• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.567-588
• /
• 2009

Korea-Japan Joint VLBI Correlator (KJJVC) is being developed by collaborating KASI (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute), Korea, and NAOJ(National Observatory of Japan), Japan. In early 2010, KJJVC will work in normal operation. In this study, we developed the software correlator which is based on VCS (VLBI Correlation Subsystem) hardware specification as the core component of KJJVC. The main specification of software correlator is 8 Gbps, 8192 output channels, and 262,144-points FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) function same as VCS. And the functional algorithm which is same as specification of VCS and arithmetic register are adopted in this software correlator. To verify the performance of developed software correlator, the correlation experiments were carried out using the spectral line and continuum sources which were observed by VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), NAOJ. And the experimental results were compared to the output of Mitaka FX correlator by referring spectrum shape, phase rate, and fringe detection and so on. Through the experimental results, we confirmed that the correlation results of software correlator are the same as Mitaka FX correlator and verified the effectiveness of it. In future, we expect that the developed software correlator will be the possible software correlator of KVN (Korean VLBI Network) with KJJVC by introducing the correlation post-processing and modifying the user interface as like GUI (Graphic User Interface).

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 2008

A RF environmental field test for the proposed Galileo Sensor Station site was done by Alcatel Alenia technical team contracted by European Space Agency (ESA) and the Space Geodesy division of Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute at the Korean VLBI Hetwork (KVN) site in Tamla University Campus, Jeju from June 21, 2007 to June 24, 2007. Full band and in-band 24 hour observation for radio frequency interference, precise positioning, and multipath on three proposed antenna locations for Galileo signal were executed. The main purpose of this survey is to verify the results of previous test on 2006 by KASI. The preliminary analysis of the results and a full investigation also had been done by ESA under the permission of KASI until the end of July, 2007.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.43-52
• /
• 2008

As the next generation of global satellite navigation system, the Galileo project is about to witness an initial orbit validation stage as the successful test of navigation message transmission from Giove-A in 2007. The Space Geodesy division ana the Radio Astronomy division of the Korea Astronomy & Space Science Institute had collaborated on the field survey for the Galileo Sensor Station (GSS) RF environment of the proposed site near Jeju Tamla University from August 3rd to August 5th, 2006. The power spectrums were measured in full-band $(800{\sim}2000MHz)$ and in-band (E5, E6 and L1 band) in frequency domain for 24 hours respectively. Finally, we performed a time domain analysis to characterize strong in-band interference source based on the result of the previous step.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.167-178
• /
• 2017

We present a study of the inexplicit connection between radio jet activity and ${\gamma}$-ray emission of BL Lacertae (BL Lac; 2200+420). We analyze the long-term millimeter activity of BL Lac via interferometric observations with the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) obtained at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz simultaneously over three years (from January 2013 to March 2016); during this time, two ${\gamma}$-ray outbursts (in November 2013 and March 2015) can be seen in ${\gamma}$-ray light curves obtained from Fermi observations. The KVN radio core is optically thick at least up to 86 GHz; there is indication that it might be optically thin at higher frequencies. To first order, the radio light curves decay exponentially over the time span covered by our observations, with decay timescales of $411{\pm}85$ days, $352{\pm}79$ days, $310{\pm}57$ days, and $283{\pm}55$ days at 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz, respectively. Assuming synchrotron cooling, a cooling time of around one year is consistent with magnetic field strengths $B{\sim}2{\mu}T$ and electron Lorentz factors ${\gamma}$ ~ 10 000. Taking into account that our formal measurement errors include intrinsic variability and thus over-estimate the statistical uncertainties, we find that the decay timescale ${\tau}$ scales with frequency ${\nu}$ like ${\tau}{\propto}{\nu}^{-0.2}$. This relation is much shallower than the one expected from opacity effects (core shift), but in agreement with the (sub-)mm radio core being a standing recollimation shock. We do not find convincing radio flux counterparts to the ${\gamma}$-ray outbursts. The spectral evolution is consistent with the 'generalized shock model' of Valtaoja et al. (1992). A temporary increase in the core opacity and the emergence of a knot around the time of the second ${\gamma}$-ray event indicate that this ${\gamma}$-ray outburst might be an 'orphan' flare powered by the 'ring of fire' mechanism.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.333-340
• /
• 2011

