XECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NO 3 04 O 2017 … › indico › event › 54 › ...RadioNet Executive Committee Meeting 04.10.2017 Project supported by the European Commission Executive

RadioNet has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 730562

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NO. 3 04 OCT 2017 WEBPAGE: https://events.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/indico/event/54/

PARTICIPANTS:

Simon Garrington ; Frederic Gueth ; Walter Alef; Jacqueline Casado; Gert Kruithof; Rainer Mauersberger; Anita Richards; Izabela Rottmann; Leonardo Testi ; Hans van der Marel ; Tiziana Venturi (CHAIR); Anton Zensus

DIAL: Number: +49 69 130147800 Code: 17252109

AGENDA 10:00 Welcome Anton Zensus 10:05 Acceptance of the Agenda, Action Items Tiziana Venturi (Chair) 10:10 Report on WP1 – Management Izabela Rottmann 10:20 Report on WP2 – Dissemination Tiziana Venturi 10:30 Report on WP3 – Training Anita Richards (UMAN) 10:40 Report on WP4 – Sustainability Hans van der Marel 10:50 Report on WP5 – AETHRA Frederic Gueth 11:00 Report on WP6 – BRAND EVN Walter Alef 11:10 Report on WP7 – RINGS Gert Kruithof 11:20 Report on WP8-14 TA/VA Simon Garrington 11:30 AOB Tiziana Venturi TABLE OF CONTENT REPORT ON WP1 – MANAGEMENT 2 REPORT ON NA – WP2- DISSEMINATION (T. VENTURI) 4 REPORT ON NA – WP3 TRAINING (A. RICHARDS) 6 REPORT ON NA – WP4 SUSTAINABILITY (HANS VAN DER MAREL) 8 REPORT ON JRA – WP5 AETHRA (FREDERIC GUETH) 9 REPORT ON JRA – WP6 BRAND EVN (WELTER ALEF) 11 REPORT ON JRA – WP7 RINGS 12 REPORT ON TA/VA – WP8-WP14 (SIMON GARRINGTON) 13 APPENDIX 1 14 APPENDIX 2 15 THE MANAGEMENT OUTREACH POLICY 15

RadioNet Executive Committee Meeting 04.10.2017

Project supported by the European Commission Executive Committee Meeting

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ReportonWP1–Management

1. Status 1.1 EC Issues

- RadioNet position to EU Survey Public stakeholder consultation - Interim evaluation of Horizon 2020 was submitted on 15.1.2017. Mid-term evaluation of H2020 and event report are available online: www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.events-and-activities-2020-midterm

- The coordinator attended the conference Shaping our Future – Research & Innovation (Brssels, 3///2017). The 10 recommendations for the next FP9 progarmme, conference material and the High Level Group Report are available www.ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2017/shaping-our-future/index.cfm

- The project officer´s temporary replacement is now Jimena Arango-Montanez, before it was Darko Karacic (Keji Adunmo is on maternity leave presumably until September 2017).

- The RadioNet coordinator and the manager met both, Darko Karacic and Jimena Arango-Montanez on July 3, 2017 in Brussels and discussed the project status. The process of an amendment has been agreed on.

1.2 Amendment - The coordinator and the manager discussed with the Project Officer the reporting problematic on the

access. They agreed on an amendment for EVN-IR and EVN-SRT antennas by optimising the number access hours and the access cost; so the total cost of the EC support for those stations will remain unchanged.

- The amendment process should follow the consortium rules: The Exec works out a solution and proposes it to the Board. The Board agrees on the final amendment solution at the teleconference on 08/11/2017. The negotiation with the EC can be finalised early 2018.

1.3 Consortium - The Advisory Group (AG): Richard Schilizzi (UMAN), Boudewijn Baud (Parma Consulting Group),

Saskia Matheussen (ASTRONET), Gerry Gilmore (OPTICON), Phil Diamond (SKA), Anne C. Decourchelle (CEA) accepted the nomination. RadioNet partners agreed on the text of the Non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Most of the RadioNet partners gave power of attorney to the coordinator to sign the NDA. However, AALTO, UOXF and UMAN signed their own NDA directly with each AG member. The process of signing is coordinated by the project manager. At present the AG members are signing the NDAs. The document “Terms of Reference for RadioNet AG” has been composed (see Appendix 1). It was provided to the AG members together with the Description of work (without personal and budgetary information).

- The Board accepted the RadioNet Diversity Charter on 03 July 2017. The Charter is placed on the RadioNet webpage.

- The following changes to the Board were communicated to the EC on 23 August 2017: o ASTRON - Beneficiary No. 2 - Prof. Carole Jackson replaced Dr. Marco de Vos, o UAH - Beneficiary No. 12 - Dr. Rafael Bachiller replaced Dr. Jose Antonio Lopez Fernandez

- The next Board meetings: Teleconference on 8.11.2017, face-to-face meeting in Berlin ins Spring (doodle will follow soon).

