DOCSLIB.ORG

Altium and the SKA Powerpoint Presentation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Altium and the SKA Powerpoint Presentation SKA-LTIUM Altium Live Summit 2017 PRESENTER: Omer Mahgoub WHAT IS SKA? ● Global non-profit Organisation ● Headquarters in Manchester, United Kingdom ● Ten member countries WHAT ARE THEY DOING? ● SKA - Square Kilometre Array ● One of the largest scientific endeavours in history to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area Fun Fact* - Why is the USA not a member country? Because they’d insist it be called the 0,386102 Square Mile Array *These are not facts at all HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? Radio Telescopes ● Detect radio waves emitted by objects in space. ● Unlike optical telescopes, aren’t hampered by cloud or poor weather conditions on Earth HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? Single Dish Telescopes The numbers 1 -10 (white) The atomic numbers of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus, which make up DNA The formulas for the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA (Green) The number of nucleotides in DNA, and a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA (white & blue) A graphic figure of a human, the dimension (physical height) of an average man, and the human population of Earth (red, blue/white, & white respectively) A graphic of the Solar System indicating which of the planets the message is coming from (yellow) A graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish (purple, white, & blue) HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? Single Dish Telescopes HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? Inferometery ● Link individual telescopes together to create a telescope array known as an interferometer. ● The resolution of an interferometer depends not only on the diameter of individual radio telescopes, but on the maximum separation between them HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? HOW ARE THEY DOING IT? WHY ARE THEY DOING IT? ● How stars and galaxies form and evolve ● Cosmic Magnetism ● What is Dark Energy? WHY ARE THEY DOING IT? WHEN ARE THEY DOING IT? WHERE ARE THEY DOING IT? ● South African Karoo Region - High and Mid Frequency Dishes ● Western Australia’s Murchison Shire - Low Frequency Antennas WHERE ARE THEY DOING IT? South Africa WHERE ARE THEY DOING IT? South African Karoo Region WHERE ARE THEY DOING IT? Australia WHERE ARE THEY DOING IT? Western Australia’s Murchison Shire SKA PHASE 1 SKA PHASE 1 WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? Precursors ● Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) ● MeerKAT ● Murchison Widefield Array ● Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization (HERA) WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? ASKAP WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? MeerKAT WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? Murchison Widefield Array WHAT HAS BEEN DONE? HERA WHO AM I? ● Omer Mahgoub ● Hardware Engineer at SKA Africa ● Working on MeerKAT ● Digital Back End (DBE) Team based in Cape Town, South Africa DIGITAL BACK WHAT? Telescope Front End ● Pre-amplifies radio waves and extracts signals from required frequency bands. DIGITAL BACK WHAT? Telescope Back End ● Responsible for digital conversion, manipulation and storage of the analog signals coming from the front end. BACK TO MEERKAT! KAT - Karoo Array Telescope BACK TO MEERKAT! MEER...BUT...ALSO = MORE = MORE OF KAT MEERKAT Antenna MEERKAT IMAGES MEERKAT IMAGES MeerKat CSIRO’s ATCA Telescope MEERKAT IMAGES MEERKAT RECEIVER MEERKAT DIGITISER RADIO FREQUENCY CONDITIONING UNIT (RFCU) ● Receives the RF signal from the receivers and amplifies it to the correct signal level required by the ADC ● Performs anti-aliasing filtering of the incoming signal. SAMPLE CLOCK GENERATOR ● This module is responsible for generating the sample clock required by the ADCs as well as a highly accurate precision synchronization pulse. SAMPLER (ADC) ● Performs Analog