Citation
Abstract
This article investigates the effect of atmospheric phase variations on uplink array losses if the phase variations are not measured and corrections applied to the signals radiated from individual antennas. For an interferometer with a baseline of about 1.6 km and working at 7.2 GHz (X-band), the loss of signal due to phasing errors caused by atmospheric variations, if not corrected, is expected to be ≤0.7 dB for 95 percent of the time at elevations ≥18 deg at Goldstone. Therefore, it may not be necessary to continuously monitor the atmospheric variations and apply the phase corrections for arrays smaller than about a kilometer at X-band. However, for arrays spread over much larger areas or for an array of even one kilometer working at higher frequencies, such as 32 GHz (Ka-band), it may be necessary to monitor the atmospheric variations and apply the corrections to keep the phasing losses below an acceptable level (say, about 1 dB).
Keywords
Details
- Volume
- 42-157
- Published
- May 15, 2004
- Pages
- 1–7
- File Size
- 243.7 KB