The IRMA Water Vapour Radiometer and its Application to Remote Astronomical Site Testing

Author

Phillips, Robin R. ; Naylor, David A. ; Dahl, R.E. ; Knee, Lewis

Author_Institution

Lethbridge Univ., Lethbridge

fYear

2006

fDate

18-22 Sept. 2006

Firstpage

180

Lastpage

180

Abstract

IRMA is a compact, low power, 20um IR water vapour monitor suitable for operation in the astronomical site testing role. IRMA units have been in operation at sites in Chile, Mexico and the USA for the TMT site testing campaign. An additional unit has been modified for operation in the extreme Antarctic environment at Dome C in 2007. We have developed a standalone solar panel/battery power supply and satellite phone based modem control system. This allows an IRMA unit to be powered and operated anywhere on the planet -for example, remote mountain tops in western China that might be suitable sites for telescope construction.

Keywords

atmospheric humidity; atmospheric measuring apparatus; infrared astronomy; infrared detectors; power supplies to apparatus; radiometry; remote sensing; Chile; Dome C; IRMA water vapour radiometer; Infrared Radiometer for Millimetre Astronomy; Mexico; TMT site testing campaign; USA; battery power supply; extreme Antarctic environment; remote astronomical site testing; satellite phone based modem control system; standalone solar panel; telescope construction; western China; Antarctica; Batteries; Control systems; Modems; Planets; Power supplies; Radiometry; Remote monitoring; Satellite broadcasting; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Infrared Millimeter Waves and 14th International Conference on Teraherz Electronics, 2006. IRMMW-THz 2006. Joint 31st International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shanghai

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0400-2

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0400-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIMW.2006.368388

Filename

4222122