The Very Long Baseline Array

Author

Napier, Peter J. ; Bagri, Durgadas S. ; Clark, Barry G. ; Rogers, Alan E E ; Romney, Jonathan D. ; Thompson, A. Richard ; Walker, R. Craig

Author_Institution

NRAO, Socorro, NM, USA

Volume

82

Issue

5

fYear

1994

fDate

5/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

658

Lastpage

672

Abstract

The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) consists of ten high performance antennas and a 20-station correlator. The 25-m-diameter reflector antennas are located geographically to optimize spatial frequency coverage for high-duality imaging using VLBI techniques. The antennas are equipped with receivers for nine frequency bands over the range 300 MHz to 45 GHz. A wideband, high-density, recording system allows unattended operation at a sustained data rate of 125 Mb/s for a day, and peak rates of up to 512 Mb/s. The antennas operate unattended most of the time, and are controlled by a single operator in the Array Operations Center (AOC) at Socorro, NM. The correlator, located in the AOC, supports processing of all observations with the array

Keywords

antenna arrays; antenna feeders; correlators; geophysical equipment; radiotelescopes; radiowave interferometers; reflector antennas; 128 to 512 Mbit/s; 300 MHz to 45 GHz; Array Operations Center; UHF; VLBA; VLBI techniques; Very Long Baseline Array; data rate; high performance antennas; high-duality imaging; receivers; reflector antennas; spatial frequency coverage; wideband high-density recording system; Antenna arrays; Correlators; Frequency; Masers; Observatories; Radio astronomy; Radio interferometry; Receiving antennas; Signal resolution; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Proceedings of the IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9219

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/5.284733

Filename

284733