The AuScope geodetic VLBI array

Lovell, J.E.J. and McCallum, J.N. and Reid, P.B. and McCulloch, P.M. and Baynes, B.E. and Dickey, J.M. and Shabala, S.S. and Watson, C.S. and Titov, O. and Ruddick, R. and Twilley, R. and Reynolds, C. and Tingay, S.J. and Shield, P. and Adada, R. and Ellingsen, S.P. and Morgan, J.S. and Bignall, H.E. 2013. The AuScope geodetic VLBI array. Journal of Geodesy. 87 (6): pp. 527-538.

Source Title

Journal of Geodesy

DOI

10.1007/s00190-013-0626-3

ISSN

09497714

Remarks

NOTICE: This is the author’s version of a work in which changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication.

The final publication is available at link.springer.com

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3827

Collection

Curtin Research Publications

Abstract

The AuScope geodetic Very Long Baseline Interferometry array consists of three new 12-m radio telescopes and a correlation facility in Australia. The telescopes at Hobart (Tasmania), Katherine (Northern Territory) and Yarragadee (Western Australia) are co-located with other space geodetic techniques including Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and gravity infrastructure, and in the case of Yarragadee, satellite laser ranging (SLR) and Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) facilities. The correlation facility is based in Perth (Western Australia). This new facility will make significant contributions to improving the densification of the International Celestial Reference Frame in the Southern Hemisphere, and subsequently enhance the International Terrestrial Reference Frame through the ability to detect and mitigate systematic error. This, combined with the simultaneous densification of the GNSS network across Australia, will enable the improved measurement of intraplate deformation across the Australian tectonic plate. In this paper, we present a description of this new infrastructure and present some initial results, including telescope performance measurements and positions of the telescopes in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame. We show that this array is already capable of achieving centimetre precision over typical long-baselines and that network and reference source systematic effects must be further improved to reach the ambitious goals of VLBI2010.