• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.93-99
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• 2004

In this paper, we describe a principle of the atomic frequency standard and clock system in VLBI(Very Long Baseline Interferometry). The hydrogen maser is a usual VLBI standard. During VLBI observations, signals emitted by distant sources of radio frequency energy(quasars) are received and recorded at several antennas. At each antenna(VLBI station), a very stable frequency standard(hydrogen maser) provides a reference signal which enables time-tagging to the quasar signals as they are being recorded on magnetic tapes or hard-disk modules. For each VLBl experiment, correlation of the time-tagged recorded information between the participating antennas is used to yield the arrival time differences of any specific quasar radio wave between the antennas. These time differences are used to calculate the relative antennas to each other. In this paper, we also introduce the KVN(Korean VLBI Network) atomic frequency standard and clock system.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1009-1017
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• 2001

The acousto-optical spectrometer is designed by using 1 GHz bandwidth acousto-optic deflector for radio signal analysis. This system is a high resolution wide band spectrometer which uses I GHz bandwidth and a total of 2,048 channel charge coupled device. When we measured the spectrums of signals deflected by acousto-optical spectrometer, we confirmed the stability of the total system by repetitive observations of the same frequency, and each part of the system worked well. We installed this system onto 60 cm radio telescope, and observed 12CO(J= 1 ∼0) emission lines around CRL 2688, IRC 10216 and NGC 5005 Galaxy center. We could observe effectively very narrow band width radio spectrum as well as wide band radio spectrum. We also confirmed high sensitivity and resolution in observation of 12CO(J-10) omission line of NGC 5005 Galaxy center which is a weak signal.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.225-234
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• 2013

We develop a radio receiver system operating at ${\lambda}{\sim}1.3$ mm for the 6 m telescope of Seoul Radio Astronomy Observatory. It consists of a dual polarization receiver, a couple of IF processing units, two FFT spectrometers, and associated software. By adopting sideband-separating superconductor mixers with image band terminated to waveguide load at 4.2 K, we achieve $T_{RX}{\leq}100$ K and $T_{sys}$ less than 150 K at best weather condition over 210-250 GHz frequency range. The intermediate frequency signal of 3.5-4.5 GHz is down converted to 0-1 GHz and fed into the FFT spectrometers. The spectrometer covers 1 GHz bandwidth with a spectral resolution of 61 KHz. Test observations are conducted toward several radio sources to evaluate the performance of the system. Aperture and beam efficiencies measured by observing planets are found to be typically 44 ~ 59% and 47 ~ 61%, respectively over the RF band, which are consistent with those measured at 3 mm band previously.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.83.1-83.1
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• 2010

In the last meeting of KAS, we reported the first statistical study of Faraday rotation measure (RM) in the large-scale structure of the universe using the data of cosmological structure formation simulations. With a turbulence dynamo model for the intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF), we predicted that the root mean square of RM through filaments is \sim 1 rad/m^2. Future radio observatories such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) could detect this signal level. However, it is known that the typical foreground galactic RM is a few tens and less than ten rad/m^2 in the low and high galactic latitudes, respectively. So the RM in the large-scale structure could be detected only after the foreground galactic RM is removed. In this talk, we show how we remove the foreground galactic RM and what we obtain from the masked data, by using some noise models and masking techniques. Our results can be used to simulate future RM observations by SKA, and eventually to constrain the origin and evolution of the IGMF in the large-scale structure.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.43.2-43.2
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• 2016

We present results of a calibrator search near twenty evolved stars using the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Our evolved star targets include candidate sources for a Key Science Project (KSP) of the KVN. The KSP plans to investigate the spatial structure and dynamical effects between SiO and H2O maser regions including mass-loss process and development of asymmetry in circumstellar envelopes of evolved stars. For these purposes, we need compact and strong extragalactic sources close to the evolved stars. We carried out 5 observations in order to detect radio continuum sources that can be used for source frequency phase-referencing (SFPR) -based analysis. We observed 153 sources, out of which we detected 29 at 22 GHz and 20 at 43 GHz at signal-to-noise ratios higher than 50 at all baselines. Therefore, we successfully found target and calibrator pairs for the KVN KSP.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.74.2-74.2
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• 2016

