Transcript Slide 1
UAF Technical Collaboration: A Future for Millstone Hill & Arecibo Millstone Hill, Mass. 46, 67 m dishes, 440 MHz, ~1960 Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico 305 m spherical reflector, 430 MHz, 1963 The Mid Latitude Big-Dish Radars BMEWS Transmitter (Millstone) Transmitters U1 operational, U2 offline temporarily (back in 2009) Klystrons 16 klystrons remain at Millstone Status of all klystrons is not known (4 in use) Burn rate lowered to about 1 per year from 2 per year Modulator deck Some reliability issues Modulator tubes out of production (7 remaining) Driver Amplifier Legacy driver amplifier - limited performance AMISR amplifiers being tested (2 working units) Custom 1 kW UHF amplifier REU project (2007) Control and Monitoring Waveguide switch controller replaced Some monitoring improvements underway National Instruments cRIO units / Realtime Labview New Timing System implementation in early 2009 What? Millstone Hill & Arecibo Joint Modernization Modernize Arecibo and Millstone Hill transmitter systems to use “identical” hardware from Tx to antenna interface Off-the-shelf transmitter from commercial vendor Approx cost: $10M for two upgraded systems Vendor located in Boston area – test Tx at MHO Use zenith and motion-limited MISA at MHR MIDAS-M (e.g.) for signal processing Use existing site infrastructure and personnel Build regional DASI around ISRs CPI Tube and DTI Transmitter CPI 1MW UHF IOT Example DTI Transmitter CPI High Power Pulsed UHF Inductive Output Tube Derived from Digital Television Transmitter Technology 20% of the Size and Weight of a UHF klystron 100 kW of Average Power, 1 MW peak, 10% Duty Cycle 1 Tube System with a Typical Replacement Period of order 5 Years Tube NRE in $700k range with unit costs of order $300k in small quantities DTI Transmitter with Solid State Modulation for High Reliability Single tube pulsed IOT transmitter (NRE $1.2M, Hardware $1M) Hardware costs roughly linear with tube count plus combiner network Inductive Output Tube Performance Highly Efficient Tube (70% of input power out as RF) Efficient Operation at All Power Levels! Operate Transmitter With Variable Output Power Vary Output Power Based on Space Weather Conditions Always on Operation - Lower Overall System Operating Cost Transmitter Design Cargo Container RF Waveguide Tap WR2100 RF OUTPUT RF Amplifier Subsystem CPI 1MW IOT Control Sensors Cavity Tuning Cooling Subsystem Modular Chiller System Tube Assembly HV Power Subsystem DTI Power supply and Modulator Control Sensors HV Grounding Assembly Fiber Network Interface Failsafe TX Subsystem Control Control Interface Control Sensors HV and Cooling Power Supply HV Isolation cage with lockout RF Signal and Power Monitoring Cargo Container Air Conditioning Focusing Magnet Control Interface Control Interface Solid State Driver Control and Monitoring Subsystem 480 Volt three phase regulator Control Interface 120 Volt single phase regulator Control Sensors Breakers Boxes Metering MIDASMobile TX/RX Fiber Control Interface Control Safety Subsystem Kirk Key System HV Interlocks Fire Supression System Entry Sensors & Cameras HV Inhibit System RF Inhibit System RF & HV Warning Lights Cargo Container for Easy Transport Power, Fiber, Waveguide Fully Automated Remote Operations Why? Positive Aspects of Transmitter Modernization Expand the unique capabilities of MH and AO dish radars Simplify – remove duplication – share maintenance Address UAF directive to move toward shared technology 24/7 operations using auto event-detect Untended, low-power survey operation – reduced cost Science: ISR coverage of low and PBL mid latitudes Maintain the low-elevation (large-FOV) capability of MHR Solidify a core of ISR expertise on the East Coast Get two modern radars for the price of one MIDAS-Mobile Coherent Software Radio System Advanced digital receivers ECDR-GC314FS Six analog inputs (2 cards) Up to 24 simultaneous RF channels Ultra stable GPS locked oscillators Wide area coherence Absolute alignment of data to UTC 1 part in 1E11, 20 nsec alignment Low phase noise High integration UHF Radar Tuners DC to 1500 MHz (with external filters) 30 MHz down-converted bandwidth Fully remote Internet based operation Realtime web based visualization Grid Computing Remote power control MIDAS-M : Latest Millstone Data System Millstone UHF Radar and ISIS Array Currently entering testing for production level IS radar applications Software Radar Architecture : Raw Voltage Based Processing Realtime signal processing, analysis, database, and visualization Production quality IS radar ion line processing Active and Passive Radar, Monostatic/Multistatic, Satellite Beacons, Spectral Monitoring