameter space.