• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.207-213
• /
• 2022

The Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory (SRAO) operates a 6.1-meter radio telescope on the Gwanak campus of Seoul National University. We present the efforts to reform SRAO to a Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) station, motivated by recent achievements by millimeter interferometer networks such as Event Horizon Telescope, East Asia VLBI Network, and Korean VLBI Network (KVN). For this goal, we installed a receiver that had been used in the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and a digital backend, including an H-maser clock. The existing hardware and software were also revised, which had been dedicated only to single-dish operations. After several years of preparations and test observations in 1 and 3-millimeter bands, a fringe was successfully detected toward 3C 84 in 86 GHz in June 2022 for a baseline between SRAO and KVN Ulsan station separated by 300 km. Thanks to the dual frequency operation of the receiver, the VLBI observations will soon be extended to the 1 mm band and verify the frequency phase referencing technique between 1 and 3-millimeter bands.

• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.47 no.5
• /
• pp.195-199
• /
• 2014

We present a GUI-based interactive Python program, VIMAP, which generates radio spectral index maps of active galactic nuclei (AGN) from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) maps obtained at different frequencies. VIMAP is a handy tool for the spectral analysis of synchrotron emission from AGN jets, specifically of spectral index distributions, turn-over frequencies, and core-shifts. In general, the required accurate image alignment is difficult to achieve because of a loss of absolute spatial coordinate information during VLBI data reduction (self-calibration) and/or intrinsic variations of source structure as function of frequency. These issues are overcome by VIMAP which in turn is based on the two-dimensional cross-correlation algorithm of Croke & Gabuzda (2008). In this paper, we briefly review the problem of aligning VLBI AGN maps, describe the workflow of VIMAP, and present an analysis of archival VLBI maps of the active nucleus 3C 120.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.1215-1218
• /
• 2013

A 90-deg phase shifter using corrugated square waveguide structure for 86 GHz band VLBI(Very Long Baseline Interferometry) dual-circular polarization observation has been developed. The 90-deg phase shifter was designed to have two corrugated walls inside the square waveguide so that the vertically and horizontally polarized waves at the output port have phase differences of $90{\pm}3.3$ deg across 85~115 GHz. Measurements show that the return and insertion losses for the both polarizations are better than 17 dB and 0.25 dB, respectively. The axial ratio is estimated to be less than 0.6 dB within the required frequency band.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.35.4-35.4
• /
• 2019

We have conducted a 22 GHz very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) survey of 281 local (z < 0.05) active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) 70-month ultra hard X-ray (14-195 keV) catalog. The main goal is to investigate the relation between the strengths of black hole accretion and the parsec-scale nuclear jet, which is expected to tightly correlate but has not been observationally confirmed yet. The BAT AGN Spectroscopic Survey (BASS) provides the least biased AGN sample against obscuration including both Seyfert types, hence it makes an ideal parent sample for studying the nuclear jet properties of an overall AGN population. Using the Korean VLBI Network (KVN), the KVN and VERA Array (KaVA), and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), we observed 281 objects with a 22 GHz flux > 30 mJy, detecting 11 targets (~4% of VLBI detection rate). This implies that the fraction of X-ray AGNs which are currently ejecting a strong nuclear jet is very small. Although our 11 sources span a wide range of pc-scale morphological types, from compact to complex, they lie on a tight linear relation between accretion luminosity and nuclear jet luminosity. Our finding may indicate that the power of nuclear jet is directly responsible for the amount of black hole accretion. We also have probed the fundamental plane of black hole activity in VLBI scale (e.g., few milli-arcsecond). The results from our high-frequency VLBI radio study support that the change of jet luminosity and size follows what is predicted by the AGN evolution scenario based on the Eddington ratio (ƛ$_{Edd}$) - column density ($N_H$) plane, proposed by a previous study.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.20 no.1 s.24
• /
• pp.63-71
• /
• 2005

e-VLBI was invented to enhance the efficiency of VLBI (Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry) system by transmitting the data via high speed network. Korean VLBI Network (KVN) has a plan to construct e-VLBI system named e-KVN. High speed backbone network and efficient network model are essential to implement successful e-VLBI system. This paper introduces a network model based on PC cluster technology. The present status of high speed backbone network in Korea is overviewed. We suggest that the network link via Korea Advanced Research Network (KOREN) is one of feasible way for e-KVN. We also describe the principles of e-VLBI and protocol for network transmission such as VSI-E (VLBI Standard Interface - Electronic), RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) and RTCP (Real-Time Transport Control protocol).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.43.3-44
• /
• 2015