to Digital conversion using a 10 bit monolithic ADC at a rate of 1712Mbps Backplane ● Provides power to the digitiser component boards. D-Engine ● Packetises the raw ADC data on four 10 Gb fibre optic interfaces to transmit for processing. D-Engine D-Engine D-Engine Layer Stack D-Engine Routing D-Engine Routing D-Engine Routing PIN SWAPPING AFTER THE DIGITISER? ● Data transmitted via buried fibre optic cables to the Karoo Array Processing Building (KAPB) ● At the KAPB, the signals undergo various digital signal processing techniques ● Correlation - combines all the signals from all the receptors to form image of the area of the sky that is being surveyed ● Beamforming - forming narrow, high sensitive beams from the received signals essentially allowing array to function as single antenna KAPB ROACH 1 FEATURES - Virtex-5 LX110T or SX95T (Logic or DSP Intensive) - PowerPC 440EPx stand-alone processor to provide control functions - 4 CX4 10gbps high speed connectors - 2 x 2M 18 bit QDR II+ SRAMs -1 x DDR2 DRAM DIMM slot -2 x ZDOK 40 Differential pair connectors - USB 2.0 , MMC/SD Slot, 10/100/1000 RJ45 ROACH ROACH ROACH 2 FEATURES -Virtex-6 SX475T FPGA (XC6VSX475T-1FFG1759C) -PowerPC 440EPx stand-alone processor to provide control functions -2 x Multi-gigabit transceiver breakout card slots, supporting up to 8x10Ge links which may be CX4 or SFP+ -4 x 36 bit QDR II+ SRAMs connected to the FPGA -A single 72-bit DDR3 RDIMM slot connected to the FPGA (up to 16GB) -2 x ZDOKs (ADC/DAC interface) -An FTDI FT4232H USB to JTAG, serial and IIC ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROACH 2 ROUTING ROACH 2 ROUTING ROACH 2 ROUTING ROACH 2 ROUTING ROACH 3 aka SKARAB ● 1 x Virtex-7 XC7VX690T FPGA (XC7VX690T-2FFG1927C) for running the user DSP algorithms SKARAB ● Microblaze softcore processor running on the Virtex 7 FPGA to provide control FEATURESfunctions ● 4 x MegaArray transceiver Mezzanine card slots, supporting up to 16x10Gb/s links which may be utilised for HMC and QSFP+ ● 1 x QSFP+ Mezzanine Card with 4 x 40GbE full duplex ports ● Optional: 1-3 x HMC Mezzanine Cards capable of operating at 32Gbps, 256bit data transfers, full duplex operation ● Optional: 1 x ADC Mezzanine Card, 4 channel, 14 bits, 3.0 GSPS ● 1GbE Ethernet RJ45 interface ● 1 x 256Mb SDRAM for dynamic FPGA configuration connected to the Virtex 7 FPGA and SPARTAN device ● 1 x 1Gb NOR Flash, MT28GU01GAAA1EGC-0SIT for the Virtex 7 FPGA golden and multi-boot image storage ● A single COM Express mezzanine site that can be connected to an external processor via single lane PCIe ● 1 x SPARTAN 3AN FPGA (XC3S700AN-4FGG484C) to handle the Virtex 7 FPGA SKARAB QSFP+ Mezzanine Card ● Quad Small Form Pluggable (QSFP+) Mezzanine Card provides the SKARAB with 40GbE functionality ● Consists of 4 x 40GbE QSFP+ ports ADC Mezzanine Card ● Four channel, 3.0 GSPS, 14 bit analog to digital converter ● The ADC is capable of digitizing signals from near DC to 3.2/4.0 GHz, at a bandwidth of up to 1.5GHz Hybrid Memory Cube Mezzanine Card (HMC) ● Hybrid Memory Cube Mezzanine Card ● Data storage for SKARAB ● 4 GB serial memory using 16 x 10gbps SERDES lanes HMC HMC ● Due to the unavailability of the 4-link devices, had to redesign for 2- Link ● More technically challenging due to the reduced 0.65mm BGA pitch ● Need to incorporate blind micro-vias and narrow traces (3mil) HMC HMC HMC HMC HMC Layer Stack HMC Layer Stack HMC Routing Blind Vias BGA Fanout HMC Decoupling Removing unused pads Feature Very narrow copper width due to polygon clearance Removing unused Pads Feature Tools - Remove unused pad Select vias in BGA area shapes 90 SKA South Africa, a Business Unit of the National Research Foundation. We are building the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope (SKA), located in South Africa and eight other African countries, with part in Australia. The SKA will be the largest radio telescope ever built and will produce science that changes our understanding of the universe Omer Mahgoub Electronic Engineer Email: [email protected].
