SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
USING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
Abstract
Are we alone in the universe? This is one
baffling question we are trying to answer for a
long time. Well since the advancement of
wireless communication , there has been a
constant fever to find Extra Terrestrials(ET) .
That is an intriguing question for which the
answer can be found by the use of
SETI( Search For Extraterrestrial
Intellingence) . SETI is an organization that
has been founded in 1984 and it can be
broadly defined as the process of
understanding and explaining the origin,
nature and prevalence of life in the universe.
It is quite apparent that to find an ET
obviously the signals are to be transmitted
and received to and from millions and
millions and light years away (well infinite)
obviously the entire process has to be
spotlessly clean and the band of frequencies in
which the signals can be searched have to be
very very large as the ET’ s can send either
be radio or tv signals.
This paper contains detail of some of the
methods using the Arecibo radio telescope ,
Allen telescope array , wide-field search and
targeted search SERENDIP and the detection
using FFT(fast Fourier transforms), it gives
brief information of DRAKE’S equation.
1.Introduction
SETI requires searching for the signal and then
making sure it is from an ET this requires
sophisticated equipments and clear cut methods .
Basically SETI require to search the skies and it
has the following dilemma’s .
How to search such a large area of sky?
Where to look on the radio dial for ET?
How to make the best use of the limited radio-
telescope resources available for SETI?
Also some information about the water hole
frequencies , the best frequencies to look for , it
has got to be precise .Allen telescope
array(ATA) is a full time and Aerocibo only
searches for ET only once in a year for a period
of 85 days under the project name Project
Phoenix, both the ATA and Aerocibo are only
looking for detection of the signals but not
sending them because if we do try to send a
signals say to a civilization that is 100 light years
away then we would have to wait for 200 year
for the reply! So both the ATA and Aerocibo are
to look out and pluck the right sort of
frequencies , nature provides the answer as there
is a window of frequencies called “Water hole
frequencies” and this entire process has to be
done with the limited radio telescopes .And then
we look at what the University of Carlifonia’s
Bekerly work (UCB) and with the help of Fast
Fourier Transform .
And the clarity of a radio telescope has to be
known .
Large vs.Small are of sky
Because e the sky is so big, there are two basic
approaches to SETI :
WIDE-FIELD SEARCH; In this method , you
survey large chunks of he sky , one at a time for
signals.A wide-field search allows the entire sky
to be searched at low resolution in a short period
of time. However , if a signal is detected , it
would be difficult to pinpoint the exact source
without subsequent high resolution search.
TARGETED SEARCH; In this method you
make intensive investigations of a limited
number (1000 -2000) of sun-like stars for ET
signals . The targeted search allows for more
detailed investigations of small areas that we
might be probable locations of ET. However this
approach ignores large portions of the sky and
might yield nothing if the guesswork is wrong
Water Hole frequencies
The biggest enemy for any communication
engineer is noise(unwanted signal in the context
of the search) obviously in the huge open space
called the universe there must be a lot of
background noise . So to search and scan it is
quite a tedious job . But nature has an answer in
the range of frequencies called water hole
frequencies in this range(1-10 Ghz) there is
sharp drop in back ground noise . It is the
nature’s window in the radio spectrum where the
background noise is low.
In this region there are 2 frequencies that are
caused by excited atoms or molecules :1.42 Ghz
caused by hydrogen atoms and 1.65Ghz caused
by hydroxyl ions. Because hydrogen and
hydroxyl are components of water the region are
called “Water Hole frequencies”
Many SETI researchers reason that SETI is
aware of this frequencies and it will deliberately
try to send signals in this band of frequencies
the graph below shows the window or water hole
in the micro wave region.
Radio spectrum, showing the window or “water
hole “ in the microwave region.
Dishes for the sky
If ET is communications by radio, how can we
detect suchsignal? Radio signals have longer
wavelengths than these others forms of light ,
like visible light , infrared light and X-rays. But
radio signals have longer wavelengths than these
other forms of light. To detect ET radio signals ,
you a radio telescope. A radio telescope is a
radio receiver similar to the radio. It has the
following parts
1.Dish: A parabolic reflectors that collects the
radio waves and brings them to focus. The
telescope in the diagrams are Cassegrain design
which uses a subreflector and feed horns to bring
the radio waves to focus behind the dish
2. Antenna: metal device (usually straight or
coiled wire) located at the focus of the radio
telescope .It converts the radio waves cause
movements of electrons in the antenna
3. Tuner: Electrical devices that separates a
single radio signal adjusts the frequency of the
antenna to match a specific frequency among
the incoming radio waves .SETI uses
multichannel analyzers that allow them to tune
multiple frequencies simultaneously
4.Amplifier:Electrical device that increases the
strength of weak electrical current caused bu an
incoming radio signal.
5. Auxillary data instruments:Additional devices
that encode information on the data tapes for
interferometry .These instruments include GPS
receivers that record the position of the radio
telescope and devices for precise time notaions
6.Computers:computers are used to acquer and
analyze data, as well as to control the telescope
movement.
In general, large radio telescopes allow you to
detect weak signals and resolve them-so , the
larger the dish , the greater the resolution of the
signal . However ,large dishes are difficult and
expensive to construct and maintain . To get
around this problem , radio astronomers use a
techniques called interferometer .Interferometry
combines the signals from several small radio
telescopes spread out over a large to achieve the
equivalent of one large dish over the same area..
Arecibo radio telescope
The Arecibo radio telescope is the largest
telescope in the world .The dish is 305m deep
and covers an area of 20 acres. And the surface
is made of perforated aluminum!. As show in the
picture below and the speciality of this telescope
is that it is spherical in surface (not parabolic) .
Just below the triangular frame of the upper
platform is a circular track on which the azimuth
arm tuns.The azimuth arm is a bow shapes
structure . A total of 26 electric motors control
the azimuth and the Gregorian dome on the other
side can be positioned anywhere up to twenty
degrees from the vertical .Inside the Gregorian
dome two subreflectors (secondary and tertiary)
focus radiation to a point in space where a set of
horn antennae can be positioned to gather it .
Hanging below the carriage house are various
linear antenna each tuned to a narrow band of
frequencies . The antenna s point downward and
are designed specially for the Arecibo spherical
reflector by aiming a feed antenna at a certain
point on the reflector , radio emission originating
from a very small area of the sky in line with the
fedd antenna will be focused on the feed
antenna.
Attached to the antennas are very sensitive and
highly complex radio receivers. These devices
operate immersed in a bath of liquid helium , to
maintain a very low receiver temperatures the
electron noise in the receivers is very small and
the only the incoming radio signals ,which are
very weak , are amplified . The Arecibo system
operates at frequencies from 50 megahertz( 6m
wavelength ) upto 10000megahertz(3cm
wavelength)
A total of 26 electric motors control the
platform. These motors drive the azimuth and the
gregorian dome and the carriage house to any
position within millimeter precision . The tertiary
reflectors can be moved to improve focusing
,receivers are moved into focus on a rotating
floor inside the gregorian and the dynamic tie
down activate as needed to maintain platform
position . The 1 MW planetary radar transmitter
located in a special room inside the doom
directs radar wave to object in our solar system
Analyzing echos provides information about the
surface properties and object dynamics.
The giant telescope has scrutinized our
atmosphere from a few kilometers to a few 1000
kilometers where it smoothly connects with inter
planetary space .With its radar vision its studis
the properties of planets,comets and asteroids .In
our galaxies it detects the faint pulses emitted
hundreds of times per second from pulsars . And
from the farthest reaches of the universe quasars
and galaxies emit radio waves which arrive at
earth 100 million years later as signals so weak
that they can only be detected by a giant eye like
this one

