For some space radio telescopes,the orbit determination accuracy is not high enough,the time synchronization accuracy provided by the satellite platforms is low,and GNSS devices are not available.As a result,a traditi...For some space radio telescopes,the orbit determination accuracy is not high enough,the time synchronization accuracy provided by the satellite platforms is low,and GNSS devices are not available.As a result,a traditional method that relies on GNSS devices to obtain an initial clock offset followed by performing correlation with the calibration source may fail to obtain fringes.Moreover,a brutal force search across the 2D clock offset and fringe rate search plane is computationally expensive.In light of these challenges,we propose a novel time synchronization method that utilizes the spacecraft’s telemetry tone signal.This method employs frequency polynomials derived from Doppler tracking for fringe rotation during the correlation process.By aligning the frequency of the target station precisely with that of the reference station,it is only necessary to split the clock offset search range into multiple time windows,perform correlation for each window,and identify the window with the highest signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).The precise clock offset is determined by combining the residual delay with the initial offset.To validate the method,we observe the Tianwen-1 telemetry signal with the 4.5 m small telescope in the Tianma campus of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and 40 m telescope in Kunming.The results demonstrate that our method can accurately determine clock offset for a time range as wide as±10 ms,with an SNR slightly higher than that achieved with the delay model.This method is suitable for wide-range time synchronization for space Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations,especially in scenarios involving small antennas with low sensitivity and poor orbit determination accuracy.展开更多
This paper presents the design,calibration,and survey strategy of the Fast Radio Burst(FRB)digital backend and its real-time data processing pipeline employed in the Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder Array.The array,consist...This paper presents the design,calibration,and survey strategy of the Fast Radio Burst(FRB)digital backend and its real-time data processing pipeline employed in the Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder Array.The array,consisting of three parallel cylindrical reflectors and equipped with 96 dual-polarization feeds,is a radio interferometer array designed for conducting drift scans of the northern celestial semi-sphere.The FRB digital backend enables the formation of 96 digital beams,effectively covering an area of approximately 40 square degrees with the 3 dB beam.Our pipeline demonstrates the capability to conduct an automatic search of FRBs,detecting at quasi-realtime and classifying FRB candidates automatically.The current FRB searching pipeline has an overall recall rate of88%.During the commissioning phase,we successfully detected signals emitted by four well-known pulsars:PSR B0329+54,B2021+51,B0823+26,and B2020+28.We report the first discovery of an FRB by our array,designated as FRB 20220414A.We also investigate the optimal arrangement for the digitally formed beams to achieve maximum detection rate by numerical simulation.展开更多
In order to measure the Universal Time(UT1)in real time,National Time Service Center(NTSC)has built a VGOS-like(VLBI Global Observing System)broadband VLBI network,which includes three13-m radio telescopes located in ...In order to measure the Universal Time(UT1)in real time,National Time Service Center(NTSC)has built a VGOS-like(VLBI Global Observing System)broadband VLBI network,which includes three13-m radio telescopes located in Jilin,Sanya and Kashi,and a data analysis center in Xi’an.Each station is equipped with a highly stable hydrogen atomic clock and a self-developed VLBI backend,and is colocated with two GPS receivers.This VGOS-like VLBI network may play an important role in improving the Chinese broadband VLBI technology and making valuable contributions to domestic VLBI measurements of UT1.In this paper,we introduce the specifications of this VLBI network,and present the UT1 measurements at C-band conducted in 2018 using the Jilin-Kashi baseline of this network.The comparisons between our UT1 estimates and those provided by IERS suggest that the NTSC VLBI network is capable to determine UT1 accurate at the level of 58.8μs.展开更多
A great challenge for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments is the strong foreground radiation which is orders of magnitude brighter than the 21 cm signal.Removal of the foreground takes advantage of the fact that its f...A great challenge for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments is the strong foreground radiation which is orders of magnitude brighter than the 21 cm signal.Removal of the foreground takes advantage of the fact that its frequency spectrum is smooth while the redshifted 21 cm signal spectrum is stochastic.However,a complication is the nonsmoothness of the instrument response.This paper describes the electromagnetic simulation of the Tianlai cylinder array,a pathfinder for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments.Due to the vast scales involved,a direct simulation requires a large amount of computing resources.We have made the simulation practical by using a combination of methods:first simulate a single feed,then an array of feed units,finally with the feed array and a cylindrical reflector together,obtain the response for a single cylinder.We studied its radiation pattern,bandpass response and the effects of mutual coupling between feed units,and compared the results with observation.Many features seen in the measurement result are reproduced well in the simulation,especially the oscillatory features which are associated with the standing waves on the reflector.The mutual coupling between feed units is quantified with Sparameters,which decrease as the distance between the two feeds increases.Based on the simulated S-parameters,we estimate the correlated noise which has been seen in the visibility data,and the results show very good agreement with the data in both magnitude and frequency structures.These results provide useful insights on the problem of 21 cm signal extraction for real instruments.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(grant No.2022YFC2205203)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant No.42241118)+1 种基金the Strategic Pilot Study Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(grant No.XDB0800103)the Key Incubation Project of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory,CAS.