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Square Kilometre Array Computational Challenges
    Square Kilometre Array Computational Challenges Paul Alexander Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges What is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) • Next Generation radio telescope – compared to best current instruments it is ... E-MERLIN • ~100 times sensitivity • ~ 106 times faster imaging the sky • More than 5 square km of collecting area on sizes 3000km eVLA 27 27m dishes Longest baseline 30km GMRT 30 45m dishes Longest baseline 35 km Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges What is the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) • Next Generation radio telescope – compared to best current instruments it is ... • ~100 times sensitivity • ~ 106 times faster imaging the sky • More than 5 square km of collecting area on sizes 3000km • Will address some of the key problems of astrophysics and cosmology (and physics) • Builds on techniques developed in Cambridge • It is an interferometer • Uses innovative technologies... • Major ICT project • Need performance at low unit cost Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges Dishes Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges Phased Aperture array Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges also a Continental sized Radio Telescope • Need a radio-quiet site • Very low population density • Large amount of space • Possible sites (decision 2012) • Western Australia • Karoo Desert RSA Paul Alexander SKA Computational Challenges Sensitivity comparison 12,000 Sensitivity Comparison 10,000 1 - K 2 8,000 SKA2 6,000 SKA2 SKA1 MeerKAT LOFAR ASKAP 4,000 Sensitivity: Aeff/Tsys m Sensitivity:Aeff/Tsys eVLA SKA1 2,000
    [Show full text]
  • The Merlin - Phase 2
    Radio Interferometry: Theory, Techniques and Applications, 381 IAU Coll. 131, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 19, 1991, T.J. Comwell and R.A. Perley (eds.) THE MERLIN - PHASE 2 P.N. WILKINSON University of Manchester, Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SKll 9DL, United Kingdom ABSTRACT The Jodrell Bank MERLIN is currently being upgraded to produce higher sensitivity and higher resolving power. The major capital item has been a new 32m telescope located at MRAO Cambridge which will operate to at least 50 GHz. A brief outline of the upgraded MERLIN and its performance is given. INTRODUCTION The MERLIN (Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network), based at Jodrell Bank, was conceived in the mid-1970s and first became operational in 1980. It was a bold concept; no one had made a real-time long-baseline interferometer array with phase-stable local oscillator links before. Six remotely operated telescopes, controlled via telephone lines, are linked to a control computer at Jodrell Bank. The rf signals are transmitted to Jodrell via commercial multi-hop microwave links operating at 7.5 GHz. The local oscillators are coherently slaved to a master oscillator via go-and- return links operating at L-band, the change in the link path-length being taken out in software. This single-frequency L-band link can transfer phase to the equivalent of < 1 picosec (< 0.3 mm of path length) on timescales longer than a few seconds. A detailed description of the MERLIN system has been given by Thomasson (1986). The MERLIN has provided the UK with a unique astronomical facility, one which has made important contributions to extragalactic radio source and OH maser studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Detection Statistics of the Radioastron AGN Survey
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Advances in Space Research 65 (2020) 705–711 www.elsevier.com/locate/asr Detection statistics of the RadioAstron AGN survey Y.Y. Kovalev a,b,c,⇑, N.S. Kardashev a,†, K.V. Sokolovsky a,d,e, P.A. Voitsik a,T.Anf, J.M. Anderson g,h, A.S. Andrianov a, V.Yu. Avdeev a, N. Bartel i, H.E. Bignall j, M.S. Burgin a, P.G. Edwards k, S.P. Ellingsen l, S. Frey m, C. Garcı´a-Miro´ n, M.P. Gawron´ski o, F.D. Ghigo p, T. Ghosh p,q, G. Giovannini r,s, I.A. Girin a, M. Giroletti r, L.I. Gurvits t,u, D.L. Jauncey k,v, S. Horiuchi w, D.V. Ivanov x, M.A. Kharinov x, J.Y. Koay y, V.I. Kostenko a, A.V. Kovalenko aa, Yu.A. Kovalev a, E.V. Kravchenko r,a, M. Kunert-Bajraszewska o, A.M. Kutkin a,z, S.F. Likhachev a, M.M. Lisakov c,a, I.D. Litovchenko a, J.N. McCallum l, A. Melis ab, A.E. Melnikov x, C. Migoni ab, D.G. Nair t, I.N. Pashchenko a, C.J. Phillips k, A. Polatidis z, A.B. Pushkarev a,ad, J.F.H. Quick ae, I.A. Rakhimov x, C. Reynolds j, J.R. Rizzo af, A.G. Rudnitskiy a, T. Savolainen ag,ah,c, N.N. Shakhvorostova a, M.V. Shatskaya a, Z.-Q. Shen f,ac, M.A. Shchurov a, R.C. Vermeulen z, P. de Vicente ai, P.
