边带分离型超导SIS接收机本振耦合噪声研究

超导SIS (Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor)接收机因极低的接收机噪声温度成为毫米波和亚毫米波段射电天文观测的首选.本振系统耦合噪声也是接收机噪声的一部分,在多年的天文观测中,发现本振耦合噪声无法完全忽略,对天文观测的灵敏度有一定影响.采用两个不同种类的信号发生器作为本振系统初级信号源,测试了超导SIS接收机的噪声温度,发现信号发生器输出的基底噪声能够耦合到接收机内部,从而增加接收机噪声强度.分析研究了本振系统热噪声和信号发生器基底噪声对接收机噪声的影响.通过在信号发生器输入端加入窄带滤波器滤除其基底噪声,消除了信号发生器基底噪声引入的接收机噪声,降低了接收机的整体噪声,提高了望远镜的灵敏度.     

The Operation of Multi-beam Receiver of Delingha 13.7 m Telescope

Delingha 13.7 m telescope is one of the most important radio telescopes in China. Since installing the superconducting spectroscopic array receiver (SSAR) and adopting the On The Fly (OTF) observation mode, the telescope has operated for nearly 10 years. During this period, a large number of astronomical observation projects have been carried out and completed, a large amount of astronomical data have been accumulated, and a series of important scientific results have been achieved. This paper introduces the operating status of SSAR in astronomical observations, the problems in operations, as well as the fault phenomena and solutions. The performance test and performance analysis of SSAR are described in detail, including the receiver noise temperature and telescope system noise temperature, image rejection ratio (IRR), receiver stability, beam performance and so on. The updating and development of SSAR are listed, including the automatic adjustment of LO (Local Oscillator) power, the updating of pre-amplification circuits of the sideband separation superconducting mixer, and the optimization of control program, etc. This paper summarizes the experiences and rules, and connects the past with the future, for applying the experiences of the maintenance and operation of SSAR to the next-generation large-scale receiver system.     

德令哈13.7m望远镜多波束接收机的运行

德令哈13.7 m望远镜是中国最重要的射电望远镜之一.望远镜自安装超导成像频谱仪以及采用飞行观测模式以来,运行近10 yr.在此期间,望远镜开展并完成大量的天文观测,累积了巨量的天文数据,取得了一系列重要的科研成果.介绍了超导成像频谱仪在天文观测中的运行状态,运行中疑难问题、故障现象及解决方案.详述了超导成像频谱仪各方面性能测试及多年来的性能分析,包含接收机噪声温度及望远镜系统噪声温度、镜像抑制比、接收机稳定性、波束性能等方面.列举了超导成像频谱仪更新发展方面的工作,包含本振功率自动化调整、边带分离型超导混频器预放大电路的更新、控制程序的优化等.总结经验和规律,承前启后,将过去的超导成像频谱仪的维护运行经验应用到之后新一代大规模接收机系统中.     

measurement of noise power spectrum in photon counting PMT's and the effect of the observed (1/f) noise on astronomical photometry

In astronomical photometry, the sensitivity of observations is limited by the dark counts of the photomultiplier tube. In the present work, the effect of dark count noise in photon counting systems is investigated by theory and experimental measurements. Dark counts are considered to be originating from two sources, namely: dc fluctuations and random pulses.Experimental measurements were carried out to determine noise effects in different operating regions of noise dominance. The results provide strong evidence that: in normal operating mode, where the effect of random pulses is dominant, dark counts do not follow Poisson statistics. The observed noise shows strong (1/f) power spectrum, where the observed noise power is found to increase with time of observation.The results are important in photon counting systems operating under dark count limited mode. The conclusions drawn can be useful in obtaining more accurate error estimates and in assessing astronomical photometric observations and data reduction techniques.     