1.4 NA and TA financial support - The budget of the NAs and of TA travel is allocated at the MPIfR. - The NA/TA leaders allocate persons and/or organisations for financial support and set the support

conditions. - RadioNet MGT coordinates the NA calls (release, collection of requests, logistical support of the

selection committees, feedback to the applicants). - RadioNet MGT performs the reimbursement process directly with the supported persons and/or

organisations. The rules and templates are provided by MGT to the person and/or organisation. There are two possibilities for participant´s reimbursement: claiming via her/his home institute (then local rules apply) or directly via RadioNet (then the MPIfR rules apply).



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- An update on the activity budget (allocated vs spent) is provided to the NA/TA leader every 3 months. - ISSUE: At present, the supported persons and organisers are asked to claim their cost within 3 months

after the event. Participants claiming their cost privately, directly to MPIfR, must submit the claim within max 6 months, afterwards the claim cannot be proceeded by the system. Claims from institutes are eligible to be reimbursed from the RadioNet project for as long as they are submitted within the project duration (end of the project= 31December 2020). This however would create a problem of unspent budget for the NAs. Taking into account the limited RadioNet budget for NAs and TAs, and the overall need for their support to the community, reallocation of not claimed cost should be made possible and arranged. SOLUTIONS: We ask the Board to set a limit of 6 months after the event to claim the approved support. Afterwards 6 months, the not claimed amount would be cancelled and removed back to the corresponding activity pool.

[Discussion from EXEC needed!]

1.5 Outreach Web & wiki pages

- The web page plays a representative role of the project. Additionally, it is a platform for news and first-contacts (www.radionet-org.eu).

- The wiki pages are designed for the management of the project (radionetwiki.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de). - Twitter (RadioNet_EU) is used daily, as an quick and informative platform. - The newsletter is provided monthly to the list of subscribers, offering information from RadioNet

partners and the EC. The subscriber’s list has at present … unique addresses. - The statistic of the use of the webpage and twitter will be performed following the ethics. - An outreach policy has been worked out based on the Work description (Appendix II). - The available outreach material consists of: roll-up display, flyers, note pads, ball pens and pencils.

Additionally, the production of items for specific conferences/exhibitions is possible (e.g. Lanyards with RadioNet Logo for EWASS2017).

1.6 Manpower - The financial controller Mrs. E. Schwetz was replaced by Mr. Christoph Kerkmann. - In the GA an outreach assistant was proposed. This position has been replaced by the position of

policy officer. The responsibilities of the outreach activities have been split between the project manager, project assistant and policy officer.

2. Deliverables - Del2.1 Data Management Plan was submitted by 30.6.2017. - See the deliverable status in Annex III

3. Meetings The RadioNet MGT attended [May-Sep, 2017] the following meetings:

- 9-05.2017 – Torun/PL – EVN CBD Meeting - 23.05.2017 – Schiphol/NL – SPOOR Meeting 1 - 27-29.6.2017 – Prague/CZ – EWASS2017 - 3.07.2017 – Brussels/BE – Meeting with the Project Officer - 11.09.2017 – Dwingeloo/NL – RINGS Update Meeting - 21-22.09.2017 – Bologna/IT - YERAC



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ReportonNA–WP2-Dissemination(T.Venturi)

1. Overview of the activity This NA has the task to disseminate the scientific highlights and the development on the technological front in the context of the RadioNet infrastructures, and consists of two work packages: WP2.1 Science Dissemination (coordinated by T. Venturi, INAF), and WP2.2 Technical Dissemination (coordinated by Reinhard Keller, MPG). The main tool to implement and fulfil this NA is the organization of meetings and workshops, whose focus are scientific results and technological developments respectively for WP2.1 and WP2.2. Presentations will be made available in pdf format for all meetings. There are a total of 6 deliverables (3 for WP2.1 and 3 for WP2.2) over the full duration of the project. The organization of the YERAC is included among the WP2.1 tasks.

4. Travel budget and allocation for 2017 The total budget for WP2 is 180 kEuro, split into 140 kEuro and 40 kEuro for WP2.1 and WP2.2 respectively. The average budget is 35 kEuro/year for WP2.1 and 10 kEuro/year for WP2.2. To ensure a thorough allocation and spread the resources throughout the four years of the project, a call for funding is being issued. It has been decided to have the same deadline for all funding requests in the RadioNet project. The evaluation of the proposals and the distribution of the resources is ensured by an evaluation team, whose members for WP2.1 are: R. Beswick (JBO), P. Charlot (U. Bordeaux), : Laing (ESO), A. Richards (JBO), B.W. Sohn (KAZI), T. Venturi (INAF). The proposal evaluation committee of the Technical Dissemination sup WP is formed by: A. Navarrini (INAF), J. A. López Fernándes (UAH_IGN), M. Lindqvist (OSO) and R. Keller (MPIfR). The first call was issued on January 14th, 2017, with deadline February 15th, 2017. The second call was issued on June 1st, and the deadline July 1st 2017. Each call covers a period of 1 year.