    [Show full text]
  • Dynamics of the Arecibo Radio Telescope
    DYNAMICS OF THE ARECIBO RADIO TELESCOPE Ramy Rashad 110030106 Department of Mechanical Engineering McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada February 2005 Under the supervision of Professor Meyer Nahon Abstract The following thesis presents a computer and mathematical model of the dynamics of the tethered subsystem of the Arecibo Radio Telescope. The computer and mathematical model for this part of the Arecibo Radio Telescope involves the study of the dynamic equations governing the motion of the system. It is developed in its various components; the cables, towers, and platform are each modeled in succession. The cable, wind, and numerical integration models stem from an earlier version of a dynamics model created for a different radio telescope; the Large Adaptive Reflector (LAR) system. The study begins by converting the cable model of the LAR system to the configuration required for the Arecibo Radio Telescope. The cable model uses a lumped mass approach in which the cables are discretized into a number of cable elements. The tower motion is modeled by evaluating the combined effective stiffness of the towers and their supporting backstay cables. A drag model of the triangular truss platform is then introduced and the rotational equations of motion of the platform as a rigid body are considered. The translational and rotational governing equations of motion, once developed, present a set of coupled non-linear differential equations of motion which are integrated numerically using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta integration scheme. In this manner, the motion of the system is observed over time. A set of performance metrics of the Arecibo Radio Telescope is defined and these metrics are evaluated under a variety of wind speeds, directions, and turbulent conditions.
    [Show full text]
  • Fact Sheet Fact Sheet
    FactFact sheet sheet What is the SKA? The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a next-generation radio telescope that will be vastly more sensitive than the best present-day instruments. It will give astronomers remarkable insights into the formation of the early Universe, including the emergence of the first stars, galaxies and other structures. This will shed light on the birth, and eventual death, of the cosmos. The SKA will require new technology and progress in Why build the SKA? fundamental engineering in fields such as information and communication technology, high performance computing In order to answer some fundamental questions about the and production manufacturing techniques. It will comprise origin and evolution of the Universe, a more sensitive radio a vast array of antennas, arranged in clusters to be spread telescope is needed that can detect the very weak signals over 3000 kilometres or more. The antennas will be linked coming from the edge of the cosmos. A telescope such as the electronically to form one enormous telescope. The SKA will be able to “see” distant objects in the very young combination of unprecedented collecting area, versatility Universe and provide answers to questions such as the and sensitivity will make the SKA the world’s premier imaging emergence of the first stars, galaxies and other structures. and survey telescope over a wide range of radio frequencies, Because the speed of light is finite and the size of the Universe producing the sharpest pictures of the sky of any telescope. is so large, telescopes are effectively time machines, enabling astronomers to look into the past and study the Universe as it The SKA will: was billions of years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • The Meerkat Radio Telescope Rhodes University SKA South Africa E-Mail: a B Pos(Meerkat2016)001 Justin L
    The MeerKAT Radio Telescope PoS(MeerKAT2016)001 Justin L. Jonas∗ab and the MeerKAT Teamb aRhodes University bSKA South Africa E-mail: [email protected] This paper is a high-level description of the development, implementation and initial testing of the MeerKAT radio telescope and its subsystems. The rationale for the design and technology choices is presented in the context of the requirements of the MeerKAT Large-scale Survey Projects. A technical overview is provided for each of the major telescope elements, and key specifications for these components and the overall system are introduced. The results of selected receptor qual- ification tests are presented to illustrate that the MeerKAT receptor exceeds the original design goals by a significant margin. MeerKAT Science: On the Pathway to the SKA, 25-27 May, 2016, Stellenbosch, South Africa ∗Speaker. c Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). http://pos.sissa.it/ MeerKAT Justin L. Jonas 1. Introduction The MeerKAT radio telescope is a precursor for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) mid- frequency telescope, located in the arid Karoo region of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa. It will be the most sensitive decimetre-wavelength radio interferometer array in the world before the advent of SKA1-mid. The telescope and its associated infrastructure is funded by the government of South Africa through the National Research Foundation (NRF), an agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Construction and commissioning of the telescope has been the responsibility of the SKA South Africa Project Office, which is a business unit of the PoS(MeerKAT2016)001 NRF.