GPS接收机的中频信号处理算法研究

该文对GPS接收机的中频信号处理算法进行了研究,内容主要涉及信号捕获、载波恢复和伪码跟踪3部分,详细分析了信号捕获过程中所采用的匹配滤波器法、快速傅里叶算法(FFT)、锁频环(FLL)、锁相环(PLL)以及延迟锁定环(DLL)的算法原理,并对环路滤波器作了相应的阐述,给出环路对应的递推公式．     

1.2--2.2 GHz宽带低噪声放大器研制

为检测微弱的射电信号,要求望远镜接收机噪声性能良好.低噪声放大器(Low Noise Amplifier, LNA)作为接收机前端关键电路,其噪声系数和增益决定了整机的噪声性能.设计了一款1.2–2.2 GHz的低噪声放大器,电路采用两级级联结构,第2级通过引入负反馈,在改善增益平坦度和拓宽带宽的同时减小噪声,级间经过后级输入阻抗优化后仅需一个隔直电容.并引入有损输出匹配网络,实现高增益、低噪声、良好回波损耗和较为平坦的宽带LNA设计.测试结果表明,在1.2–2.2 GHz频段增益30–33 dB,噪声温度平均值为47 K,输出1 d B压缩点大于11.3 dBm.测试性能良好,可用于该频段接收机系统中.     

Extracting 21 cm signal by frequency and angular filtering

Extracting the neutral hydrogen(HI) signal is a great challenge for cosmological 21 cm experiments; both the astrophysical foregrounds and receiver noise are typically several orders of magnitude greater than the 21 cm signal. However, the different properties of the 21 cm signal, foreground and noise can be exploited to separate these components. The foregrounds are generally smooth or correlated over the frequency space along a line of sight(Lo S), while both the 21 cm signal and noise vary stochastically along the same Lo S. The foreground can be removed by filtering out the smooth component in frequency space. The receiver noise is basically uncorrelated for observations at different times, hence for surveys it is also uncorrelated in different directions, while the 21 cm signal, which traces the large scale structure, is correlated up to certain scales. In this exercise, we apply Wiener filters in frequency and angular space to extract the 21 cm signals. We found that the method works well. Inaccurate knowledge about the beam could degrade the reconstruction, but the overall result is still good, showing that the method is fairly robust.     

德令哈13.7m望远镜接收机抗射频干扰研究

在天文观测中,射频干扰会造成假谱,降低数据的可靠性和有效性.射频干扰消减旨在减少干扰信号对射电天文观测的影响,包含器件方面的技术革新和数据处理领域的方法研究.针对德令哈13.7 m望远镜接收机中频部分引入的射频干扰,通过优化中频器件的抗射频干扰能力,提高了接收机的整体抗射频干扰能力,以主动消除方法来减少射频干扰耦合到接收机内部.分析了接收机干扰的传输路径,提出了器件射频干扰的直接耦合系数和器件射频干扰的系统耦合系数的概念,为定位干扰敏感器件并量化干扰引入比重提供了基础.经过抗射频干扰优化后,接收机抗干扰能力改善30 dB左右,望远镜的天文观测效率提高10%以上.     

基于100 nm砷化镓pHEMT工艺的C波段宽带低噪声放大器芯片

作为射电天文接收机系统的关键器件, 低噪声放大器的噪声和增益性能对接收机系统的灵敏度有重要影响. 采用100nm砷化镓赝配高电子迁移率晶体管(pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor, pHEMT)\lk工艺, 研制了一款可覆盖C波段(4--8GHz)的低噪声放大器(Low Noise Amplifier, LNA). 所设计的LNA采用3级共源级联放大拓扑结构, 栅极、漏极双电源供电. 常温下测试表明, 该LNA在4--8GHz频段内平均噪声温度为\lk60K, 在5GHz处获得最低噪声温度50K, 通带内增益($31\pm1.5$)dB, 输入输出回波损耗均优于10dB, 芯片面积为$2.1\times1.1$mm², 可以应用于C波段射电天文接收机以及卫星通信系统等.     

A 22 GHz receiver with high phase stability for radioastron space-VLBI-mission

A space-qualified low-noise 22 GHz receiver for the international space-VLBI mission Radioastron has been constructed. The microwave electronics is realized by using thermally matched hybrid circuits. The most important properties of the receiver are phase stability, sensitivity and reliability. The high sensitivity is due to a cooled low noise HEMT amplifier (LNA). The measured receiver noise temperature is less than 100 K. The phase stability is achieved by compact structure and thermal stabilization. Phase stabilities of better than 0.13°/°C and 0.2°/°C for the receiver and the LNA units are measured, respectively. The calculated reliability of the receiver exceeds the requirement of 0.97 for the three year mission.     