The intrinsic
meaning of a
spherical
reflector is that it
can be either a
convex or
concave the
diagram on the
right gives the
idea of how
signals are
reflected within
The Structure of Main Reflector
the 305 m depression called as “Karst
depression”
The diagram below give the explanation of the
utilistion of the depth .
The cross sectional view to the spherical
reflector is shown below the point marked 300 is
the placed where the special reflector and the
radius of the curvature is 500m . The reflectors
are good.
The part of spherical reflector illuminated by the
feed is continuously adjusted to fit a paraboloid
of revolution in real time, synchronous with the
motion of the feed while tracking the object to be
observed. As it is now free from spherical
aberration, a simple, light, hence cheap feed
system may be adopted to achieve broad
bandwidth and full polarization.
300
200
100
200 100 0 100 200
The structure of active main reflector
One possible structure of the active
main reflector is to have the elementary unit
made of 揺 lementary reflecting spherical
surface” ( radius of the sphere R=300m)
contained in a hexagon of 10m edge. The whole
reflecting spherical surface consists of 1100 such
elementary units. As shown in fig as an
example, each unit has three adjustable supports
for fixing its position and connecting it with
adjacent units. Each support is directed towards
the center of the sphere and has its height above
the surface to be adjustable by means of
hydraulic or other mechanical device (actuator).
There are about 1180 supports in all for the
whole spherical surface. According to the
position at any given instant of the object to
observed, the center computer determines the
height of all the 1180 supports and sends
command in real time to the actuator, so as to
form a proper paraboloid ( of
300m aperture) continuously during the course
of observation. As mentioned before, the
maximum range of height variation for any
support is 0.65m, and the maximum rate of
variation is 4.4cm/min.. The control may be
effected in steps, say 1mm at a time, which will
gives a quantization error of 0.5mm, and may be
neglected when working at 5GHz.
The spherical surface of supports
the hexagon is approximated by a
number of plane trilateral panels
of aluminum, and is supported by steel truss
backup. When the size of the plane trilateral is
chosen to be 2.5m, a 1mm rms error will be
introduced in the approximation.
 PABE's are: (1) SETI detectors, (2) pulsar
processors, (3) astronomical spectrometers, and
(4) RFI monitors. Note that these are not
Allen telescope array necessarily distinct-the spectrometer may be a
reprogrammed pulsar processor, i.e. a
programmable processor like a Beowulf cluster
that can do many things. In addition, the back-
ends will likely incorporate some system-wide
RFI mitigation scheme.

