A unified error model for phase tracking in radio telescopes

In radio astronomy instrumentation, phase tracking refers to the combined process of delay tracking or delay compensation and fringe stopping. Analysis of the phase tracking algorithms in terms of noise contribution is of crucial importance in the design phase. In this paper we thoroughly analyse the phase tracking process to extract the important design parameters and the way these affect the final performance. We also derive an upper bound on the noise that can be contributed for various choices of updation polynomial order.