Phase stability of a satellite-VLBI-receiver at 22 GHz

The phase stability of the Radioastron 22 GHz satellite-VLBI-receiver has been studied by measurements. The resulting performance of the receiver in an interferometer system was evaluated. The maximum phase jitter value of 2° due to the receiver causes only marginal degradation for astronomical observations. During observations the requirement of a phase drift value less than 3° in the receiver system can be met after an initial warm-up if the overall ambient temperature changes do not exceed 4°C.     

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array: overview & status

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an international millimeter-wavelength radio telescope under construction in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. ALMA will be situated on a high-altitude site at 5000 m elevation which provides excellent atmospheric transmission over the instrument wavelength range of 0.3 to 3 mm. ALMA will be comprised of two key observing components—a main array of up to sixty-four 12-m diameter antennas arranged in a multiple configurations ranging in size from 0.15 to ∼18 km, and a set of four 12-m and twelve 7-m antennas operating in a compact array ∼50 m in diameter (known as the Atacama Compact Array, or ACA), providing both interferometric and total-power astronomical information. High-sensitivity dual-polarization 8 GHz-bandwidth spectral-line and continuum measurements between all antennas will be available from two flexible digital correlators. At the shortest planned wavelength and largest configuration, the angular resolution of ALMA will be 0.005″. The instrument will use superconducting (SIS) mixers to provide the lowest possible receiver noise contribution, and special-purpose water vapor radiometers to assist in calibration of atmospheric phase distortions. A complex optical fiber network will transmit the digitized astronomical signals from the antennas to the correlators in the Array Operations Site Technical Building, and post-correlation to the lower-altitude Operations Support Facility where the array will be controlled, and initial construction and maintenance of the instrument will occur. ALMA Regional Centers in the US, Europe, Japan and Chile will provide the scientific portals for the use of ALMA; early science observations are expected in 2010, with full operations in 2012.     

云南天文台高分辨率斑点成像的新进展

本文报道了对天文目标：双星ＡＤＳ１６８００、ＡＤＳ１６１７３,三星Ｈｕ６６（ＡＤＳ１１３４４）和Ｈｌｄ１７１（ＡＤＳ１６６４８）进行的斑点成像观测及测量结果。介绍了所用的二维光子计数斑点像探测系统的性能,分析了探测系统的光子噪声、附加噪声和其它更复杂的噪声对斑点图的平均功率谱和重谱的影响。在讨论了改正重谱中的噪声偏差项时提出了对重谱基底施加正性约束的算法。测量的结果表明,实现了高精度的微射受限天文     

Research on Receiver Anti-RFI of Delingha 13.7 m Telescope

In astronomical observations, the radio frequency interference (RFI) will cause pseudo spectra and reduce the reliability and validity of observational data. The RFI mitigation, which includes many technical innovations of devices and the method studies of data processing, aims at reducing the influence of RFI on the radio astronomical observation. Various efforts were made to improve the anti-RFI capability of the multi-beam receiver (Superconducting Spectroscopic Array Receiver, SSAR) of the Delingha 13.7 m telescope. The interference transmission path was analyzed. The concepts of the device RFI direct coupling coefficient and the device RFI system coupling coefficient were proposed. The proportions of interference introduced in the receiver system by the different devices were quantified, and the interference-susceptible devices in the system were located. After the anti-RFI treatment of the interference-susceptible devices, the anti-RFI capability of the receiver system is improved by 30 dB in average, and the astronomical observation efficiency of the telescope is increased by more than 10%.     