The Allen telescope array is basically a

24*7*365 time dedicated system purely for the
use of that all elusive ET signal. The Allen
telescope array was built to increase the search
light on the ET signal and it is surprisingly cost
effective and it does increase the search of the
skies by a factor of 100.
The ATA has four primary advantages for
scientific studies over all ma jor radio telescopes
built to date: a very wide field-of-view (2.45° at
λ = 21cm), complete instantaneous frequency
coverage from 0.5 to 11.2 GHz, multiple
simultaneous backends, and active interference
mitigation. The instantaneous area of sky imaged
is 17 times that of the VLA. The instantaneous
frequency coverage of more than 4 octaves is
unprecedented in radio astronomy and is the
result of a unique feed, input amplifier, and
signal path design. Active interference mitigation
will make it possible to observe even at
frequencies of many terrestrial radio emitters.

Figure shows the signal path from sky to user.

Recall that although just two data paths from one
antenna are shown, there are approximately 700
paths in all antennas. The analog fiber links carry
both polarizations of the full 0.5 - 11.2 GHz
bandwidth back to the RF converter, where it is
converted to up to four independent 1 GHz wide
dual-polarization channels at L-band. It is then
digitized and passed through to the processor.

Each of the up to four independent tunings is

further split into four synthesized beams, which
may be steered independently to different parts

