A Figure of Merit for the X-Band All-Sky Survey

The X-Band All-Sky Survey (X-BASS) is a single-dish experiment aimed at mapping the sky in the frequency range 7–15 GHz. When designing such a system, one must rely on various figures of merit (FoMs) to describe its performance. With the main goal of X-BASS being to aid observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy, traditional FoMs do not accurately describe the trade-off between key instrumental parameters. As such, we present the development of a FoM which can directly relate antenna pattern characteristics to their effect on CMB observations.