KJJVC(Korea-Japan Joint VLBI Correlator) was installed at the KJCC(Korea-Japan Correlation Center) and has been operated by KASI(Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) from 2009. KJNC is able to correlate the VLBI observed data through KVN(Korean VLBI Network), VERA(VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), and JVN(Japanese VLBI Network) and its joint network array. And it is used exclusively as computer in order to process the observed data for the scientific purpose KJJVC used the VSI(VLBI Standard Interface) as the VLBI international standard at the data input-output specification between each component. Especially, for correlating the observed data, the data is transmitted with 1024Mbps speed between Mark5B high-speed playback and RVDB(Raw VLBI Data Buffer). The EMI(Electromagnetic lnterference), which is occurred by data transmission with high-speed, cause the data loss and the loss occurrence is frequently often for long transmission cable. Finally it will be caused the data recognition error by decreasing the voltage level of digital data signal. In this paper, in order to minimize the data loss by measuring the EMI noise level in transmission of the VSI specification, the 3 methods such as 1) RC filtering method, 2) lmpedance matching using Microstrip line, and 3) Signal buffering method using Differential line driver, were proposed. To verify the effectiveness of each proposed method, the performance evaluation was conducted by implementing and simulations for each method. Each proposed method was effectively confirmed as the high-speed data transmission of the VSI specification.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.125-132
• /
• 2018

KVN(Korean VLBI Network) introduced the Mark6 system of the MIT haystack observatory as a recorder for data recording up to 32 Gbps for VLBI(Very Long Baseline Interferometry) observation. The Mark6 recorder can record data at up to 32Gbps when two systems and 64 HDDs are installed. However, because of the unique recording method that is characteristic of Mark6, we are introducing a large amount of data into a virtual file system, or using a general RAID method, which causes data loss when reading and transferring files at the highest recording speed or file system have. The Flexbuff system, a software recorder developed by JIVE(Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC), can be configured to operate as a data recorder through RAID configuration and network upgrades. In particular, when installed in the Mark6 system, it can record VLBI data at a maximum speed of 32 Gbps with less loss of data compared to the existing Mark6 by utilizing Mark6 resources well. In this paper, we propose that the existing Mark6 system can be operated as Mark6-Flexbuff by installing jive5ab software, and it is verified through experiment that it can be effectively used for VLBI observation operation through data recording test.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.17 no.3 s.106
• /
• pp.239-248
• /
• 2006

In this paper, the cryogenically cooled low noise amplifier module for radio telescope receiver front-end using pHE-MT MMIC is designed and fabricated. In the selection of MMIC, the MMIC fabricated with the pHEMTS providing successful cryogenic operation are chosen. They are mounted in the housing using the thin film substrate. In the design of the housing, the absorber and the elimination of the gap between the carrier and the housing as well removed the unnecessary oscillations by its structure. The mismatch is improved by ribbon-tuning to provide the best performance at room temperature. The fabricated module shows the gain of $35dB{\pm}1dB$ and the noise figure of $2.37{\sim}2.57dB$ at room temperature over $21.5{\sim}23.5GHz$. In the cryogenic temperature of $15^{\circ}K$ cooled by He gas, the measured gain was above 35 dB and flatness ${\pm}2dB$ and the noise temperatures of $28{\sim}37^{\circ}K$.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.62-74
• /
• 2008