of the sky. The outputs are sent to either a

correlator (which takes all of the signals and
makes an image) or one of several phased-array
back-ends (PABE's). Some of the planned
How the signal is confirmed ET?
1. The telescope is moved of the target –
the signal should go away , and it
should return when the telescope is
pointed back to the target .
2. Known earth or non earth source such
as satellite must be rules out as
originators
3. Known natural extraterrestrial sources ,
such pulsars and quasars must be ruled
out.
4. The signal must be confirmed by
another radio telescope
Drakes Equation:
What are the possibilities that we will find ET
signals? To address this issue, astronomer Frank
Drake introduced an equation to calculate the
number of ET civilizations in the galaxy in 1961.
The equation, now referred to as the Drake
Equation, considers astronomical, biological
and sociological factors in its estimates:
N=R*xfpxnexflxfixfcxL
where:
N - Number of communicative civilizations
R* - Average rate of formation of stars over
the lifetime of the galaxy (10 to 40 per year)
fp - Fraction of those stars with planets (0 <
fp <1, estimated at 0.5 or 50 percent)
ne - Average number of earth-type planets
per planetary system (0 < ne <1, estimated at
0.5 or 50 percent)
fl - Fraction of those planets where life
develops (0 < fl <1, estimated at 1 or 100
percent)
fi - Fraction of life that develops intelligence
(0 < fi <1, estimated at 0.1 or 10 percent)
fc - Fraction of planets where intelligent life
develops technology such as radio (0 < fc
<1, estimated at 0.1or 10 percent)
L - Lifetime of the communicative
civilization in years (estimates are highly
variable, from hundreds to thousands of
years, approximately 500 years for
example purposes) If we use the
estimates listed above, and decide R*
equals 40 , then the drake equation
becomes:
N = (40 stars per year) x (0.5) x (0.5) x (1) x
(0.1) x (0.1) x (500 years) = 50 civilizations
Fast Fourier Transform
Fast fourier transform is a class of algorithms
used in digital signal processing that break down
complex signals into elementary components.
In 1999, University of California at Berkeley
scientists Dan Werthimer and David P. Anderson
worked on Project SERENDIP. They recognized
that a limiting factor in analyzing the data from
the Arecibo dish used by SERENDIP was the
available computing power. Instead of using one
or more large supercomputers to analyze the
data, many smaller desktop PCs could be used to
analyze small pieces of data over the Internet.
They devised a screensaver program called
SETI@home that could be downloaded from UC
Berkeley over the Internet and reside on a
participant's home computer. The program can
work in residence or as a screensaver.
Here's how the project works:
1. Data are collected from the Arecibo
dish in Puerto Rico, where Project
SERENDIP is presently conducted.
2. The data are stored on tape or disk
along with notes about the observations,
 such as date, time, sky coordinates and
notes about the receiving equipment.
3. The data are divided into small chunks
(approximately 107-second blocks) that
desktop PCs can utilize.
4. The SETI@home program on your PC
downloads a chunk data from the
computer servers at UC-Berkeley.
5. Your PC analyzes the chunk of
downloaded data according to the
algorithms in the SETI@home program.
It takes about 10 to 20 hours to analyze
the data, depending on the computer's The data/user information section of the screen
microprocessor and amount of memory. contains the notes on the observations that
6. When finished, your PC uploads its obtained the data chunk, as well as notes on the
results to the UC-Berkeley servers and user.
flags any possible hits in the analysis.
7. After the upload, your PC requests
another chunk of data from the server,
and the process continues.

The screen saver is divided into three sections:

the data-analysis window (upper left), the
data/user information (upper right) and the
frequency-power-time graph of the data as it is
being analyzed (bottom). The chunk of data is
analyzed by spreading the data out over many
channels using a mathematical technique called a
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). If the data are
random, then the signal in all of the channels will Data/user information portion of the SETI@home screen
be equal. If a signal (spike) is present, then one
or more FFT channels will stand out above the
rest, above a certain power-level threshold. Next,
the program looks to see if the frequency of any
spike is shifted slightly to other frequencies --
this shift would be caused by the Earth's rotation,
indicating that the spike is of extraterrestrial
origin. Finally, since the Arecibo dish is
stationary -- does not track objects with the Graph window of SETI@home screen
Earth's rotation -- an ET signal would drift over
the dish's surface, from edge to center to edge, The graph screen allows the user to see the
and a plot of the spike over time would look like progress of the analysis at a single glance. The
a bell-shaped curve. The program tests to see if program notes all of the observed spikes and
the spike fits this curve. If these three criteria relays this information back to UC Berkeley for
are met, the program flags the information for further analysis. Each data set is processed
later analysis by UC-Berkeley. independently by two users for corroboration. If
a spike passes the criteria for a possible signal,
then other SETI projects will examine the
coordinates in greater detail to confirm

