The Center for Technological Developments (CDT) is a branch of the National Geographic Institute of Spain.
Yebes Technological Development Center
RAEGE will consist of the construction and operation of four new Fundamental Geodetic Stations, where several geodetic techniques will be co-located. Two stations will be placed in Spain: one in Yebes (Guadalajara) and one on the Canary Islands. The other two stations will be placed in Portugal, on the Açores Islands: one on Santa María and one on Flores. It is envisaged that each Geodetic Fundamental Station will be equipped with one radio telescope of VLBI2010 specifications (at least 12-m diameter, fast slewing speed, but also able to operate up to 40 GHz), one gravimeter, one permanent GNSS station, and, at least at the Yebes site, one SLR facility.
Azores stations
RAEGE
Stations location Weather and RFI measurements have been carried out to determine the best locations for the stations (Canary Islands and Azores Islands).
Other activities
Yebes Technological Development Center Cerro de la Palera s/n 19141 - Yebes Guadalajara Spain Phone: (+34) 949290311 Fax: (+34) 949290063
Centro de Desarrollos Tecnológicos de Yebes Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Spain)
Phone: (+34) 949290311 Fax: (+34) 949290063 Email: jm.serna@oan.es
CDT Yebes Geodetic Fundamental Station
RAEGE VLBI2010 RADIOTELESCOPE
Satellite Laser Ranging
Characteristics
SLR Technique principle: Precise range measurement of the roundtrip time-of-flight of an ultrashort laser pulse between an SLR ground station and a retroreflector equipped satellite. Official products and applications: - Station coordinates and Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP). - Development and maintenance of the Terrestrial Reference Frame with VLBI and GPS. SLR => Geocenter motion and Earth scale (GM) - Precision orbit determination (POD), centimeter accuracy (LAGEOS ~1-2 cm , GPS ~2-3 cm ).
- MT mechatronics - 13.2 m RT - Ring focus - Freq up to 45 GHz - Wideband receiver - Slewing speed 12ยบ/sec (az) & 6ยบ/sec (el)
The RAEGE project Establishment of an Spanish-Portuguese Network of Geodynamical and Space Geodesy Stations (RAEGE) by the installation and operation of four fundamental geodetic/astronomical stations provided with radiotelescopes fulfilling the VLBI 2010 project specifications: Yebes (1), Canary Islands (1) and Aรงores Islands (2). Baseline
Distance (Km)
Yebes-Canary Islands
2150
Yebes-Sao Miguel
2000
Yebes-Flores
2400
Canary Islands-Flores
2000
Sao Miguel-Flores
VLBI2010 Receiver VLBI2010 antenna and receiver specifications. - Broad bandwidths. - Compatibility with existing S and X band VLBI systems. - Two approaches: wideband receiver (1-14GHz) and triple band receiver (S, X, Ka). - Receiver second stage: common to both approaches.
530
Initial equipment to be installed at each station - Geodetic VLBI 2010 radiotelescope:
Yebes tritri-band feed design
GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO) The Global Navigation Satellite Systems include currently GPS (USA) and GLONASS (Rusian) and, in the future, Galileo (EU) and BeiDou (China). GNSS is the most extended spatial geodetic technique. It is possible to estimate the position of any point on Earth (including satellites and airplanes), tectonic plates velocity, atmospheric water vapor, ionosphere activity or time synchronization. Thanks to GNSS observations, the other spatial geodesic techniques can be combined to form the international geodetic reference frame.
Broadband feed design OSO
Diameter=13m, freq. up to40GHz vAz: 12 deg/s . vEl: 6 deg/s - Gravimeter. - Permanent GNSS station. - Satellite Laser Ranging (Yebes).
Motivation - Joint VLBI2010: 1mm accuracy for site position and 1mm/ year velocity. Continuous observation of Earth orientation parameter. Reduced data acquisition time. How? To use many more observations per session, use much more precise delay observables, improve network geometry, reduce impact of systematic errors, improve analysis strategies. - Network of Geodetic fundamental stations on three different tectonic plates - Improve Geodetic and Geophysics development in Spain.
Gravimetry Precise gravity time series are a complement to space geodetic measurements as VLBI, GNSS and SLR. A superconducting gravimeter (OSG) gives in combination with repeated absolute gravity measurements (FG5, A10) information on vertical position changes independent on the realization of a terrestrial reference frame. Further, the gravity data allows determine a most accurate site specific tidal model, which could be used to investigate the best tidal correction for the space techniques.
Yebes Station