基于GPS接收机的程控目标跟踪方法的气球飞行试验

简要介绍了基于ＧＰＳ接收机的程控目标跟踪方法原理和１９９８ 年５ 月的一次气球飞行试验结果．成功的飞行试验证明该方法对于用准直器限制视场的Ｘ 射线和＄射线气球天文观测非常适用,可提高观测灵敏度和简化数据处理过程,特别是在长距离飞行时可做到多目标自动对准和跟踪的自主闭环系统     

The OH Maser Line Receiving System for the Urumqi 25m Radio Telescope

A maser spectral line system is newly implemented on the Urumqi 25m Radio Telescope. The system consists mainly of a cooling receiver and a 4096 channels digital correlation spectrometer. The frequency resolution of the spectrometer at the maximum signal bandwidth of 80MHz is 19.5kHz. After careful calibrations observation at the 1665 MHz OH maser emission was made towards a number of sources, including W49N and W75N. The observed results demonstrate that the digital correlation spectrometer is suitable for astronomical spectral line observations.     

基于自适应滤波的干扰消除方法研究

射电天文信号非常微弱,电磁环境对射电望远镜观测至关重要,通常可以利用地形、建立无线电宁静区、进行电磁屏蔽与防护等手段来减小电磁干扰.然而,仍有一些干扰难以屏蔽.故提出了一种基于自适应滤波的干扰消除方法,可用于复杂噪声环境中天文信号的提取.该方法借助自适应横向滤波器,采用最小均方(Least Mean Square, LMS)误差算法,以系统误差和收敛性为评判标准,通过改变步长与阶数对滤波效果进行优化,仿真结果显示该滤波器能在保证算法收敛的前提下有效提取信号.为了检验该算法的有效性,选取了新疆天文台南山26 m射电望远镜和Parkes 64 m射电望远镜记录的观测数据,采用设计的滤波器分别对不同的实测数据进行测试,验证了该滤波器的有效性.理论分析与实验结果一致表明该方法能有效消除天文观测中的干扰信号,具有一定的实用性.     

A Comparison of Several Image Locating Algorithms in Astronomical Instruments

In astronomical observations at optical wavelengths, a fast image tracking system can be adopted to reduce the effects of the atmospheric seeing and telescopic tracking error, and therefore improve the observing efficiency. Aiming at the need of astronomical observations, totally 5 kinds of algorithms in two categories were selected to make a comparative study on their accuracies and stabilities under different noise conditions by both numerical experiment and laboratory test. The results indicate that the normalized cross-correlation method and barycenter method have not only a higher accuracy but also a better reliability against interferences, they will be applied to the high-resolution spectrograph of the Xinglong 2.16 m telescope and the scienti?c instruments of the SONG (Stellar Observations Network Group) project, respectively.     

相控阵馈源MVDR波束合成器缓解RFI仿真

相控阵馈源(Phased array feeds, PAFs)接收机作为下一代微波接收机, 为大口径射电天文望远镜的射电干扰(Radio Frequency Interference, RFI)缓解工作带来了新的解决方法. PAFs接收机对射电望远镜焦平面的电磁波进行空域采样, 返回时域阵列信号, 使用最小方差无失真响应(Minimum Variance Distortionless Response, MVDR)波束合成器可以自适应地识别RFI的方向, 同时抑制RFI在输出信号中的功率, 从而达到提升射电望远镜灵敏度的效果. 仿真结果表明MVDR波束合成器对有源高能量的射电干扰有很强的识别能力和一定程度的缓解能力, 同时, 该波束合成器对各阵元信道中加性噪声累积引起的无源干扰有很强的抑制能力, 因此, PAFs接收机的MVDR波束合成器可以增强日益复杂电磁波环境下射电望远镜的抗干扰能力.     

On the extraction of extended structure from Herschel-SPIRE scanning observations in the presence of 1/f noise

We present results from a study of the impact of uncorrelated 1/ f noise on the extraction of spatial structure, on a range of scales, from sky mapping observations made using the Herschel-SPIRE (the spectral and photometric imaging receiver) photometer in the scan-map mode. These studies were carried out using a detailed instrument simulator, and the output reduced using the map-making algorithm to be implemented in the SPIRE data pipeline. The influence of source size scale, telescope-scanning rate and 1/ f noise knee frequency is investigated, and operational bounds to the expected losses are presented, using the case of zero 1/ f (white) noise as a benchmark. Both cross-linked and non-cross-linked observing options are studied. The results presented here represent the best current estimate of the sensitivity of the SPIRE photometer to emission on arbitrary scales. The data presented are general and scalable to any SPIRE observation made using the scanning mode.