Design Aspects of the VLBI2010 System. Progress Report of the IVS VLBI2010 Committee, June 2009.

NASA/TM-2009-214180, 2009, 62 pagesThis report summarizes the progress made in developing the next generation VLBI system, dubbed the VLBI2010 system. The VLBI2010 Committee of the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) worked on the design aspects of the new system. The report covers Monte Carlo simulations showing the impact of the new operating modes on the final products. A section on system considerations describes the implications for the VLBI2010 system parameters by considering the new modes and system-related issues such as sensitivity, antenna slew rate, delay measurement error, RFI, frequency requirements, antenna deformation, and source structure corrections. This is followed by a description of all major subsystems and recommendations for the network, station, and antenna. Then aspects of the feed, polarization processing, calibration, digital back end, and correlator subsystems are covered. A section is dedicated to the NASA proof-of-concept demonstration. Finally, sections on operational considerations, on risks and fallback options, and on the next steps complete the report