In this paper, we would like to propose the design of symmetric digital filter core in order to use in the radio astronomy. The function of FIR filter core would be designed by VHDL code required at the Data Acquisition System (DAS) of Korean VLBI Network (KVN) based on the FPGA chip of Vertex-4 SX55 model of Xilinx company. The designed digital filter has the symmetric structure to increase the effectiveness of system by sharing the digital filter coefficient. The SFFU(Symmetric FIR Filter Unit) use the parallel processing method to perform the data processing efficiently by using the constrained system clock. In this paper, therefore, for the effective design of SFFU, the Unified Synthesis software ISE Foundation and Core Generator which has excellent GUI environment were used to overall IP core synthesis and experiments. Through the synthesis results of digital filter core, we verified the resource usage is less than 40% such as Slice LUT and achieved the maximum operation frequency is more than 260MHz. We also confirmed the SFFU would be well operated without error according to the SFFU simulation result using the Modelsim 6.1a of Mentor Graphics Company. To verify the function of SFFU, we carried out the additional simulation experiments using the pseudo signal to the Matlab software. From the comparison experimental results of simulation and the designed digital FIR filter, we confirmed the FIR filter was well performed with filter's basic function. So we verified the effectiveness of the designed FIR digital filter with symmetric structure using FPGA and VHDL.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.153-161
• /
• 2018

This paper describes the performance improvement of Software (SW) digital filter using GPU (Graphical Processing Unit). The previous developed SW digital filter has a problem that it operates on a CPU (Central Processing Unit) basis and has a slow speed. The GPU was introduced to filter the data of the EAVN (East Asian VLBI Network) observation to improve the operation speed and to process data with other stations through filtering, respectively. In order to enhance the computational speed of the SW digital filter, NVIDIA Titan V GPU board with built-in Tensor Core is used. The processing speed of about 0.78 (1Gbps, 16MHz BW, 16-IF) and 1.1 (2Gbps, 32MHz BW, 16-IF) times for the observing time was achieved by filtering the 95 second observation data of 2 Gbps (512 MHz BW, 1-IF), respectively. In addition, 2Gbps data is digitally filtered for the 1 and 2Gbps simultaneously observed with KVN (Korean VLBI Network), and compared with the 1Gbps, we obtained similar values such as cross power spectrum, phase, and SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio). As a result, the effectiveness of developed SW digital filter using GPU in this research was confirmed for utilizing the data processing and analysis. In the future, it is expected that the observation data will be able to be filtered in real time when the distributed processing optimization of source code for using multiple GPU boards.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.51.3-51.3
• /
• 2015

1995년 한국 최초로 VLBI관측이 이루어졌다. 일본 측의 26m 안테나(일본 국토연구원 소재)와 한국 측의 3.6m 안테나(국토지리정보원 소재)로 수행되었으며, 이 때 결정된 관측점의 좌표가 세계 공통으로 사용되는 "세계측지계(ITRF)"에 의거한 새로운 국가기준좌표계의 경위도 원점이다. 그 후 측지VLBI관측국의 설치를 위해, "측지VLBI구축 타당성조사 및 기본계획 수립을 위한 연구(2003년)"와 "측지VLBI구축 실시설계(2006년)"를 수행하였다. 그 결과 국가 차원에서 측지VLBI관측소(22m 안테나)를 건설하기 위해 2008년에 관측소 후보지를 세종시로 확정해서 공사에 들어갔다. 2012년에 준공되었으며, 명칭을 "우주측지관측센터"로 하였다. 그 후 1년 동안의 시험관측의 성공으로 아시아에서 3번째로 정식으로 IVS(International VLBI Service)에 가입하였다. 현재 독일, 일본, 미국 등의 측지VLBI관측국들과 정기적으로 관측을 수행하게 되었으며, 실적을 올리고 있다. IVS사업 뿐 만 아니라, 한국천문연구원의 KVN(천문 VLBI)연구팀과도 공동연구를 수행해서 우리나라의 천문 VLBI 및 측지VLBI관측사업의 활성화에 기여하고 있다. 장차 동남아 각국에 마이크로SAR위성의 관측데이터를 수신하기 위한 지상국(3m급 소형안테나)이 설치되면, 이를 활용해서 측지VLBI관측을 수행할 계획을 수립하고 있다. 이것은 위성용 수신기를 VLBI용 수신기로 교체하면 된다. 한국과 일본이 VLBI관측을 수행했던 것처럼 세종시에 설치된 우주측지관측소가 허브역할을 하면 된다. 즉 동남아 지역에 우주 VLBI관측망을 구축하게 된다.