Toward a Distributed Radio Telescope Using Global IoT Networks: Calibration Methods and Feasibility Analysis

This paper presents a conceptual feasibility study of leveraging large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) networks to form a distributed radio telescope for astronomical observations. Leveraging existing IoT infrastructure with minimal modifications, the proposed receiving system employs widely dispersed devices to capture both astronomical and communication signals at the same time and frequency. A novel calibration approach is proposed using multiple distributed satellites transmitting known signals, enabling precise channel estimation and phase correction via GPS localization. A system signal model is employed to study different calibration algorithms with node hardware variations, node clock offsets, and interference mitigation. Compared to the 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), assuming the ideal calibration and sufficient number of node, the IoT-enabled telescope increases survey speed by seven orders of magnitude, owing to the large antenna gain and expansive field of view (FoV). These findings demonstrate the feasibility of future radio telescope architectures that leverage large-scale distributed nodes, and highlight their potential advantages in terms of low cost, high survey speed performance, and spectrum-sharing capability.