Report of the Technical Workshop for APT and APSG in 1996 (TWAA96)

Yukio Takahashi (takahashi(AT)nict.go.jp)

Kashima Space Research Center
Communications Research Laboratory
893-1 Hirai, Kashima, Ibaraki 314, Japan



Technical Workshop for APT and APSG 1996 (TWAA96) was held at a hotel near the Kashima Space Research Center of the Communications Research Laboratory from December 10 to December 13, 1996. The workshop was the first joint technical workshop for Asia-Pacific Telescope (APT) and Asia-Pacific Space Geodynamics (APSG) Project. Since we considered there are many technical issues commonly applicable to the APT and the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) part of APSG, we decided to make the meeting a joint technical workshop for APT and APSG. While APT is a regional VLBI network established by the Asia-Pacific countries for Radio Astronomy and Geodesy, APSG was established to conduct Geodetic research of the Asia-Pacific region by utilizing Space Geodetic technologies such as VLBI, Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), and Global Positioning System (GPS). Therefore, the workshop covered technical issues of VLBI, SLR and GPS, and sciences of both Geodesy and Astronomy. The agenda of this workshop consisted of the following four items.

  1. Developments and New Technologies in VLBI, SLR, and GPS.
  2. Status Report.
  3. Collaboration of APT and APSG.
  4. Other Projects.
A large part of the time was allocated for the status reports from many organizations to exchange the latest information among the APT and APSG community. These reports ranged from the recent activities of global networks to status of individual observatories. The status report sessions were then followed by technology development sessions and science sessions. After these sessions, the open discussion session concluded the workshop. On the last day (December 13, 1996), there were two excursion tours, one to Geographical Survey Institute in Tsukuba, and the other to the Tokyo Headquarters of the Communications Research Laboratory in Koganei, Tokyo and to National Astronomical Observatory in Mitaka, Tokyo. We were grateful that many colleagues from 9 countries worldwide attended the workshop. We believe the scientific outputs and discussions during the workshop definitely strengthened our collaboration for the APT and APSG. The importance of observations using space geodetic technology in the Asia-Pacific area are increasing, and there is much potential for collaboration in the APT and APSG. This workshop was helpful in their co-operation and the exchange of the valuable information.

All staffs of the Radio Astronomy Applications Section in the Kashima Space Research Center contributed to various aspects to ensure the success of this meeting.

1. Participants

We listed 39 foreign participants. V.Migenes contributed only proceedings, although he could not attend this meeting.

For Japanese participants, 24 staff members of CRL attended this meeting. There were 34 participants from other institutes, and 32 participants from various companies. Total number of participants was 129.

2. Presentations

We summarize the presentations at this meeting. As the opening session, D.Jauncey in CSIRO presented the current status of APT and Ye Shuhua in the Shanghai Observatory presented the recent status of APSG projects. After the opening session, the status reports of individual observatories and projects were presented with regard to wide area networks and projects, regional networks and projects, and the activities of individual institutes. Many important topics were presented: "CORE" and NASA Geodesy program, JIVE, GPS networks (WING), SLR network (WPLTN), Antarctica VLBI experiments, space VLBI projects (VSOP), LBA in Australia, KSP by CRL, the Japanese VLBI network and VERA by NAO, VLBI in DSN, status report of GSI (GPS, SAR and VLBI) and GMRT in India. Furthermore, it was very valuable to have status reports from Korea, China, Australia and other countries. In this session, there were 21 presentations.

The third was a discussion about developments of technology. There were 26 presentations. We divided them into 6 parts as follows: (1) Antenna and Receivers and Front-end, (2) Real Time VLBI, (3) Field system and scheduling, (4) Recorders and Acquisition terminals, (5) Correlator, (6) Tropospheric Delay Correction. Each topic was discussed eagerly. Especially, the compatibility of scheduling, VLBI terminals and correlators were important for this meeting, together with the exchange of information for the new VLBI techniques.

The fourth session was concerned with Science and others topics. There were 7 presentations concerning VLBI and APT and geodesy and astronomy.

14 topics were presented by poster. The total number of presentations at this meeting was 70. For details we refer to the published proceedings of this meetings.

3. Resolutions

There was an open discussion at the end of this meeting. The conclusions and resolutions made in the open discussion session are summarized by Dr.~David L.~Jauncey and Dr.~John Reynolds. One was to encourage the formation of the fundamental reference and calibration stations in Asian-Pacific region. The modern space techniques (VLBI, SLR, GPS etc.) together with other techniques are colocated and operated on a long term basis for the establishment and maintenance of the global reference frame. Second was an expression of APT support for the acquisition of geodetic VLBI data as a contribution to GIS (Geographic Information System). The committee on GIS has initiated an Asia and Pacific Regional Geodetic Project for October 1997. Third was to deliver information concerning the new Field System which has been developed by NASA. Fifth was to adopt the proposals for APT experiments.

4. Proceedings

We believe that this proceedings is a valuable source for information in the APT and APSG community, and also in the worldwide VLBI group. Numerous copies of the TWAA96 proceedings are available. For copies of the proceedings of this meeting, please contact Y.Takahashi (E-mail: takahashi(AT)nict.go.jp).

Acknowledgments

We could hold this meeting as the host institute with full support from Science and Technology Agency (STA) and Japan International Science and Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC). Furthermore, the staff of the administration section in the Kashima Space Research Center, and the staff of Standards and Measurements Division supported us in holding this workshop. We are grateful to them for this support. Many participants visited this meeting from various countries. We are also grateful to all participants.




Updated on June 9, 1997. Return to CONTENTS