An imaging technique with sensitivity to short duration optical transients is described. The technique is based on the use of wide-field cameras operating in a drift scanning mode, whereby persistent objects produce trails on the sensor and short duration transients occupy localised groups of pixels. A benefit of the technique is that sensitivity to short duration signals is not accompanied by massive data rates, because the exposure time is much greater than the transient duration. The technique is demonstrated using a pre-prototype system composed of readily available and inexpensive commercial components, coupled with common coding environments, commercially available software, and free web-based services. The performance of the technique and the pre-prototype system is explored, including aspects of photometric and astrometric calibration, detection sensitivity, characterisation of candidate transients, and the differentiation of astronomical signals from non-astronomical signals (primarily glints from satellites in Earth orbit and cosmic ray hits on sensor pixels). Test observations were made using the pre-prototype system, achieving sensitivity to transients with 21-ms duration, resulting in the detection of five candidate transients. An investigation of these candidates concludes they are most likely due to cosmic ray hits on the sensor and/or satellites. The sensitivity obtained with the pre-prototype system is such that, under some models for the optical emission from fast radio bursts (FRBs), the detection of a typical FRB, such as FRB181228, to a distance of approximately 100 Mpc is plausible. Several options for improving the system/technique in the future are described.

中文翻译：

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使用漂移扫描成像的高节奏光学瞬态搜索 I：使用预原型系统进行概念验证

描述了一种对短时光瞬变敏感的成像技术。该技术基于使用在漂移扫描模式下运行的广角相机，其中持久物体在传感器上产生轨迹，而短时瞬变占据局部像素组。该技术的一个好处是对短持续时间信号的敏感性不会伴随大量数据速率，因为曝光时间远大于瞬态持续时间。该技术使用由现成且廉价的商业组件组成的预原型系统进行演示，再加上常见的编码环境、商业可用的软件和免费的基于 Web 的服务。探讨了该技术和原型系统的性能，包括光度学和天体测量校准的各个方面，探测灵敏度、候选瞬变的表征以及天文信号与非天文信号的区别（主要是地球轨道上的卫星闪烁和宇宙射线撞击传感器像素）。使用预原型系统进行测试观察，实现了对持续时间为 21 毫秒的瞬变的敏感性，从而检测到五个候选瞬变。对这些候选者的调查得出结论，它们很可能是由于宇宙射线撞击传感器和/或卫星所致。使用预原型系统获得的灵敏度使得在某些快速射电暴 (FRB) 的光发射模型下，在大约 100 Mpc 的距离内检测到典型的 FRB（例如 FRB181228）是合理的。描述了未来改进系统/技术的几个选项。