文摘For some space radio telescopes,the orbit determination accuracy is not high enough,the time synchronization accuracy provided by the satellite platforms is low,and GNSS devices are not available.As a result,a traditional method that relies on GNSS devices to obtain an initial clock offset followed by performing correlation with the calibration source may fail to obtain fringes.Moreover,a brutal force search across the 2D clock offset and fringe rate search plane is computationally expensive.In light of these challenges,we propose a novel time synchronization method that utilizes the spacecraft’s telemetry tone signal.This method employs frequency polynomials derived from Doppler tracking for fringe rotation during the correlation process.By aligning the frequency of the target station precisely with that of the reference station,it is only necessary to split the clock offset search range into multiple time windows,perform correlation for each window,and identify the window with the highest signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).The precise clock offset is determined by combining the residual delay with the initial offset.To validate the method,we observe the Tianwen-1 telemetry signal with the 4.5 m small telescope in the Tianma campus of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory and 40 m telescope in Kunming.The results demonstrate that our method can accurately determine clock offset for a time range as wide as±10 ms,with an SNR slightly higher than that achieved with the delay model.This method is suitable for wide-range time synchronization for space Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations,especially in scenarios involving small antennas with low sensitivity and poor orbit determination accuracy.
基金support of the National SKA program of China(Nos.2022SKA0110100 and 2022SKA0110101)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC,Grant Nos.1236114814,12203061,12273070,and 12303004)。
文摘This paper presents the design,calibration,and survey strategy of the Fast Radio Burst(FRB)digital backend and its real-time data processing pipeline employed in the Tianlai Cylinder Pathfinder Array.The array,consisting of three parallel cylindrical reflectors and equipped with 96 dual-polarization feeds,is a radio interferometer array designed for conducting drift scans of the northern celestial semi-sphere.The FRB digital backend enables the formation of 96 digital beams,effectively covering an area of approximately 40 square degrees with the 3 dB beam.Our pipeline demonstrates the capability to conduct an automatic search of FRBs,detecting at quasi-realtime and classifying FRB candidates automatically.The current FRB searching pipeline has an overall recall rate of88%.During the commissioning phase,we successfully detected signals emitted by four well-known pulsars:PSR B0329+54,B2021+51,B0823+26,and B2020+28.We report the first discovery of an FRB by our array,designated as FRB 20220414A.We also investigate the optimal arrangement for the digitally formed beams to achieve maximum detection rate by numerical simulation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.11703033,11673051,11603001 and U1831136)the West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XAB2016A06)supported by the 100 Talents Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)。
文摘In order to measure the Universal Time(UT1)in real time,National Time Service Center(NTSC)has built a VGOS-like(VLBI Global Observing System)broadband VLBI network,which includes three13-m radio telescopes located in Jilin,Sanya and Kashi,and a data analysis center in Xi’an.Each station is equipped with a highly stable hydrogen atomic clock and a self-developed VLBI backend,and is colocated with two GPS receivers.This VGOS-like VLBI network may play an important role in improving the Chinese broadband VLBI technology and making valuable contributions to domestic VLBI measurements of UT1.In this paper,we introduce the specifications of this VLBI network,and present the UT1 measurements at C-band conducted in 2018 using the Jilin-Kashi baseline of this network.The comparisons between our UT1 estimates and those provided by IERS suggest that the NTSC VLBI network is capable to determine UT1 accurate at the level of 58.8μs.
基金supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST)-BRICS Flagship Project 2018YFE0120800National SKA Program of China No.2020SKA0110401+6 种基金the National Key R&D Program 2017YFA0402603the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC,Grant Nos.11973047,11633004 and U1631118)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)Strategic Priority Research Program XDA15020200the CAS Frontier Science Key Project QYZDJ–SSW–SLH017the CAS Inter-disciplinary Innovation Team(JCTD-2019-05)the CAS Key Instruments project ZDKYYQ20200008the Hebei Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy Technology(HKLRAT)。
文摘A great challenge for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments is the strong foreground radiation which is orders of magnitude brighter than the 21 cm signal.Removal of the foreground takes advantage of the fact that its frequency spectrum is smooth while the redshifted 21 cm signal spectrum is stochastic.However,a complication is the nonsmoothness of the instrument response.This paper describes the electromagnetic simulation of the Tianlai cylinder array,a pathfinder for 21 cm intensity mapping experiments.Due to the vast scales involved,a direct simulation requires a large amount of computing resources.We have made the simulation practical by using a combination of methods:first simulate a single feed,then an array of feed units,finally with the feed array and a cylindrical reflector together,obtain the response for a single cylinder.We studied its radiation pattern,bandpass response and the effects of mutual coupling between feed units,and compared the results with observation.Many features seen in the measurement result are reproduced well in the simulation,especially the oscillatory features which are associated with the standing waves on the reflector.The mutual coupling between feed units is quantified with Sparameters,which decrease as the distance between the two feeds increases.Based on the simulated S-parameters,we estimate the correlated noise which has been seen in the visibility data,and the results show very good agreement with the data in both magnitude and frequency structures.These results provide useful insights on the problem of 21 cm signal extraction for real instruments.
