Telescope Array Radar (TARA) Observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

Construction was completed during summer 2013 on the Telescope Array RAdar (TARA) bi-static radar observatory for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays(UHECR). TARA is co-locatedwith the Telescope Array, the largest “conventional” cosmic raydetector in the Northern Hemisphere, in radio-quiet Western Utah. TARA employs an 8 MW Effective Radiated Power(ERP) VHF transmitter and smart receiver system based on a 250 MS/s data acquisition system in an effort to detect the scatter of sounding radiation by UHECR-induced atmospheric ionization. TARA seeks to demonstrate bi-static radar as a useful new remote sensing technique for UHECRs. In this report, we describe the design and performance of the TARA transmitter and receiver systems.