    [Show full text]
  • High-Resolution Radio Observations of Submillimetre Galaxies
    Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 000–000 (0000) Printed 7 November 2018 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) High-resolution radio observations of submillimetre galaxies A. D. Biggs1⋆ and R.J. Ivison1,2 1UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ 2Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ Accepted 2007 December 17. Received 2007 December 14; in original form 2007 September 11 ABSTRACT We have produced sensitive, high-resolution radio maps of 12 submillimetre (submm) galax- ies (SMGs) in the Lockman Hole using combined Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferom- eter Network (MERLIN) and Very Large Array (VLA) data at a frequency of 1.4GHz. Inte- grating for 350hr yielded an r.m.s. noise of 6.0 µJybeam−1 and a resolution of 0.2–0.5arcsec. For the first time, wide-field data from the two arrays have been combined in the (u, v) plane and the bandwidthsmearing response of the VLA data has been removed.All of the SMGs are detected in our maps as well as sources comprising a non-submm luminous control sample. We find evidence that SMGs are more extended than the general µJy radio population and that therefore, unlike in local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs), the starburst compo- nent of the radio emission is extended and not confined to the galactic nucleus. For the eight sources with redshifts we measure linear sizes between 1 and 8kpc with a median of 5kpc. Therefore, they are in general larger than local ULIRGs which may support an early-stage merger scenario for the starburst trigger.
    [Show full text]
  • Radio Astronomy
    Edition of 2013 HANDBOOK ON RADIO ASTRONOMY International Telecommunication Union Sales and Marketing Division Place des Nations *38650* CH-1211 Geneva 20 Switzerland Fax: +41 22 730 5194 Printed in Switzerland Tel.: +41 22 730 6141 Geneva, 2013 E-mail: [email protected] ISBN: 978-92-61-14481-4 Edition of 2013 Web: www.itu.int/publications Photo credit: ATCA David Smyth HANDBOOK ON RADIO ASTRONOMY Radiocommunication Bureau Handbook on Radio Astronomy Third Edition EDITION OF 2013 RADIOCOMMUNICATION BUREAU Cover photo: Six identical 22-m antennas make up CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array, an earth-rotation synthesis telescope located at the Paul Wild Observatory. Credit: David Smyth. ITU 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU. - iii - Introduction to the third edition by the Chairman of ITU-R Working Party 7D (Radio Astronomy) It is an honour and privilege to present the third edition of the Handbook – Radio Astronomy, and I do so with great pleasure. The Handbook is not intended as a source book on radio astronomy, but is concerned principally with those aspects of radio astronomy that are relevant to frequency coordination, that is, the management of radio spectrum usage in order to minimize interference between radiocommunication services. Radio astronomy does not involve the transmission of radiowaves in the frequency bands allocated for its operation, and cannot cause harmful interference to other services. On the other hand, the received cosmic signals are usually extremely weak, and transmissions of other services can interfere with such signals.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mid-Frequency Square Kilometre Array Phase Synchronisation System
    Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA) doi: 10.1017/pas.2018.xxx. The Mid-Frequency Square Kilometre Array Phase Synchronisation System S. W. Schediwy1,2,∗, D. R. Gozzard1,2, C. Gravestock1, S. Stobie1, R. Whitaker3, J. A. Malan4, P. Boven5 and K. Grainge3 1International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, School of Physics, Mathematics & Computing, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia 2Department of Physics, School of Physics, Mathematics & Computing, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia 3Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK 4Square Kilometre Array South Africa, The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, Pinelands 7405, South Africa 5Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE), Dwingeloo, The Netherlands Abstract This paper describes the technical details and practical implementation of the phase synchronisation system selected for use by the Mid-Frequency Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Over a four-year period, the system has been tested on metropolitan fibre-optic networks, on long-haul overhead fibre at the South African SKA site, and on existing telescopes in Australia to verify its functional performance. The tests have shown that the system exceeds the 1-second SKA coherence loss requirement by a factor of 2560, the 60-second coherence loss requirement by a factor of 239, and the 10-minute phase drift requirement by almost five orders-of-magnitude. The paper also reports on tests showing that the system can operate within specification over all the required operating conditions, including maximum fibre link distance, temperature range, temperature gradient, relative humidity, wind speed, seismic resilience, electromagnetic compliance, frequency offset, and other operational requirements.
