INSTALLATION AND PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION OF VLBI CORRELATION SUBSYSTEM

In this paper, we describe the installation of VLBI Correlation Subsystem (VCS) main product and its performance at the Korea-Japan Correlation Center (KJCC). The VCS main product was installed at KJCC in August 2009. For the overall performance evaluation of VCS, playbacks, Raw VLBI Data Buffer (RVDB) system, and Data Archive (DA) system were installed together. The VCS main product was connected between RVDB and DA, and the correlation results were put into the DA to confirm the normal operation of VCS 16 station mode configuration. The evaluation test was first performed with 4 station mode, same as the factory test of VCS main product. Based on the results of 4 station mode, the same evaluation test was conducted for 16 station mode of VCS. We found that the correlation results of VCS were almost similarly compared to those of the Mitaka FX Correlator. Through the test results, we confirmed that the problems such as spectrum errors, delay parameter processing module and field programmable gate array errors in antenna unit, which were generated at the factory test of VCS main product, were clearly solved. And we verified the performance and connectivity of VCS by obtaining the expected correlation results and we also confirmed that the performance of VCS was sufficient for real VLBI observation data in both 4 and 16 station modes.