the green bank telescope: overview and antenna performance
DESCRIPTION
The Green Bank Telescope: Overview and Antenna Performance. Richard Prestage GBT Future Instrumentation Workshop, September 2006. Overview. General GBT overview (10 mins) GBT antenna performance (20 mins). GBT Size. GBT optics. 100 x 110 m section of a parent parabola 208 m in diameter - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
April 8/9, 2003 Green BankGBT PTCS Conceptual Design Review
Richard Prestage
GBT Future Instrumentation Workshop, September 2006
The Green Bank Telescope:Overview and Antenna Performance
2
Overview
• General GBT overview (10 mins)
• GBT antenna performance (20 mins)
3
GBT Size
4
5
• 100 x 110 m section of a parent parabola 208 m in diameter• Cantilevered feed arm is at focus of the parent parabola
GBT optics
6
GBT Capabilities
• Extremely powerful, versatile, general purpose single-dish radio telescope.• Large diameter filled aperture provides unique combination of high sensitivity
and resolution for point sources plus high surface-brightness sensitivity for faint extended sources.
• Offset optics provides an extremely clean beam at all frequencies.• Wide field of view (10’ diameter FOV for Gregorian focus).• Frequency coverage 290 MHz – 50 GHz (now), 115 GHz (future).• Extensive suite of instrumentation including spectral line, continuum, pulsar,
high-time resolution, VLBI and radar backends.• Well set up to accept visitor backends (interfacing to existing IF), other options
(e,g, visitor receivers) possible with appropriate advance planning and agreement.
• (Comparatively) low RFI environment due to location in National Radio Quiet Zone. Allows unique HI and pulsar observations.
• Flexible python-based scripting interface allows possibility to develop extremely effective observing strategies (e.g. flexible scanning patterns).
• Remote observing available now, dynamic scheduling under development.
7
Antenna Specifications and Performance
Coordinates Longitude: 79d 50' 23.406" West (NAD83) Latitude: 38d 25' 59.236" North (NAD83)
Optics Off-axis feed, Prime and Gregorian focif/D (prime) = 0.29 (referred to the 208 m
parent parabola)f/D (Gregorian) = 1.9 (referred to the 100 m
effective aperture)
FWHM beamwidth 720”/ [GHz] = 12.4’ / [GHz]
Declination limits - 45 to 90
Elevation Limits 5 to 90
Slew rates 35 / min azimuth17 / min elevation
Surface RMS ~ 350 m; average accuracy of individual panels: 68 m
Pointing accuracy RMS (rss of both axes)
4” (blind)2.7” (offset)
Tracking accuracy ~1” over a half-hour (benign night-time conditions)
Field of View ~ 7 beams Prime Focus 100s – 1000s (10’ FOV) Hi Freq Gregorian.
8
Efficiency and Gain
9
Azimuth Track Fix
• Track will be replaced in the summer of 2007. Goal is to restore the 20 year service life of the components. Work includes:
– Replace base plates with higher grade material.– New, thicker wear plates from higher grade material.
Stagger joints with base plate joints.– Thickness of the grout will be reduced to keep the
telescope at the same level.– Epoxy grout instead of dry-pack grout.– Teflon shim between plates. – Tensioned thru-bolting to replace screws.
• Outage April 30 to August 3, followed by one month re-commissioning / shared-risk observing period.
10
Azimuth Track Fix
New Wear Plates•Better Suited Material•Balanced Joint Design•Joints staggered with Base Plate Joints
New Bolts ExtendThrough Both Plates
New Higher StrengthBase Plates
Transition Section
Old Track Section
Joints AlignedVertically –
Weak Design
Screws close toWheel Path
Experienced Fatigue
Antenna Pointing, Focus Tracking and Surface Performance
12
Precision Telescope Control System
• Goal of the PTCS project is to deliver 3mm operation.• Includes instrumentation, servos (existing), algorithm and
control system design, implementation.
• As delivered antenna => 15GHz operation (Fall 2001)• Active surface and initial pointing/focus tracking model =>
26GHz operation (Spring 2003)
• PTCS project initiated November 2002:– Initial 50GHz operation: Fall 2003– Routine 50 GHz operation: Spring 2006
• Project largely on hold since Spring 2005, but now fully ramping up again.
