UV Coverage Optimization with Simulated Annealing

To determine the best station geometric configuration in radio astronomy or spacecraft tracking using the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging technique, this paper focuses on the UV plane coverage optimization. Firstly, a brief introduction to the impacts of the UV coverage is given. Then, an optimization criterion and a method based on the Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm are proposed. Simulations of station selections from a number of candidate sites are followed in the end. The results suggest a configuration coinciding with the practical distribution of the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), indicating that the criterion and the optimization are reasonable. It would provide useful advices to the station selections for better UV coverage.