5. NA Meetings

1.7 WP2.1 - First call – February 15th 2017 13 requests for funding were received for WP2.1, with a total requested budget of about 72 kEuro. We allocated 44 kEuros, and all meetings received some support, though at a reduced level wrt the request. All meetings scheduled before the end of September have already successfully taken place. Two more meetings will be organized in October 2017 and the last meeting, the 14th EVN Symposium (which is also a deliverable) will take place in Granada in October 2018. In particular all the following meetings

Ø The labyrinth of the unexpected (Kerastari, GR, 29 May – 2 June 2017) Ø HI absorption 2017 (Dwingeloo, NL, 14-16 June 2017) Ø Polarised emission from astrophysical jets (Ierapetra, GR, 12-16 June 2017) Ø The broad impact of low frequency observing (Bologna, IT, 19-23 June 2017) Ø International Pulsar Timing Array annual conference (Paris, FR, 26 June – 7 July 2017) Ø Early stages of galaxy cluster formation (ESO, Garching, DE, 17-21 July 2017) Ø Measuring star formation in the radio, mm and sub.mm (Manchester, UK, 24-26 July 2017) Ø European Solar Physics Meeting (Budapest, HU, 4-8 September 2017) Ø IAU Symposium 337: Pulsar astrophysics – The next 50 years (JBO, UK, 4-8 September 2017) Ø 47th YERAC 2017 (Bologna, IT, 18-22 September 2017)

have successfully taken place. The remaining three meetings:

Ø Imaging the polarized sky from 10 GHz to 1 THz (Garching, DE, 25-27 October 2017) Ø Perspectives on a Large Submm Telescope (Garching, DE, November 2017) Ø The 14th EVN Symposium and Users’ meeting (Granada, ES, October 2018)

are on schedule.



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Note that the organization of the YERAC is a commitment of WP2.1, which has been successfully fulfilled.

1.8 WP2.1 - Second call – July 1st 2017 Nine requests were received, one of which was considered out of topic for WP2.1 and hence did not get funding. A total of 33450 Euros were requested, and 2345 Euros were allocated. The meetings, which were granted partial support, are:

Ø e-MERLIN and VLBI in the SKA era, 11-12.9.2017, Jodrell Bank /UK – DONE Ø IAU Symposium 333, “Peering towards Cosmic Dawn”, 2-6.10.2017, Duborvni/Croatia – ON

SCHEDULE Ø 4th Workshop on (sub-)millimetre astronomy in Italy, 7-10.11.2017, INAF Bologna/IT – ON SCHEDULE Ø Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope, 9-11.11.2017, MPIfR/DE – POSTPONED TO SPRING 2018 Ø Galaxy interactions and mergers across cosmic time,11-16.03.2018, Sexten Center for Astrophysics,

ON Ø SCHEDULE Ø Revisiting narrow-line seyfert 1 galaxies and their place in the universe,10-13.04.2018, Padova/IT – ON

SCHEDULE – First announcement circulated, registration opened Ø IAUS 342: Perseus in Sicily, 14-18.05.2018, Noto/IT – ON SCHEDULE – Save-the-date announcement

circulated Ø Cosmic Rays: the salt of the star-formation recipe, 19-22.06.2018, INAF-Arcetri/IT – ON SCHEDULE –

First announcement circulated.

1.9 WP2.2 - Second Call – July 1st 2017 The proposal evaluation committee of the Technical Dissemination sup WP is formed by: A. Navarrini (INAF), J. A. López Fernándes (UAH_IGN), M. Lindqvist (OSO) and R. Keller (MPIfR). No requests were received for the July 1st call.

6. Publications

7. AOB The consultation to ensure the next YERAC (a deliverable of this WP) will take place, and which organization will host it is in progress.