13
Performance Requirements
Good Performance Acceptable Performance
Quantity Target Requires Target Requires
rms flux uncertainty due to tracking errors
5% σ2 / θ < 0.14 10% σ2 / θ < 0.2
loss of gain due to axial focus error
1% |Δys| < λ/4 5% |Δys| < λ/2
Surface efficiency ηs ~ 0.54 ε < λ/16 ηs ~ 0.37 ε < λ/4π
14
Summary of Requirements
(GHz)
15
Structural Temperatures
16
Focus Model Results
17
Elevation Model Results
18
Azimuth Blind Pointing
arcsec 2.7 Cos(E)]A [
19
Elevation Blind Pointing
arcsec 4.8 E][
20
Performance – Tracking
arcsec 2.12 )/'10,/'2(,
)5,1(),(
)58,290(),(
mmt
El
t
Az
ElAz
ElAz
)m/'7.11,m/'8.10(t
El,
t
Az
)9.3,6.3()El,Az(
)37,99()El Az,(
Half-power in Azimuth Half-power in Elevation
)m/'4.11,m/'0.12(t
El,
t
Az
)8.3,0.4()El,Az(
)43,105()El Az,(
arcsec 2.12
21
Power Spectrum
Servo resonance 0.28 Hz
22
Servo Error
23
Performance – Summary
mm 2.5 focus)(
arcsec 5pointing)(1
mm 1.5 focus)(
arcsec 7.2pointing)(2
Benign Conditions: (1) Exclude 10:00 18:00 (2) Wind < 3.0 m/s
Blind Pointing: (1 point/focus)
Offset Pointing: (90 min)
Continuous Tracking: (30 min)
arcsec 12
24
Effects of wind
1''
12
2
11
68
2)(
sec16.0)(
smsat
windwind
arcsm
swind
25
Effects of Wind
26
“out-of-focus” holography
• Hills, Richer, & Nikolic (Cavendish Astrophysics, Cambridge) have proposed a new technique for phase-retrieval holography. It differs from “traditional” phase-retrieval holography in three ways:
– It describes the antenna surface in terms of Zernike polynomials and solves for their coefficients, thus reducing the number of free parameters
– It uses modern minimization algorithms to fit for the coefficients
– It recognizes that defocusing can be used to lower the S/N requirements for the beam maps
27
Technique
• Make three Nyquist-sampled beam maps, one in focus, one each ~ five wavelengths radial defocus
• Model surface errors (phase errors) as combinations of low-order Zernike polynomials. Perform forward transform to predict observed beam maps (correctly accounting for phase effects of defocus)
• Sample model map at locations of actual maps (no need for regridding)
• Adjust coefficients to minimize difference between model and actual beam maps.
28
Typical data – Q-band
29
Typical data - Q-band
30
Gravitational Deformations
31
Gravity model
32
Surface Accuracy
• Large scale gravitational errors corrected by “OOF” holography.
• Benign night-time rms ~ 350µm
• Efficiencies:43 GHz: ηS = 0.67 ηA = 0.47
90 GHz: ηS = 0.2 ηA = 0.15
• Now dominated by panel-panel errors (night-time), thermal gradients (day-time)
33
Summary
The End
35
Supplemental Material
36
Pointing Requirements
2
2El
2Az
22
2
2
GHZ
arcsec 740
2ln4exp)(
f
g
Condon (2003)20.0 10%)( Usable
14.0 5%)( Good
s
s
f
f
37
Focus Requirements
2/8/)95.0( Usable
4/16/)99.0( Good
4
Axial 2ln4exp2
asa
asa
a
a
sa
yg
yg
yg
Srikanth (1990)Condon (2003)
5.03.17
mm 3.2 mm 7 :band-Q
mm/3.7Scale Plate
3/16/)99.0( Good
6
Lateral 2ln4exp
"
"
2
f
x
xg
xg
s
lsl
l
l
sl
38
Surface Error Requirements
Ruze formula:
ε = rms surface error
ηp = exp[(-4πε/λ)2]
“pedestal” θp ~ Dθ/L
ηa down by 3dB for ε = λ/16
“acceptable” performanceε = λ/4π