Towards the eAPT

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Towards the e-APT

• Tasso Tzioumis
• ATNF
• Email apt_at_atnf.csiro.au

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Asia Pacific Telescope (APT)

• Aim (from the APT website)
• The APT network aims to provide a forum to
  discuss issues of compatibility, sharing
  resources such as correlators and recorders and
  other equipment needed for VLBI observations. The
  ultimate aim of the network is to coordinate and
  schedule VLBI observations involving telescopes
  in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Importance (from Australian Academy of Science
  report, 1995)
• "VLBI is one of the best examples of
  international collaboration in all of science. It
  involves not only collaboration but complex
  operational procedures to use telescopes all over
  the world simultaneously and compatibly. A
  specific example is the Asia Pacific Network
  (APT), a network of radio telescopes including
  Australia, Japan, China, the United States of
  America (Hawaii), India and others. . Globally
  it complements the VLBA (North America) and the
  European VLBI Network (EVN) networks. .."

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VLBI Arrays (c. 1995)
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APT History

• Established 1991
• Space VLBI workshop in Sydney, Australia, April
  1991
• 1st meeting at IAU GA, Buenos Aires, August 1991
• Workshops
• VLBI'93 Congress workshop Kyoto, Japan, September
  1993
• VLBI Compatibility workshop Urumqi, China,
  October 1994
• APT'95 workshop at ATNF, Sydney, 4-7 December
  1995
• Technical Workshop, Kashima, Japan, 10-13
  December 1996
• APT and APSG (Asia-Pacific Space Geodynamics)
  Project
• Brief side-meetings (at related
  meetings/workshops)
• AP-RASC meeting in Tokyo, August 2001
• IVS General Meeting in Tsukuba, Japan, February
  2002
• New Technology in VLBI meeting in Korea,
  November 2002
• IAU General Assembly, Sydney, July, 2003
• 3rd e-VLBI Workshop, Makuhari, Chiba, Japan,
  October 2004

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APT people

• 1991-2001
• co-chairs Prof Ron Ekers (ATNF) and Mdme Shuhua
  Ye (CAS)
• Secretary Dr. Tasso Tzioumis (ATNF)
• 2001- present
• co-chairs Prof. Hisashi Hirabayashi (ISAS) and
  Dr David Jauncey (ATNF)
• Secretary Philip Edwards (ISAS ---gt ATNF)
• Technical Working Group (TWG) coordinator
• Paul Harbison (Canberra Deep Space Communications
  Complex) till 1998?
• No coordinator since

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APT Homepage

• APT Definition and Aims
• Brief APT history
• APT meetings and workshops
• APT science
• Various APT status reports
• APT contacts Needs updating
• Information on APT antenna systems receivers
  Update
• APT proposals
• APT observing sessions
• APT technical working group (TWG)
• Links to APT telescopes
• Other VLBI networks and sites
• the Asia-Pacific Space Dynamics (APSG) website

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APT status

• Very Active 1991-1996
• Workshops and meetings
• Support for VSOP mission (1998-2005)
• Extensive Ground Telescope support
• Coordinating role
• Telescopes with most observations with VSOP
• 1. Shanghai
• 2. Mopra
• Recently
• Relatively Dormant (but not quiet dead.)
• Proposal
• Re-invigorate the APT
• Move towards e-VLBI (e-APT)
• Prepare for VSOP-2 support

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VLBI Arrays (c. 2008)
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O New telescopes in APT
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Developments in APT area

• New antennas
• VERA in Japan - 4 antennas
• KVN in Korea - 3 antennas
• Chinese network 2 (Beijing, Kunming), ? (FAST)
• pre-existing antennas (gt 5)
• ? East Asia VLBI Network (EAVN) - 17 antennas!
• (see Kawaguchi talk)
• Australia - NZ - new antennas
• 3 x 12m AuScope antennas in Australia (funded)
• 12m antenna in NZ (install in 2 months) (see
  Gulyaev talk)
• ASKAP - SKA pathfinder (45 x 12m) - in
  construction
• (see Tingay talk)
• SKA in Australia-NZ - up to 6000 km baselines
• Will cover whole Oz-NZ continent

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E-VLBI in APT region

• Japan
• Pioneered real-time VLBI (1995?) with special
  network in Tokyo
• Always involved in e-VLBI tests
• Kashima - Haystack successful demonstrations
• E-VLBI within Japan - Geodesy and astronomy
• China
• Internal e-VLBI network - rapidly developing
• Australia
• Internal e-VLBI network - to 1 Gbps (see C.
  Phillips talk)
• Software correlation (DiFX)
• Rapidly developing
• ASKAP developments (Tingay talk)
• Multinational - EXPReS project
• Aug 07 - Mopra, Shanghai, Europe --gt JIVE
  correlator (256 Mbps)
• Oct 07 - Mopra, ATCA, Parkes --gt JIVE correlator
  (512 Mbps)
• Used 1 Gbps dedicated lightpaths Oz - JIVE
  (provided by NRENs)

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E-APT demonstration

• Demonstration TODAY!!!
• Shanghai, Kashima, Parkes, Mopra, ATCA
• All at 512 Mbps
• Dedicated lightpaths (AARNet, CENIC, CSTNet,)
• Scheduled for most of the day (12 hrs)
• All telescopes and correlator controlled from
  Shanghai !!
• Correlation at Parkes
• DiFX software correlator
• New APSR cluster at Parkes (from Swinburne)
• A few scaling problems. (Phillips talk)
• Multiple data formats
• K5, Mk5a, Mk5b - converted on-the-fly
• Correlator input as Mk5b - Standardise??
• (EXPReS experience invaluable)
• See demonstration at 130pm today!!

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Press - release

• Press - release tomorrow
• Coordinated - Australia, Japan, China
• Possible headline
• Astronomy without borders on show in China
• A great example of the power of e-VLBI
• Collaboration between observatories
• Collaboration with NRENS
• Symbiotic relationship - Astronomers Networkers

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Conclusions

• The APT is poised for a resurgence !!!
• New telescopes
• New fast networks
• New correlators - hardware and software
• VSOP-2 is coming !!
• ? More coordination collaboration - APT
• E-VLBI is the path to explore for the future !!
• e-APT to play a key role in developments
• APT meeting in 2009 ??
• Get ready for the SKA !!

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APT Contacts

• APT is in transition
• Email contact apt_at_atnf.csiro.au
• Website(s)
• http//www.vsop.isas.jaxa.jp/apt/
• and/or
• http//www.atnf.csiro.au/apt/
• Some restructuring in next 12 months
• Please send updates
• Telescope characteristics and capabilities
• Contact people and addresses for each
  observatory.