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ReportonNA–WP3Training(A.Richards)

1. Status (e.g. deliverables, budget) WP 3.1 and 3.3 received a good response to the second Call, and as a result: WP3.1 will support another 5 events. The ten events supported so far are listed below. The two events

already held have submitted reports. Date Where What Comments27.-28.3&03.4.2017 Bonn/DE&Bern/CH ALMACommunityDays2017 30&37attendees3-4.4&07.4.2017 Torun/PL&Prague/CZ JointpreCycle5ALMAworkshop 31&19attendees206.10.2017 Dwingeloo/NL IntroducingVLBItoolsinCASA 16.-20.10.2017 ASTRON-JIVE/NL ERIS2017 *28.-30.11.2017 Gothenburg/SE ASTA-AdvancedSoftwareToolsforALMA 5-7.12.2017 Lisbon/PT ALMADataProcessingWorkshop

11.-13.12.2017 Bologna/IT Workshoponself-calibrationandadvancedimaging

15.-16.3.2018 ESOGarching/DE APEX&ALMASingleDishtrainingworkshop -09.2018 ASTRON/NL LOFARdataprocessingschool *--2019 Turku/FI North-EuropeanRadioAstronomySchool *Postponedfrom2018

*Including speaker covering spectrum management issues

WP3.2 has approved 6 more visits since the last report, funding a total of 13 face-to-face visits of ALMA users (6 male and 7 female) to five European ALMA Regional Centre nodes, so far. The purpose of 11 out of the 13 visits was data reduction, with the remaining two being data combination and archival research. Out of the 13 visits, 11 helped users visiting their local nodes, while the other two supported non-EU ALMA users that happened to be in Europe and wanted to visit a node to get support. The average length of the visits was of 4 working days and the average funding per visit was of 440 EUR, usually covering travel and accommodation. The 13 visits correspond to about 30% of the total face-to-face visits supported by the EU ARC network in the same period.

WP3.3 will support a further 4 STM visits, making 8 successful applications (out of 12 submitted) so far. These include 6 mainly engineering, covering a 3-way collaboration relevant to BRAND-EVN, RFI mitigation, development of superconducting filters and of 22-GHz water vapour radiometers and exchange of holography expertise. The other two science visits covered promoting collaboration between observers, modellers and laboratory experts in interpreting isotopic abundances, and synergy between radio and high-energy facilities in the study of AGN. Three successful applicants are female. The first 4 visits have taken place. The sucessful applicants are from INAF(IT), SKA(SA), IGN(ES), OSO(SE) and Ventspils(LV), visiting INAF, MPIfR, IRAM, OSO and IGN, demonstrating that these are genuine 2-way exchanges between RadioNet institutes and partners inside and outside the EU.

Deliverables

None due this year. The completed 3.1 event organisers and 3.3 visitors have submitted reports as required, and 3.2 visitors have submited feedback. The reports and event/visitor details are on the wiki. A skeleton for the ERIS guidance document has been prepared by the RN office and the 'first edition' will be written after this year's ERIS (i.e. before the end of 2017).

Budget NA travel budget (as of 8 September 2017, not including WP leader travel, <€1000)



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WP3.1: €47,400 committed in the first 2 calls, €3511 claimed so far (and €12500 is for events in 2018-19). The allocated amount is €150000 over 4 years.

WP3.2: €5085 committed, €2675 claimed so far. The allocated amount is €40000 over 4 years. WP3.3: €9800 committed in the first two calls of which €1613 has been claimed . The allocated amount is

€30000 over 4 years.

8. Publications None due - where relevant, workshop material will be made available on-line.

9. AOB WP3.1

• The mm-ERIS at IRAM Grenoble will be held in 2018 and 2020; we need to identify a host for ERIS in 2019.

• In 2018 the APEX/ALMA single dish school cannot be hands on but we are keen to find prospective hosts for hands-on Single Dish observing schools over the lifetime of RadioNet, even if individual events are only able to train a small number of people (probably 6-10 is the minimum?) - Board members from institutes with suitable facilities might like to consider this.

• Solar events are likely to be planned in 2018-2020 • We remind organisers of relevant events that additional support is available to invite a speaker or

include content on spectrum management. • We note that a few applications to 3.2 and 3.3 have been ineligible due to mistakes in the

application/deadlines and we urge the Call and other instructions to emphasize that applicants can ask the WP leaders for guidance or to read drafts as long as they are approached in good time - if necessary the WP Leader can consult the RN office - but we do not want to lose good applicants due to technicalities.

• One aspect of ensuring RadioNet has a high profile is to make sure that all beneficiaries acknowledge RadioNet in all publications. It might be possible, for example, to search ArXiV and ADS and any engineering equivalent automatically for publications by relevant (co-)authors, which could then be checked to see if they might be relevant, and if necessary contact the author (ideally to catch before final publication, but in any case to remind for future - and to ensure a comprehensive list for the office.



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Report on NA – WP4 Sustainability (Hans van der Marel)

1. Status (e.g. deliverables, budget) WP 4.1: EVN TOG & GMVA Technical Meetings

A TOG & GMVA Meeting took place in Ventspils, Latvia on 22 and 23 May 2017. RadioNet supported the costs for the local organisation and supported travel costs of 5 participants for a total of € 5100 (exact amount depends on last open claim), which is € 1400 less than planned. This remainder will be used for coming TOG & GMVA meetings.