It is important to know how well observation errors are removed in the calibration process prior to ensuing scientific research. In mm-VLBI observations, a radio wave suffers from an atmospheric propagation delay due to the rapid change of atmospheric refraction. It makes phases of VLBI correlation output fluctuate rapidly, which essentially decreases the coherence of phases and reduces the integration time. Consequently, it is challenging to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio and enhance the quality of scientific output. Among the causes of the atmospheric propagation delay, water vapor in the troposphere is the most decisive factor to affect phase errors in the high frequency range (> 10GHz). It is expected to have the non-dispersive characteristic that enables to introduce new calibration strategy, Frequency Phase Transfer (FPT). This new method utilizes low frequency phases to compensate phase errors in high frequency bands. In addition, Korean VLBI Network (KVN) which benefits from the simultaneous 4-channels (22/43/86/129 GHz) observations is ideal to probe FPT performance. In order to evaluate FPT performance of KVN, we present the results of FPT phase analysis and discuss its performance.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.68.1-68.1
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• 2019

Turbulence plays a crucial role in controlling star formation as it produces density fluctuation as well as non-thermal pressure against gravity. Therefore, turbulence controls the mode and tempo of star formation. However, despite a plenty of previous studies, the properties of turbulence remain poorly understood. As part of the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) Key Science Program (KSP), "mapping Turbulent properties In star-forming MolEcular clouds down to the Sonic scale (TIMES; PI: Jeong-Eun Lee)", we mapped the Orion A and the Ophiuchus clouds, in three sets of lines (13CO 1-0/C18O 1-0, HCN 1-0/HCO+ 1-0, and CS 2-1/N2H+ 1-0) with a high-velocity resolution (~0.1 km/s) using the TRAO 14-m telescope. The mean Trms for the observed maps are less than 0.25 K, and all these maps show uniform Trms values throughout the observed area. These homogeneous and high signal-to-noise ratio data provide the best chance to probe the nature of turbulence in two different star-forming clouds, the Orion A and Ophiuchus clouds. We present comparisons between the line intensities of different molecular tracers as well as the results of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

We have developed superconducting mixer receivers for 129 GHz VLBI observation in Korean VLBI Network (KVN). The developed mixer has a radial waveguide probe with simple transmission line L-C transformer as a tuning circuit to its 5 series-connected junctions, which can have 125 - 165 GHz as the operation radio frequency (RF). For intermediate frequency (IF) signal path a high impedance quarter-wavelength line connects the probe to one end of symmetric RF chokes. The double side band (DSB) receiver noise of the mixer was about 40 K over 4 - 6 GHz IF band, whereas we achieved the uncorrected single side band (SSB) noise temperature of about 70 K and better than 10 dB image rejection ratio in 2SB configuration with 8 - 10 GHz IF band. Insert-type receiver cartridges employing the mixers have been under commission for KVN stations.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.220-232
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• 2012

In this paper, we investigate the correlation result due to the problems of delay tracking and fringe rotation module in the VCS(VLBI Correlation Subsystem). The VCS, FX-type correlator, adopts the delay tracking and fringe rotation module in order to compensate the delay change and fringe phase of wave signal from the radio source by Doppler's effect. The phase of observed data is also compensated by means of delay tracking and fringe rotation in the correlator, but we confirmed that the phase is unstable by applying long integration period of AIPS(Astronomical Image Processing System) rather than correlator. And the delay value of observed data has the errors of several tens nanoseconds than normal case at the analysis of correlation result. In addition, we found that the phase of correlation results is not connected as the unit of FFT-segment because the initial fringe phase at the fringe rotation module is not correctly determined. In this paper, in order to solve these problems, the original direction of 90 degree phase jump is reversely modified when the bit-shift occurred at the delay tracking. And the initial fringe phase at the fringe rotation module is correctly modified by using the initial phase of observed data. In addition, the parameter calculation module was abnormally operated as designed in the fringe rotation. So, the logical program by the VCS is modified so as to calculate the parameters correctly. Through the experiments of correlation processing over the above problems, the modified proposal algorithm is adequately corrected to the data analysis results, so that the experimental results make it clear for us to operate the developed VCS hardware correlator normally.