Measuring radio signals from extensive air showers

Understanding the origin and mechanism of production of the most energetic cosmic rays is one of the challenging questions of contemporary astroparticle physics. The extremely low flux of those particles does not permit direct measurements and observations are made via the cascade of secondary particles they initiate in the atmosphere, the so-called extensive air shower (EAS). Two techniques are used to perform such measurements: arrays of ground particle detectors and fluorescence telescopes. The latter offers a calorimetric measurement of the EAS but suffers a critical uptime of the order of 10%. The ground detector array is much more robust but Monte Carlo simulations are needed for energy calibration. The above considerations illustrate the pertinency of a new observation technique that could come in addition to the existing one to increase both statistics and EAS understanding in the field of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). The radio detection technique, which has known a renewal of interest in the last 5 years, might be an appropriate candidate. We will give a brief review of the historical concept, present the modern theoretical approaches and the current experiment based upon this principle of detection.