Interferometric Observation at Mid-Infrared Wave-lengths with MIDI

MIDI, the MID-Infrared Interferometricnterferometric Instrument for ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), will be the first instrument for combining mid-infrared light directly in order to obtain angular resolution up to 10 mas (assuming a 200 m baseline) in a wavelength range from 8 to 13 μm. Currently in the phase of commissioning at Paranal, the start of its scientific operation is expected for summer 2003. Direct interferometry at thermal infrared wavelengths demands special requirements on the instrument and also on the procedures of preparation of data reduction. Hereafter MIDI's different observing modes are described and an example for an interferometric observation is given. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The VLTI – A Status Report

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) Observatory on Cerro Paranal (2635 m) in Northern Chile is approaching completion. After the four 8-m Unit Telescopes (UT) individually saw first light in the last years, two of them were combined for the first time on October 30, 2001 to form a stellar interferometer, the VLT Interferometer. The combination in pairs of all four UTs was completed in September 2002. In this article, we will describe the subsystems of the VLTI and the planning for the following years. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Maximum-likelihood astrometric geometry calibration of interferometric telescopes: application to the Very Small Array

Interferometers require accurate determination of the array configuration in order to produce reliable observations. A method is presented for finding the maximum-likelihood estimate of the telescope geometry, and of other instrumental parameters, astrometrically from the visibility timelines obtained from observations of celestial calibrator sources. The method copes systematically with complicated and unconventional antenna and array geometries, with electronic bandpasses that are different for each antenna radiometer, and with low signal-to-noise ratios for the calibrators. The technique automatically focuses on the geometry errors that are most significant for astronomical observation. We apply this method to observations made with the Very Small Array and constrain some 450 telescope parameters, such as the antenna positions, effective observing frequencies and correlator amplitudes and phaseshifts; this requires only ∼1 h of CPU time on a typical workstation.     

Algebraic analysis of the phase‐calibration problem in the self‐calibration procedures

This paper presents an analysis of the phase‐calibration problem encountered in astronomy when mapping incoherent sources with aperture‐synthesis devices. More precisely, this analysis concerns the phase‐calibration operation involved in the self‐calibration procedures of phase‐closure imaging. The paper revisits and completes a previous analysis presented by Lannes in the Journal of the Optical Society of America A in 2005. It also benefits from some recent developments made for solving similar problems encountered in global navigation satellite systems. In radio‐astronomy, the related optimization problems have been stated and solved hitherto at the phasor level. We present here an analysis conducted at the phase level, from which we derive a method for diagnosing and solving the difficulties of the phasor approach. In the most general case, the techniques tobe implemented appeal to the algebraic graph theory and the algebraic number theory. The minima of the objective functionals to be minimized are identified by raising phase‐closure integer ambiguities. We also show that in some configurations, to benefit from all the available information, closure phases of order greater than three are to be introduced. In summary, this study leads to a better understanding of the difficulties related to the very principle of phase‐closure imaging. To circumvent these difficulties, we propose a strategy both simple and robust (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Speckle observations with PISCO in Merate – V. Astrometric measurements of visual binaries in 2006

We present relative astrometric measurements of visual binaries made during the first semester of 2006, with the Pupil Interferometry Speckle camera and COronagraph at the 102-cm Zeiss telescope of the Brera Astronomical Observatory, in Merate. Our sample contains orbital couples as well as binaries whose motion is still uncertain. We obtained 217 new measurements of 194 objects, with angular separations in the range 0.1–4.2 arcsec, and an average accuracy of 0.01 arcsec. The mean error on the position angles is 05. About half of those angles could be determined without the usual 180° ambiguity by the application of triple-correlation techniques. We also present a revised orbit for ADS 277 for which the previously published orbit resulted in a large residual from our measurements.     

基于极化相干最优与极化总功率的Wishart-H/Alpha分类

Wishart-H/Alpha法进行聚类可以实现复杂场景的高精度分类。然而在聚类的过程中,由于各类中心所对应的散射机理发生了混淆,使得不透水层代表之一的水泥路面与裸露土壤发生了混淆,这对实际应用不利。提出了利用最优相干系数与极化总功率系数构成的二维直方图空间进行阈值分割,将Wishart-H/Al-pha分类方法中混淆的水泥道路与裸露土壤重新分离出来,并通过国内机载X波段双天线极化干涉实验,验证了本方法的有效性。     

机载SAR干涉定标参数分离式解算方法研究

机载干涉合成孔径雷达（Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar,InSAR）是获取地面数字高程模型（Digital Elevation Model,DEM）的重要手段之一。InSAR系统参数误差会影响生成DEM的精度,利用干涉定标技术可以校正系统参数,补偿系统误差。目前,机载SAR干涉定标解算方法多采用天线基线长度、基线倾角,以及干涉相位偏置3个参数共同构建敏感度矩阵解算干涉定标参数偏差（参数耦合式解算方法）。由于机载InSAR系统对干涉相位偏置参数的敏感度较小,与基线长度、基线倾角的敏感度存在数量级差异,3个参数共同构建敏感度矩阵病态严重,易将微小的参数扰动传播扩大为较大的解向量误差,影响干涉定标精度,同时增大算法对干涉定标外场实验中角反射器布设高程的敏感度。本文提出一种机载SAR干涉定标参数分离式解算方法,在干涉定标解算过程中,对基线长度、基线倾角及干涉相位偏置3个参数进行分离,选取基线长度与基线倾角2个参数构建敏感度矩阵进行解算,对干涉相位偏置参数进行单独拟合解算,最终获得3个参数的综合定标结果。经机载双天线InSAR系统获取的真实数据验证,与参数耦合式解算方法相比,利用参数分离式解算方法构建得到的敏感度矩阵条件数由1.07E+06下降至5.02,系统参数定标后生成DEM与高精度参考DEM的平均高程偏差由14.98 m下降至6.51 m,干涉定标精度显著提高。另外,根据角反射器布设高程数值仿真模拟分析结果,与参数耦合式解算方法相比,参数分离式解算方法对角反射器布设高程变化的敏感度显著降低,对角反射器布设高程的普适性较高,且算法解算精度在角反射器布设高程起伏较小时不受明显影响,有助于减轻机载SAR干涉定标的野外工作强度。