WP4.2: Spectrum Management A CRAF meeting took place in Bonn and Effelsberg from 3 to 5 May 2017. RadioNet supported the costs for the local organisation and supported travel costs of 5 participants for a total of € 3500 (exact amount depends on last open claims), which is € 3500 less than planned. For attending international spectrum management meetings 4 requests for support for a total amount of € 3700 have been granted and 3 requests for a total amount of € 3600 are expected before the end of the year. This brings the total amount for attending international spectrum management meetings on € 7300, which is € 3300 more than planned. This can be compensated with the remainder of the CRAF meeting.

WP4.3: SPOOR A SPOOR meeting took place in Amsterdam on 23 May 2017. RadioNet supported the costs for the local organisation and supported travel costs of 3 participants for a total amount of € 1745. Including the travel costs of the task leader for attending the RadioNet Kick-off meeting a total amount of € 2635 has been used. H. van der Marel expressed concerns of under spending.

No deliverables are foreseen for 2017 for any of the tasks.

2. NA Meetings WP 4.1: EVN TOG & GMVA Technical Meetings

TOG & GMVA Meeting: Ventspils, Latvia, 22 - 23 May 2017 The TOG chair is discussing with his colleagues from Shanghai Observatory to organize the next TOG meeting in Shanghai in March 19-20, 2018.

WP4.2: Spectrum Management CRAF meeting: Bonn and Effelsberg, Germany, 3 - 5 May 2017 Between 1 May and 27 September 2017 the following international spectrum management meetings have been attended:

• ITU-R TG 5/1 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, 14 – 23 May 2017 (1 participant) • CEPT PT1 meeting in Lyon, France, 4 – 8 September 2017 (1 participant)

The following international spectrum management meetings will be attended: • ITU-R WP7D/7B meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, 24 – 31 October 2017 (2 participants) • CEPT PT1 meeting in Sophia Antipolis, France, 11 – 15 December 2017 (1 participant)

The next CRAF meeting is scheduled for spring 2018 at the SKAO Headquarter in the UK.

WP4.3: SPOOR SPOOR meeting: Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 23 May 2017

3. Publications - No publications.

4. AOB As a WP-leader it is difficult to keep track of all the activities in this WP, because most of the communication concerning reports, claims and for WP4.3 also support requests is directly between the participants and the RadioNet management. The RadioNet wiki page for WP4 can accommodate meeting reports, which have to be put there by the participants. It is proposed that approval of support requests and claims should be cc’d to the WP-leader.



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ReportonJRA–WP5AETHRA(FredericGueth)

1. Status The AETHRA JRA includes various developments, organized in several work-packages. The status of some of these projects is summarized below. As expected at that stage of the project, the developments are on-going and are at different stages depending on the work-package/group but have not yet converged. A (video) meeting will be organized later this fall to assess the detailed status of each project and consider possible prioritizations. WP 5.1: Semiconductor LNAs and MMIC receivers

o In order to investigate the optimum mHEMT technology, two test LNA modules have been assembled at IAF with an LNA MMIC in 50-nm and 35-nm gate-length mHEMT technology, respectively. The tests at ambient temperature showed very good performance. As expected, the 35-nm version showed better performance. Currently, the tests at cryogenic conditions are planned. [Fraunhofer]

o First sub-circuits (mixers, freq. multipliers, driver amplifiers, passives) for the W-band down-converter MMIC are designed and placed on two 50-nm gate-length multi-project-wafer runs. The runs are expected for on-wafer measurements in Q4 2017 and Q1 2018, respectively. [Fraunhofer]

An Orthomode Transducer (OMT) based on a waveguide reverse-coupling structure is being designed for the 72-116 GHz band.[INAF]

It has been decided to use the cryogenic (4.2K) IRAM NOEMA 4-12GHz 3dB/90°Lange coupler at ambient temperature (D. Maier). EM simulations have shown that the metallization (material and thickness) and the manufacture process steps order has to be changed. The first measurements show a good gain unbalance (~4dB+-1dB) but the phase differences could be improved (~90°+-10°). A second run of these components was manufactured, and will be tested soon. An old IRAM HDV10 cryostat was dissembled (the liquid helium tank was removed). The goal is to check if it will be possible to integrate the future AETHRA prototype inside. 75-116GHz beam-lead waveguide probe antennas are manufactured to link them to the IAF RF interface. [IRAM]

