Ventspils radiotelescopes: history, parameters, possibilities

Balklavs, A.

doi:10.1515/astro-1996-0110

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Currently, both RT-32 and RT-16 pointing systems incorporate slow and fast drives for the antenna azimuthal and elevation positioning with the corresponding maximum azimuthal/elevation angular speeds of 2°/s for RT-32 [1] and only 0.25°/s for RT-16 [2], as its fast drive is not functioning. At these speeds the maximum elevation of a typical LEO satellite pass that antennas can support is 73° for RT-32 and 20° for RT-16.…”

Section: Performance Of the Antenna Steering Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Of VIRAC* RT-32 And RT-16 Antennas To Serve As Satellite Ground Station

Bleiders

Trokšs

Elerts

2015

Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences

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The basic application of RT-32 and RT-16 parabolic antennas is radio astronomy observations, both the radio-telescopes have been upgraded with state-of-the art cryogenic receivers, and now a large-scale modernization of the infrastructure is underway. Since the radio-astronomical observations are not full-time activities, a research work has been done to clear up whether these antennas, besides the mentioned activities, can be used as a satellite ground station. The main goal of this added functionality is to make possible the use of the extremely high reception systems' figure-of-merit thus raising the satellite downlink data rates without increasing the on-board power consumption, which would be particularly important for developers of small satellites. In this paper, the progress in the research project is reported, which includes successful S-band satellite signal reception experiments and possible options as to integration of the related equipment into the system so that both functionalities could successfully coexist. Performance of the existing and the upgraded antenna positioning systems is estimated to determine if the latter are usable even for servicing low-Earth orbiting satellites. In addition, possible options are considered as to upgrading the system with automatic beam tracking capability, which would increase the antenna pointing accuracy even further.

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Section: Performance Of the Antenna Steering Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Of VIRAC* RT-32 And RT-16 Antennas To Serve As Satellite Ground Station

Bleiders

Trokšs

Elerts

2015

Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences

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“…For this reason, in 2015, Latvian government decided to change radically the radiotelescope located in Ventspils (Latvia) [1]. This conversion implied the replacement of the optical system (as Cassegrain) by a dual optical with a shaped reflector.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of a Conical Corrugated Antenna Using Multiobjective Heuristics for Radio-Astronomy Applications

López-Ruiz

Montero

Tercero

et al. 2016

International Journal of Antennas and Propagation

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This paper presents the design of a tree sections corrugated horn antenna with a modified linear profile, using NURBS, suitable for radio-astronomy applications. The operating band ranges from 4.5 to 8.8 GHz. The aperture efficiency is higher than 84% and the return losses are greater than 20 dB in the whole bandwidth. The antenna optimization has been carried out with multiobjective versions of an evolutionary algorithm (EA) and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. We show that both techniques provide good antenna design, but the experience carried out shows that the results of the evolutionary algorithm outperform the particle swarm results.

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“…The radio telescopes were built by Soviet Army in 1969-1973 for military purposes. As a whole, at Irbene not only fully-steerable parabolic antennas, 32m and 16m in diameter (RT-32 and RT-16, respectively) are located but also a campus with welldeveloped infrastructure [1,2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation Of Damage And Deformation Of Rt-32 Radio Telescope / Radioteleeskopa Rt-32 Deformācijas Un Bojājumu Novērtējums

Joffe¹,

Jēkabsons²,

Be̅rziņš³

et al. 2012

Latvian Journal of Physics and Technical Sciences

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The main objective of the work was to analyze the operation of the large radio telescope RT-32 at the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre (VIRAC). The analysis has been performed in order to evaluate dimensional changes in the RT- 32 structural base due to reorientation of the antenna mirror. Three different orientations of the dish were considered, and the dimensional changes in the load carrying substructure were measured. The measurements were made to estimate possible effect of the geometrical changes of the antenna due to gravitational loads on the overall performance of the radio telescope with respect to the obtained astronomical results, their accuracy and validity. Comprehensive mapping and classification of the corrosive damage of steel elements in the antenna have been done. A preliminary numerical analysis by the finite element method was carried out to demonstrate the overall effect of the damaged steel beams on the geometrical distortion of the antenna surface.

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Ventspils radiotelescopes: history, parameters, possibilities

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Potential Of VIRAC* RT-32 And RT-16 Antennas To Serve As Satellite Ground Station

Potential Of VIRAC* RT-32 And RT-16 Antennas To Serve As Satellite Ground Station

Optimization of a Conical Corrugated Antenna Using Multiobjective Heuristics for Radio-Astronomy Applications

Evaluation Of Damage And Deformation Of Rt-32 Radio Telescope / Radioteleeskopa Rt-32 Deformācijas Un Bojājumu Novērtējums

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