Abstract
The attenuation of radio signals by the atmosphere is measured through atmospheric opacity. The atmospheric absorption effect must be corrected through an accurate amplitude calibration of the radio signals. Obtaining atmospheric mean temperature, sun brightness, sky dips, and radiosonde data modeling are the most commonly used methods for measuring atmospheric opacity. We develop an independent measuring system of K-band atmospheric opacity with a horn antenna to implement the sky-dips method to further investigate and explore the atmospheric opacity test. After many attempts, we employ the K-band atmospheric opacity measurement system to perform a comparison test with the K-band cryogenic receiver of the Nanshan 25 m telescope at the same time, with a comparison error of approximately 30%. Although the test error is due to the measurement accuracy of power and elevation, ground noise will be added in the side and back lobes if the corrugated horn is directly employed as the receiving antenna. To build the ground noise model of the test system, we employ the conventional hot and cold load method, as well as a load at ambient temperature, to cover the corrugated horn port surface and test the power output of the receiver at various elevation angles. The above opacity fitting data are corrected using the ground noise model. All the corrected data are properly fitted, and the comparison error with the 25 m telescope has been reduced to 10-20%. Although the initial test results of the system met the requirements of the atmospheric opacity test, it still needs to be improved in terms of the beam width, airmass, and side and back lobe.
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On request, the data used to support the findings of this study can be obtained from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 11903073 and 11973078), the Natural Science Foundation of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (NO. 2019D01A99) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) “Light of West China” Program (NO. 2020-XBQNXZ-018). The work was partly supported by the Operation, Maintenance and Upgrading Fund for Astronomical Telescopes and Facility Instruments, budgeted from the Ministry of Finance of China (MOF) and administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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The project leader is Hao Yan. Kai Wang oversees the project’s implementation and is the paper’s author. Jun Ma and Maozheng Chen oversee the feed and ortho-mode transducer design. The mechanical design is done by Liang Cao. Mingshuai Li and Xiaofei Li oversee the 25-meter antenna test. Xuefeng Duan oversees system integration and commissioning. The ground noise test scheme was proposed by Yunwei Ning. The system test was proposed by Wenjun Yang and Binbin Xiang.
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Wang, K., Yan, H., Ma, J. et al. Measurement of the K-band atmospheric opacity using the sky-dips method with a horn antenna. Astrophys Space Sci 367, 106 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-022-04144-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-022-04144-4