The SERENDIP SETI project: new instrumentation for SETI and results of recent observations

Abstract Over the past 30 years research into the existence of extraterrestrial life has focused on attempts to detect stable narrowband radio signals emitted in the microwave portion of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum. The SERENDIP SETI group is currently conducting search operations on the world’s largest radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The third generation SERENDIP system, SERENDIP III, is a 4 million channel FFT-based spectrum analyzer with 0.6 Hz frequency resolution. In this paper, we will discuss the results of our recent 3.5 year sky survey. SERENDIP looked at 95% of the sky visible from Arecibo in the 424–436 MHz range, analyzed 10 14 spectral bins, and logged information on over 2.5×10 8 signals. The fourth generation SERENDIP system expands on the SERENDIP III design. SERENDIP IV computes 2×10 11 operations each second, providing spectral analysis on 160 million channels in 1.7 s. We will discuss the design and use of the SERENDIP IV system and future observing plans.