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at millimeter wavelengths results in the highest angular resolutions achieved in astronomy and has a unique access to emission regions that are inaccessible with any other approach or at longer wavelengths. The simultaneous multi-frequency VLBI system in the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) is considered one of the most effective systems for compensating the atmospheric phase fluctuations, which is particularly bothersome at mm-VLBI. We have been demonstrating its performance and uniqueness at mm-VLBI observations. As a results, international VLBI partners from Japan, China, Australia and EU have expressed their interest on the KVN style simultaneous multi-frequency system. In this talk, we will report the activities for extending the simultaneous multi-frequency system to global VLBI network and introduce its science driver, measuring AGN core-shift effects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.325-332
• /
• 2022

Determination of VLBI IVP (Very Long Baseline Interferometry Invariant Point) position with high accuracy is required to compute local tie vectors between the space geodetic techniques. In general, reflective targets are attached on VLBI antenna and slant distances, horizontal and vertical angles are measured from the pillars. Then, adjustment computation is performed by using the mathematical model which connects measurements and unknown parameters. This indicates that the accuracy of the estimated solutions is affected by the accuracy of the measurements. One of issues in local tie surveying, however, is that the reflective targets are not in favorable condition, that is, the reflective sheet target cannot be perfectly aligned to the instrument perpendicularly. Deviation from the line of sight of an instrument may cause different type of measurement errors. This inherent limitation may lead to incorrect stochastic modeling for the measurements in adjustment computation procedures. In this study, error characteristics by measurement types and pillars are analyzed, respectively. The analysis on the studentized residuals is performed after adjustment computation. The normality of the residuals is tested and then equal variance test between the measurement types are performed. The results show that there are differences in variance according to the measurement types. Differences in variance between distances and angle measurements are observed when F-test is performed for the measurements from each pillar. Therefore, more detailed stochastic modeling is required for optimal solutions, especially in local tie survey.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2016

The calibration of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data has long been a time consuming process. The Korean VLBI Network (KVN) is a simple array consisting of three identical antennas. Because four frequencies are observed simultaneously, phase solutions can be transferred from lower frequencies to higher frequencies in order to improve phase coherence and hence sensitivity at higher frequencies. Due to the homogeneous nature of the array, the KVN is also well suited for automatic calibration. In this paper we describe the automatic calibration of single-polarisation KVN data using the KVN Pipeline and comparing the results against VLBI data that has been manually reduced. We find that the pipelined data using phase transfer produces better results than a manually reduced dataset not using the phase transfer. Additionally we compared the pipeline results with a manually reduced phase-transferred dataset and found the results to be identical.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.115-118
• /
• 2015

We made phase-referencing Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of Galactic 22 GHz $H_2O$ maser sources with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA). We measured the parallax distances of G48.61+0.02, G48.99-0.30, G49.19-0.34, ON1, IRAS 20056+3350, IRAS 20143+3634, ON2N, and IRAS 20126+4104, which are located near the tangent point and the Solar circle. The angular velocity of the Galactic rotation at the LSR (i.e. the ratio of the Galactic constants) is derived using the measured parallax distances and proper motions of these sources. The derived value of ${\Omega}_0=28.8{\pm}1.7km\;s^{-1}kpc^{-1}$ is consistent with recent values obtained using VLBI astrometry but 10% larger than the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recommended value of $25.9km\;s^{-1}kpc^{-1}=(220km\;s^{-1})$ / (8.5 kpc).