ABSTRACT. We present spectrograph design details and initial radial velocity results from the PRL optical fiberfed high-resolution cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph (PARAS), which has recently been commissioned at the Mount Abu 1.2 m telescope in India. Data obtained as part of the postcommissioning tests with PARAS show velocity precision better than 2 m s À1 over a period of several months on bright RV standard stars. For observations of σ Dra, we report 1:7 m s À1 precision for a period of 7 months, and for HD 9407, we report 2:1 m s À1 over a period of 2 months. PARAS is capable of single-shot spectral coverage of 3800-9500 Å at a resolution of ∼67; 000. The RV results were obtained between 3800 and 6900 Å using simultaneous wavelength calibration with a thorium-argon (ThAr) hollow cathode lamp. The spectrograph is maintained under stable conditions of temperature with a precision of 0.01-0.02°C (rms) at 25.55°C and is enclosed in a vacuum vessel at pressure of 0:1 AE 0:03 mbar. The blaze peak efficiency of the spectrograph between 5000 and 6500 Å, including the detector, is ∼30%; it is ∼25% with the fiber transmission. The total efficiency, including spectrograph, fiber transmission, focal ratio degradation (FRD), and telescope (with 81% reflectivity) is ∼7% in the same wavelength region on a clear night with good seeing conditions. The stable point-spread function (PSF), environmental control, existence of a simultaneous calibration fiber, and availability of observing time make PARAS attractive for a variety of exoplanetary and stellar astrophysics projects. Future plans include testing of octagonal fibers for further scrambling of light and extensive calibration over the entire wavelength range up to 9500 Å using thorium-neon (ThNe) or uranium-neon (UNe) spectral lamps. Thus, we demonstrate how such highly stabilized instruments, even on small aperture telescopes, can contribute significantly to the ongoing radial velocity searches for low-mass planets around bright stars.

We present the first light commissioning results from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) optical fiber-fed high resolution cross-dispersed Echelle Spectrograph. It is capable of a single-shot spectral coverage of 3700A to 8600A at R ~ 63,000 and is under very stable conditions of temperature (0.04°C at 23°C). In the very near future pressure control will also be achieved by enclosing the entire spectrograph in a low-pressure vacuum chamber (~0.01mbar). It is attached to a 1.2m telescope using two 50micron core optical fibers (one for the star and another for simultaneous Th-Ar spectral calibration). The 1.2m telescope is located at Mt. Abu, India, and we are guaranteed about 80 to 100 nights a year for observations with the spectrograph. The instrument will be ultimately used for radial-velocity searches of exoplanets around 1000 dwarf stars, brighter than 10th magnitude, for the next 5 years with a precision of 3 to 5m/s using the simultaneous Th-Ar spectral lamp reference technique. The spectrograph has already achieved a stability of 3.7m/s in short-term time scale and in the near future we expect the stability to be at 1m/s once we install the spectrograph inside the vacuum chamber.

The PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search (PARAS) instrument is a fiber-fed stabilized high-resolution cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph, located on the 1.2 m telescope in Mt. Abu India. Designed for exoplanet detection, PARAS is capable of single-shot spectral coverage of 3800 -9600Å, and currently achieving radial velocity (RV) precisions approaching ∼ 1 m s −1 over several months using simultaneous ThAr calibration. As such, it is one of the few dedicated stabilized fiber-fed spectrographs on small (1-2 m) telescopes that are able to fill an important niche in RV follow-up and stellar characterization. The success of ground-based RV surveys is motivating the push into extreme precisions, with goals of ∼ 10 cm s −1 in the optical and <1 m s −1 in the near-infrared (NIR). Lessons from existing instruments like PARAS are invaluable in informing hardware design, providing pipeline prototypes, and guiding scientific surveys. Here we present our current precision estimates of PARAS based on observations of bright RV standard stars, and describe the evolution of the data reduction and RV analysis pipeline as instrument characterization progresses and we gather longer baselines of data. Secondly, we discuss how our experience with PARAS is a critical component in the development of future cutting edge instruments like (1) the Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF), a near-infrared spectrograph optimized to look for planets around M dwarfs, scheduled to be commissioned on the Hobby Eberly Telescope in 2017, and (2) the NEID optical spectrograph, designed in response to the NN-EXPLORE call for an extreme precision Doppler spectrometer (EPDS) for the WIYN telescope. In anticipation of instruments like TESS and GAIA, the groundbased RV support system is being reinforced. We emphasize that instruments like PARAS will play an intrinsic role in providing both complementary follow-up and battlefront experience for these next generation of precision velocimeters.

Parallel connected inverters in islanded mode, are getting momentous attention due to their ability to increase the power distribution and reliability of a power system. When there are different ratings of Distributed Generation (DG) units, they will operate in parallel connection due to different output voltages, impedance mismatch, or different phase that can cause current to flow between DG units. The magnitude of this circulating current sometimes can be very large and damage the DG inverters and also cause power losses that affect power-sharing accuracy, power quality, and the efficiency of the Microgrid (MG) system. Droop control, improved droop control, and virtual impedance control techniques and modifications in the virtual impedance control technique are widely used to suppress the circulating current. However, the addition of the virtual impedance to each inverter to compensate the output impedance is resistive or inductive in nature. The resistive nature of the output impedance always causes a certain voltage drop, whereas the inductive nature of the output impedance causes phase delay for the output voltage. Both problems are addressed by the proposed control mechanism in this paper. Negative resistance, along with virtual impedance, is utilized in the proposed control strategy. The output impedance is to be maintained as inductive in nature to achieve good load sharing in droop control MGs. The simulation results validate the proposed control scheme.

We describe here the details of the concept, the construction, and the performance of an accurate and inexpensive sidereal tracking drive unit (SDU) for the l-m or larger class of astronomical telescopes. The SDU is tunable and has a very highly stable and undistorted sinusoidal wave shape. The SDU consists mainly of a variable drift-free drive rate generator and a distortion-free, low-cost power amplifier. Tracking accuracies of less than a couple of arcseconds in sky are achieved in 60 min of observation time. The unit can also be used in negative feed back mode to correct any errors in the tracking system. The accuracies in frequency stability obtainable with the SDU and the feasibility of operation in negative feedback mode for correcting tracking errors are not possible in the commercially available battery back-up uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units. The total cost of the SDU currently works out to be approximately $200 (US) and requires about one man-month for building and testing.