    [Show full text]
  • High Resolution Radio Astronomy Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry
    IOP PUBLISHING REPORTS ON PROGRESS IN PHYSICS Rep. Prog. Phys. 71 (2008) 066901 (32pp) doi:10.1088/0034-4885/71/6/066901 High resolution radio astronomy using very long baseline interferometry Enno Middelberg1 and Uwe Bach2 1 Astronomisches Institut, Universitat¨ Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany 2 Max-Planck-Institut fur¨ Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hugel¨ 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] Received 3 December 2007, in final form 11 March 2008 Published 2 May 2008 Online at stacks.iop.org/RoPP/71/066901 Abstract Very long baseline interferometry, or VLBI, is the observing technique yielding the highest-resolution images today. Whilst a traditionally large fraction of VLBI observations is concentrating on active galactic nuclei, the number of observations concerned with other astronomical objects such as stars and masers, and with astrometric applications, is significant. In the last decade, much progress has been made in all of these fields. We give a brief introduction to the technique of radio interferometry, focusing on the particularities of VLBI observations, and review recent results which would not have been possible without VLBI observations. This article was invited by Professor J Silk. Contents 1. Introduction 1 2.9. The future of VLBI: eVLBI, VLBI in space and 2. The theory of interferometry and aperture the SKA 10 synthesis 2 2.10. VLBI arrays around the world and their 2.1. Fundamentals 2 capabilities 10 2.2. Sources of error in VLBI observations 7 3. Astrophysical applications 11 2.3. The problem of phase calibration: 3.1. Active galactic nuclei and their jets 12 self-calibration 7 2.4.
    [Show full text]
  • Table of Contents - 1 - - 2
    Table of contents - 1 - - 2 - Table of Contents Foreword 5 1. The European Consortium for VLBI 7 2. Scientific highlights on EVN research 9 3. Network Operations 35 4. VLBI technical developments and EVN operations support at member institutes 47 5. Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) 83 6. EVN meetings 105 7. EVN publications in 2007-2008 109 - 3 - - 4 - Foreword by the Chairman of the Consortium The European VLBI Network (EVN) is the result of a collaboration among most major radio observatories in Europe, China, Puerto Rico and South Africa. The large radio telescopes hosted by these observatories are operated in a coordinated way to perform very high angular observations of cosmic radio sources. The data are then correlated by using the EVN correlator at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE). The EVN, when operating as a single astronomical instrument, is the most sensitive VLBI array and constitutes one of the major scientific facilities in the world. The EVN also co-observes with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and other radio telescopes in the U.S., Australia, Japan, Russia, and with stations of the NASA Deep Space Network to form a truly global array. In the past, the EVN also operated jointly with the Japanese space antenna HALCA in the frame of the VLBI Space Observatory Programme (VSOP). The EVN plans now to co-observe with the Japanese space 10-m antenna ASTRO-G, to be launched by 2012, within the frame of the VSOP-2 project. With baselines in excess of 25.000 km, the space VLBI observations provide the highest angular resolution ever achieved in Astronomy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Will Be an I
    INVITED PAPER TheSquareKilometreArray This telescope, to be the largest in the world, will probe the evolution of black holes as well as the basic properties, birth and death of the Universe. By Peter E. Dewdney, Peter J. Hall, Richard T. Schilizzi, and T. Joseph L. W. Lazio ABSTRACT | The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be an I. INTRODUCTION ultrasensitive radio telescope, built to further the understand- Advances in astronomy over the past decades have brought ing of the most important phenomena in the Universe, the international community to the verge of charting a including some pertaining to the birth and eventual death of complete history of the Universe. In order to achieve this the Universe itself. Over the next few years, the SKA will make goal, the world community is pooling resources and ex- the transition from an early formative to a well-defined design. pertise to design and construct powerful observatories that This paper outlines how the scientific challenges are translated will probe the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to into technical challenges, how the application of recent gamma-rays, and even beyond the electromagnetic spectrum, technology offers the potential of affordably meeting these studying gravitational waves, cosmic rays, and neutrinos. challenges, and how the choices of technology will ultimately The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be one of these be made. The SKA will be an array of coherently connected telescopes, a radio telescope with an aperture of up to a antennas spread over an area about 3000 km in extent, with an million square meters. The SKA was formulated from the 2 aggregate antenna collecting area of up to 106 m at centimeter very beginning as an international, astronomer-led (Bgrass and meter wavelengths.
    [Show full text]