VLBI Technique Development

Some of the principal projects and activities of the VLBI group at Haystack Observatory are as follows:

Mark IV VLBI System
Haystack plays a central role in an international project to develop a next-generation VLBI correlator and recording system. The project has many aspects, perhaps the most important of which is a custom-designed VLSI correlator chip. The MkIV data acquisition system is documented in the Mark IV Memo Series.
Mark 5 VLBI Data System
e-VLBI
VSI
Digital Backend
Mark IV VLBI Correlator
An 8-station correlator used for processing of geodetic VLBI data. These data are used in studies of tectonic plate motions. The correlator is also used for processing of millimeter-wavelength astronomical VLBI observations.
Haystack Observatory Postprocessing System (HOPS)
A Unix-based software package designed to handle VLBI data from a MkIII or MkIV VLBI correlator. The capabilities of HOPS are designed to complement, and not overlap, those of AIPS, AIPS++, and the Caltech package. HOPS incorporates a fringe detection package optimized for the weak-signal and short coherence-time situation frequently encountered in millimeter VLBI.
MkIII archival database covering 14 years of VLBI observations
(email mike@haystack.mit.edu for information).
US VLBI Technical Coordination Meetings - Presentations