In order to predict, optimize, control, and correct the performance of a radio telescope from a computer model it is necessary to consider the static influence of gravity and the time-variable influences of temperature and wind. An end-to-end model of a radio telescope, which includes these effects, can be used for design studies, but also for actual observational operation using as input the gravity load and measured temperature and wind distributions across the telescope structure. We discuss measurements of gravity, temperature, and wind effects which illustrate present and proposed possibilities to probe the actual state of a telescope, to be used in the integral model for instantaneous predictions. For the end-to-end modeling of a radio telescope several sub-sets of (FE) models are available; however, an integral model has yet to be constructed and proven to work.

Date Published: 30 July 2002
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 4757, Integrated Modeling of Telescopes, (30 July 2002); doi: 10.1117/12.489814

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4757:
Integrated Modeling of Telescopes
Torben Andersen, Editor(s)