Engineering topics
Sovers, O. J.
Publications and source records attributed to Sovers, O. J..
The Celestial Reference Frame at X/Ka-band (8.4/32 GHz)
A celestial reference frame at X/Ka-band (8.4/32 GHz) has been constructed using fifty-one 24-hour sessions with the Deep Space Network. We report on observations which have detected 436 sources covering the full 24 hours of right ascension and declinations down to -45 deg. Comparison of this X/Ka-band frame to the S/X-band (2.3/8.4 GHz) ICRF2 shows wRMS agreement of 200 micro-arcsec in a cos delta and 290 micro-arcsec in delta. There is evidence for zonal errors at the 100 micro-arcsec level. Known errors include limited SNR, lack of phase calibration, troposphere mismodelling, and limited southern geometry. The motivations for extending the ICRF to frequencies above 8 GHz are to access more compact source morphology for improved frame stability, to provide calibrators for phase referencing, and to support spacecraft navigation at Ka-band.
X/Ka Celestial Frame Improvements: Vision to Reality
In order to extend the International Celestial Reference Frame from its S/X-band (2.3/8.4 GHz) basis to a complementary frame at X/Ka-band (8.4/32 GHz), we began in mid-2005 an ongoing series of X/Ka observations using NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) radio telescopes. Over the course of 47 sessions, we have detected 351 extra-galactic radio sources covering the full 24 hours of right ascension and declinations down to -45 degrees. Angular source position accuracy is at the part-per-billion level. We developed an error budget which shows that the main errors arise from limited sensitivity, mismodeling of the troposphere, uncalibrated instrumental effects, and the lack of a southern baseline. Recent work has improved sensitivity by improving pointing calibrations and by increasing the data rate four-fold. Troposphere calibration has been demonstrated at the mm-level. Construction of instrumental phase calibrators and new digital baseband filtering electronics began in recent months. We will discuss the expected effect of these improvements on the X/Ka frame.
Rotational Alignment Altered by Source Position Correlations
In the construction of modern Celestial Reference Frames (CRFs) the overall rotational alignment is only weakly constrained by the data. Therefore, common practice has been to apply a 3-dimensional No-Net-Rotation (NNR) constraint in order to align an under-construction frame to the ICRF. We present evidence that correlations amongst source position parameters must be accounted for in order to properly align a CRF at the 5-10 (mu)as level of uncertainty found in current work. Failure to do so creates errors at the 10-40 (mu)as level.
The Celestial Reference Frame at X/Ka-band (8.4/32 GHz)
A celestial reference frame at X/Kaband (8.4/32 GHz) has been constructed using fiftyone 24-hour sessions with the Deep Space Network. We report on observations which have detected 436 sources covering the full 24 hours of right ascension and declinations down to -45 deg. Comparison of this X/Ka-band frame to the S/X-band (2.3/8.4 GHz) ICRF2 shows wRMS agreement of 200 micro-arcsec ( mu as) in alpha cos delta and 290 mu as in delta. There is evidence for zonal errors at the 100 mu as level. Known errors include limited SNR, lack of phase calibration, troposphere mismodelling, and limited southern geometry. The motivations for extending the ICRF to frequencies above 8 GHz are to access more compact source morphology for improved frame stability, to provide calibrators for phase referencing, and to support spacecraft navigation at Ka-band.
Astrometry at 24 and 43 GHz
We describe the goals and initial results of a collaboration formed to survey extragalactic objects at radio frequencies of 24 and 43 GHz This survey is for extending the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF) that is the current coordinate system for astrometry and wh ich is the angular inertial frame of deep space navigation. In princ iple, the extension should lead to a more stable reference frame. We report upon our initial three 24-hour observing sessions involving about 100 radio sources at the VLBA.
Extending the ICRF to higher radio frequencies: astrometry
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Extending the ICRF to higher radio frequencies: initial global astrometric results
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The International Celestial Reference Frame as Realized by Very Long Baseline Interferometry
A quasi-inertial reference frame is defined based on the radio positions of 212 extragalactic sources distributed over the entire sky.
Contribution of Modeling Differences to Systematic Errors of the Celestial Reference Frame: Modest/Calc/Gloria
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Precession and Nutation from VLBI Measurements
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Earth Rotation Parameters from DSN VLBI: 1997
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Earth Rotation Parameters From DSN VLBI: 1997
This year we have adopted the new standard for greenwich true sidereal time, which involves 18yr and 9yr terms.
Prospects for Determining Galactic Rotation From VLBI Measurements
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Earth Rotation Parameters from DSN VLBI: 1996
None given. This is a descripiton of data analysis of the DSN VLBI data set for 1996. Covers Earth rotation data.
Earth Rotation Parameters from DSN VLBI: 1996
A despcription of the DSN VLBI data set and of most aspects of the data analysis can be found in the IERS Technical Note 17, pp. R-19 to R-32 (see also IERS Technical Note 19, pp. R-21 to R-27). The main changes in this year's analysis form last year's are simply due to including another year's data.