WP 5.3.1: Focal plane arrays around 1 THz / SIS

The priority at the moment is to optimize processes with the newly acquired sputter machine, to achieve similar Nb_AlN_Nb SIS junctions that we have shown to achieve with the old equipment. The optimization of processes is done by permanent staff. Until we are closer to decent IV-curves it is not very effective to hire a student on this project, as the project money allows this only for limited time. [UCO]

WP 5.3.4 : HEB FPA demonstrator

A cryostat has been built and an experiment setup prepared, consisting of an FIR laser as local oscillator, for array measurement, which is in principle ready for a joint test of array from the Paris group. In the mean-time, SRON together with TUD has designed a phase grating for generating 8 beams to pump an array of 8 HEBs. We fabricated the phase grating and also characterized the property of the grating using a FIR gas laser at 1.39 THz as the input. We succeeded in pumping 2x4 pixel HEB arrays. [SRON+TUD]

We have mounted and tested a prototype of 4 pixel HEB mixer block. We are reviewing the design in order to improve the thermal conduction. In parallel we are working on the design of the beam divider, which will be used to couple the single beam LO source to the 4 pixels of the mixer. Several quasi-optical configurations between the LO source and the receiver are being studied and compared. Once the design finalized, we will start the manufacturing of the new mixer block and the beam divider. A new computerized beam pattern test bench has been built allowing to perform two dimensional far-filed pattern measurements of LO sources and mixers in the THz range. [OBSPARIS]

WP5.4.1 : LO chains

We have designed and fabricated a power combined multiplier module at 160 GHz. Its assembly is nearing completion and the RF performance tests are imminent. The device is expected to give 120 mW output power for an input power of 500 mW. The remaining works planned for Year 1 will soon commence.



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WP 5.4.2 : IF amplifiers

Discrete InP HEMT devices from ETH of 150x0.1 um were selected for the development of the cryogenic amplifiers. After their initial evaluation additional measurements were performed in a coplanar probe station. The analysis of the results has led to some modifications in the transistor layout to avoid the resonances observed at very high frequencies. An order of devices of this type of transistors, including the modifications, has been placed and their fabrication started in July 2017. A prototype 4-12 GHz amplifier with reduced input reflection integrating a complete bias T for SIS mixers (with junction current and voltage terminals) is being built to test the new InP HEMT devices (when available).

For the wideband amplifiers, a 90º 3dB hybrid coupler in stripline technology covering the 1.5-15 GHz band has been designed and it is being built. The preliminary results, although promising, do not completely fulfil the expectations. A modified version is being developed to improve the performance. If successful, it may allow building a balanced amplifier for the complete 1.5-15 GHz band with very low input and output reflection.

Staff recruitment

TUD. It is hard to find a post-doc for a period less than 1 year. We intend to combine this position with others funding to find a post-doc to work on the development of large IF bandwidth HEBs.

Obs Paris: Several interviews are planned on the second week of October for the temporary contract position financed on AETHRA budget. UAH-IGN: An engineer with experience in cryogenic amplifier design has been hired on July 2017 with full time dedication to the development of this project.

OSO: Our PhD student leaves our group on October 1st. We might have some fluctuation in the available manpower for a couple of months.

2. Timetable / Meetings

Institutes involved on WP5.1 "Semiconductor LNAs and MMIC receivers" (INAF, MPG, IRAM, Fraunhofer) had a face-to-face meeting in Sicilia in June 2017. A second meeting is to be held at IAF Freiburg in December 2017.

The exact definition of the final requirements of the AETHRA amplifiers for arrays (band, size, input reflection, gain, interfaces…) is still pending. The plan is to start a series of teleconferences with the groups developing SIS mixers to reach an agreement in the definition.

3. Publications

F. Thome et al. "Comparison of a 35-nm and a 50-nm Gate-Length Metamorphic HEMT Technology for Millimeter-Wave Low-Noise Amplifier MMICs", IMS2017, June 2017.

Mr. Jose Silva will give an oral presentation on " 4x2 HEB ARRAY RECEIVER AT 1.4 THZ BASED ON A FOURIER PHASE GRATING MULTIBEAM LOCAL OSCILLATOR" in 38th ESA Antenna Workshop on Innovative Antenna Systems and Technologies for Future Space Missions, 3-6 October 2017, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

RadioNet has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 730562

ReportonJRA–WP6BRANDEVN(WalterAlef)1. Status Deliverable D6.1 “Report on recommendations for individual EVN antennas”:

The deliverable D6.1 was submitted on time (30.6.2017) by the partner UAH-IGN. For the JRA BRAND input information is required from the EVN stations for the design of the receiver to make it as compatible as possible with the EVN telescopes. The WP comprises the following tasks: • Collection of geometrical/optical parameters of EVN radio telescopes in order to provide

recommendations about the BRAND receiver design and installation. • Evaluation of the RFI environment at three EVN radio telescopes with strong interest in BRAND

receiver installation: Effelsberg, Westerbork and Yebes. This evaluation is required to decide which RFI mitigation techniques have to be implemented in the receiver, as its operating band will be shared with multiple telecommunication services.