The Reason why ET could be modifying in the

microwave range

There is relatively little background static from

galaxies, quasars, and other cosmic noisemakers
in the microwave part of the spectrum. This
makes faint signals easier to pick out.
Additionally, the microwave band contains a
naturally-produced emission line, a narrow-band
"broadcast", at 1,420 MHz due to interstellar
hydrogen. Every radio astronomer (including
extraterrestrial ones) will know about this
hydrogen emission. It may serve as a universal
"marker" on the radio dial. Consequently, it
makes sense to use nearby frequencies for
interstellar "hailing" signals.
Are we sending right type of signal?
SETI researchers look for narrow-band signals,
the type that are confined to a small (usually 1
Hz or less) spot on the dial. But if you have a
cellular phone, you may be aware that a lot of
communications on Earth are now done using a
technique known as "spread spectrum." The
broadcast signal is dispersed over a wide range
of frequencies. What if ET is also engaged in
spread spectrum broadcasting? Would our
searches pick up his call?
That depends. If the signal is strong enough, it
might still be detected with current SETI
equipment, although weak broadcasts will be
missed. There's little doubt that in the future,
with greatly increased computer capability, our
search will encompass these other types of
communications. Nonetheless, it's good to keep
in mind that any civilization will realize that
narrow-band broadcasts are the most efficient in
terms of producing a detectable signal at the
receiving end. If they wish to get in touch or, for
example, simply have high-powered radars for
finding incoming comets, they will generate the
type of signals our experiments can find.
Why do SETI at all?
There are many reasons, including such practical
considerations as the technological spinoff. The
signal processing techniques used for Project
Phoenix have already been applied to the
detection of breast cancer. But SETI research is
first and foremost pursued because it is designed
to answer questions that previous generations
could only ask. How do we fit into the biological
scheme of the cosmos? Is intelligent life a rare
event or a common one in the universe? Can
technological civilizations last for long periods
of time, or do they inevitably self-destruct or die
out for some other reason? If we could
understand any signal that we detect, there’s
always the possibility that we could be presented
with enormously valuable knowledge. It is likely
that any civilization we discover will be far more
advanced than ours, and might help us to join a
galactic network of intelligent beings. But even
if we detect a signal without being able to
understand it, that would still tell us that we are
not unique in the universe. The effect on society
might be as profound and long lasting as when
Copernicus displaced the Earth from the center
of our universe.
The future of SETI:
It appears that the public is greatly interested in
SETI research, if interest can be gauged from the
monetary support of private foundations like the
SETI Institute and the SETI League and
participation in SETI@home. The future of SETI
looks bright, with developments in the following
areas:
• New SETI programs will exploit other
areas of the radio spectrum, such as the
microwave regions.
• With the technological advancements in
personal-computing power and the
Internet, there will probably be more
participation in SETI@home, as well as
the development of other distributing-
power computing programs.
• New radio telescopes, like the Allen
Telescope Array, will be built for
exclusive SETI research.
• Using relatively inexpensive, off-the-
shelf technologies such as satellite
dishes, computers and electronic
equipment, amateurs can implement
their own SETI programs. One such
amateur program is Project BAMBI
(Bob and Mike's Big Investment).
• Because ET might send light signals as
well as or instead of radio signals, more
optical SETI programs may spring up.
To look for light signals from ET
around sun-like stars, it may be best to
look in the infrared portion of the
spectrum, where the star's background
light may be less obtrusive, as shown
below:
Spectrum of light from a sun-like star, showing where visible and
infrared laser beacons would shine above the background light.
• One such optical SETI program is
called COSETI (Columbus Optical
SETI).

The possibility of intelligent life existing

elsewhere in the universe has intrigued humanity
for thousands of years. We are currently at a time
when our technology has advanced enough for
us to detect signals from ET and even broadcast
our own signals to the stars. With the
advancements in technology and the increasing
interest in SETI, we may be close to finding the
answer to that age-old question, "Does intelligent
life exist out there?"

Conclusions:
With the help of wireless technology we are able
to detect other life forms in our big universe.
And this wireless technology with the help of
radio telescopes is helping us unravel the
mysteries of our universe

Acknolegements
www.howstuffworks.com
www.seti.org
www.wikepedia.com
www.google.com