Abstract
In connection with the work for the next generation VLBI2010 Global Observing System (VGOS) of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry, a new scheduling package (Vie_Sched) has been developed at the Vienna University of Technology as a part of the Vienna VLBI Software. In addition to the classical station-based approach it is equipped with a new scheduling strategy based on the radio sources to be observed. We introduce different configurations of source-based scheduling options and investigate the implications on present and future VLBI2010 geodetic schedules. By comparison to existing VLBI schedules of the continuous campaign CONT11, we find that the source-based approach with two sources has a performance similar to the station-based approach in terms of number of observations, sky coverage, and geodetic parameters. For an artificial 16 station VLBI2010 network, the source-based approach with four sources provides an improved distribution of source observations on the celestial sphere. Monte Carlo simulations yield slightly better repeatabilities of station coordinates with the source-based approach with two sources or four sources than the classical strategy. The new VLBI scheduling software with its alternative scheduling strategy offers a promising option with respect to applications of the VGOS.
Highlights
The very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technique has been employed in geodesy for over 40 years and plays an important role for the realization of global geodetic reference frames
Within the frame of International Association of Geodesy’s (IAG’s) key component Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), it has become clear that modern space geodetic techniques should provide station coordinates and/or baseline length time series with an accuracy better than 1 mm
We have shown in simulations that the new scheduling package Vie_Sched as a part of the Vienna VLBI Software (VieVS) provides schedules for the determination of geodetic parameters with an accuracy comparable to existing scheduling software
Summary
The very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) technique has been employed in geodesy for over 40 years and plays an important role for the realization of global geodetic reference frames. A new scheduling package (Vie_Sched) has been developed at the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics of the Vienna University of Technology It is a part of the Vienna VLBI Software (VieVS) (Bohm et al 2009), which is based on Matlab script files In all cases of schedule optimization, the sky coverage is essential to de-correlate zenith wet delay (zwd), clock parameters, and station heights. It has never been clearly defined what a uniform sky coverage is. If the additional information about sky coverage is provided by the scheduling software, the analyst of the VLBI session will be able to choose the best time window for estimating zwd and clock parameters
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