A questionnaire was developed and sent to all EVN stations, which queries all relevant parameters of the telescopes. Unfortunately not all stations have replied so far. Stations will be encouraged to still fill in the form, as requested information will be very useful also later in the project. The RFI environment at the three telescopes which have already committed to installing a BRAND receiver- Effelsberg, Westerbork, Yebes - has been measured by a team from UAH-IGN. Other EVN observatories, in the frame of the BRAND-EVN work package willing to perform the RFI measurements on their own, were taught on how to use the RFI instrumentation during the RFI workshop performed at Yebes Observatory on June 7-8, 2017. This measurement equipment can be borrowed from Yebes Observatory at no cost other than transportation from and to Yebes. The results of the questionnaire and the RFI measurements are available in the appendices of D6.1.

WP6.2: BRAND receiver frontend Work on developing a feed for BRAND, which can cope with the very wide opening angle required for Effelsberg, has much advanced at Onsala Space Observatory by J. Flygare. A solution with a reasonable efficiency of about 50% seems in reach. First results will be available by the time of the 6th International VLBI Technology (IVTW) in Bologna in October 2017. Tuccari has established contact with other groups working on HTS filters in Italy and China. The most promising avenue, which could also lead to manufacturing filters, has opened up in China. There is also progress in the sub-task to study a wide-band feed for secondary focus. This will be a collaboration with a group in Japan which has developed the Ninja feed.

WP6.3: BRAND backend One of the biggest risks in BRAND - the wide-band sampler - has been resolved. Tuccari was able to procure two 14 GHz sampler chips and an evaluation board under a non-disclosure agreement. At present Wunderlich (MPIfR) is developing a power supply for the sampling evaluation board. It needs nine different voltages, which have to be switched on in a special sequence. The sampling chips require a lot of power, which necessitates liquid cooling, and a very demanding PCB. Tuccari has established contact with a company in China, which has experience in this field and has agreed to collaborate on this part of the project. On 8.6.2017 a small meeting was held at ASTRON to discuss the architecture of the hardware in the context of the firmware which has to be written by ASTRON. Schonderbeek (ASTRON) has written and has been improving a document on how to implement the linear to circular polarization conversion.

2. Timetable / Meetings • Monthly telecons are used to communicate and to organise the work of the partners in BRAND. • On 8.6.2017 at ASTRON - MPIfR neighbourhood meeting took place at ASTRON. The firmware for

polarisation conversion was discussed in the context of the planned hardware design. • The BRAND JRA presented a poster at the EVGA meeting at Göteborg on 15 - 19 May, 2017. • A presentation on BRAND will be given at the 6th IVTW, 9-11 October, 2017 • A f2f-meeting is tentatively planned for November 2017.

3. Publications

� An article on BRAND was submitted for the proceedings of the 23rd Working Meeting of the European VLBI Group for Geodesy and Astrometry (EVGA).



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ReportonJRA–WP7RINGS

4. Status In the tasks several telecons and bilateral meetings have been organized. A RINGS plenary session was organized in September 2017 at ASTRON. Progress reports were presented by all the task leaders. Additional agreements have been made on shared source code repositories and shared repositories for reference data sets. It was decided that the work of the task polarization calibration is carried out at correlation time and can therefore hardly be integrated with fringe fitting tasks, which take place in a later stage. The beam model software is also a separate part of software, but it is considered very helpful for astronomers if CASA could be enriched by import of beam models. Further discussions took place on the approach to combine dispersive and non-dispersive fringe fitting and on the approach for multiband and wideband fringe fitting.

5. Deliverables The deliverable WP7.1 “Report state of the art and common framework for development” in M6.

6. Man-power The JRA is adequately staffed with the exception of DIAS still. At ASTRON, the staff member to work on this project is available. At DIAS, recruiting of personnel is almost completed.

