Statistically stable estimates of variance in radio-astronomy observations as tools for radio-frequency interference mitigation

Abstract

A selection of statistically stable (robust) algorithms for data variance calculating has been made. Their properties have been analyzed via computer simulation. These algorithms would be useful if adopted in radio-astronomy observations in the presence of strong sporadic radio-frequency interference (RFI). Several observational results have been presented here to demonstrate the effectiveness of these algorithms in RFI mitigation. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.