IVS Holds Technical Operations Workshop at MIT Haystack Observatory
05/16/2023

From April 30 through May 5, the IVS held the twelfth installment of its Technical Operations Workshop (TOW) at MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, MA, USA. Some 60 participants from 15 countries attended this first in-person TOW after the coronavirus pandemic. The TOW provided hands-on training for the technical staff of the VLBI stations. Over the course of the week, the students attended about 30 different workshops, seminars, and lectures covering topics as diverse as VLBI basics, session pre-checks and operations, cryogenics, RFI, phase calibration, and backend operations, to name just a few. SGP personnel were strongly involved in the organization of the workshop as well as in the teaching of several of the classes. Dirk Behrend was responsible for the overall organization, including class program and assignments, and he led through the workshop. Heidi Johnson took care of the local organization. The following SGP staff members served as instructors: Mario Bérubé (VLBI Communications Center), Pedro Elosegui (VLBI Basics), Rick Hambly and Katie Pazamickas (Time and Frequency), Frank Lemoine (Science Overview), John Swoboda (RFI), Chet Ruszczyk (VGOS Signal Chain, Mark 6, R2DBE), Mike Poirier and Alex Burns (Session Pre-checks, Failure Recovery), Ganesh Rajagopalan (Phase Cal), and Jason SooHoo (Data Transport). More information can be found on the workshop website at https://www.haystack.mit.edu/tow2023/.

Group photo of workshop attendees. (Credit: Dirk Behrend)