7. Timetable (meetings) The next face to face meeting of RINGS will be organized in Q1 2018 in Bonn. Task leader telecons will be held in between the face to face meetings. Interaction between task members continues on their own initiative

8. Publications No publications during the past period.

9. AOB None



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ReportonTA/VA–WP8-WP14(SimonGarrington) All Transnational Access facilities are providing access broadly at or above the levels anticipated. A telecon with representatives from all facilities was held on 06/09/2017. Individual reports from facilities are as follows: EVN: access delivered as expected. The change of rules to look at the delivery per EVN telescope may impact some telescopes with limited participation due to their restricted frequencies. Bob Campbell has carried out a detailed analysis for each individual telescope based on previous years distribution of hours by frequency and scheduled telescopes, including the range of variation in these to assess the risk to individual telescopes. However, almost all telescopes only claim a fraction of their unit cost and hence this is not anticipated to pose a significant risk, except perhaps in the case of Metsahovi. In other cases the inclusion of third country projects also helps. Sardinia has not yet provided EVN access. e-MERLIN: on track. IRAM: selecting new and non FR/ES/DE projects for support. LOFAR – observations started May 2017. No problems foreseen Effelsberg – slightly behind expected delivery of access hours. lower proportion of proposals were eligible under old rules, and hence may need to count third country projects. Will review after next proposal round (1 Oct) APEX – 50% access hours delivered already. Telescope close for upgrade until Spring 2018.

TNA Status vs DoA

Comments Provided access Users Projects

EVN 921 99-360

200 70

e-MERLIN 875 354 100 70 NOEMA 178 39 68 17 PV 452 145 100 25 LOFAR 554 96 120 22 Effelsberg 876 72 50 20 APEX 280 152 80 16 ALTA Travel allocations: no change to allocations, no current issues. Facility TA leaders reminded to follow procedure: ie to inform the RadioNet Management when they approve persons/PC meetings for funding. Then the Management will inform the organizers/funded persons about the requirements and rules for RadioNet funding BEFORE the event/visit, and ask them for their agreement.



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APPENDIX1

TERMSOFREFERENCE:RADIONETADVISORYGROUP(AG)

THE ADVISORY GROUP (AG) is composed of a group of at least 6 external advisors – with scientific,

industrial science and policy backgrounds. The role of the AG is to advise the RadioNet Project wit a view to fostering interaction and synergies with the astronomical community (e.g., ALMA, ASTRONET, OPTICON, AHEAD), relevant ESFRI initiatives (e.g., SKA, ASTERICS), and with industry and policy makers.

The AG members will receive the work program of RadioNet and the progress reports including the periodic reports to the EC. The AG members will provide their advice to the project at meetings with the Coordinator and Board Chair. Findings and recommendations will be transmitted in a written summary to the Board.

AG Members – The Board will appoint the AG members upon the Coordinator’s nomination. The Coordinator will be authorised to execute a non-disclosure agreement (as defined in the RadioNet Consortium Agreement).

Non-disclosure agreement – The Coordinator will ensure that a non-disclosure agreement is executed between all RadioNet Parties and each AG member. Its terms shall be not less stringent than those stipulated in this Consortium Agreement, and the non-disclosure agreement shall be concluded no later than 30 calendar days after their nomination or before any confidential information is exchanged, whichever date is earlier.

The AG meetings will be associated with the face-to-face consortium (Board or EXEC) meetings (1/year). The AG may invite guests (e.g. Board members, WP leaders) to attend their meetings, but without voting rights. The travel expenses of the AG members to the AG meetings will be reimbursed by the RadioNet project. Additional meeting may be held by teleconferences, if deemed necessary.

The Coordinator will provide support for the AG meetings (organisation, reports, minutes).

RadioNet Board Meetings – The AG members may to participate in Governing Board meetings upon invitation but have no voting rights.



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APPENDIX2ThemanagementOutreachpolicy

Summary: RadioNet conducts outreach and disseminates information about news and developments relevant for the partners and the RA community, especially for the

¤ RadioNet partners ¤ relevant scientific & technical community ¤ relevant policy makers & organisations with overlap in the scientific and/or

political scope ¤ European Commission ¤ general public and interested parties

Topics:

¤ general RadioNet description ¤ relevant events ¤ scientific & technical results ¤ funding opportunities ¤ relevant publications ¤ EC policy developments ¤ job opportunities in the RadioNet community

Stakeholders:

¤ RadioNet project Coordinator and MGT team ¤ RadioNet partner institutions ¤ European Commission

Sources of information:

¤ material generated within the scope of MGT team activities ¤ material provided by RadioNet partners or stakeholders

ü on general or targeted request ü from monitoring/researching relevant social media, newsletter, etc.

Channels: The RadioNet MGT team distributes the information using

¤ the webpage: Describes the RadioNet scope, goals, tasks, results, events, etc. in form of

ü static reference material ü news items as blog entries

¤ twitter: Information is distributed via twitter in a short and concise form (updates on RadioNet and also re-distribution of news of the partners & community members & stakeholders)

¤ newsletter: Information is distributed periodically (initially monthly) to a managed subscribers mailing list

¤ participation of MGT team members in relevant events

Date: 16 August 2017

Documents

XECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NO 3 04 O 2017 … › indico › event › 54 › ...RadioNet Executive Committee Meeting 04.10.2017 Project supported by the European Commission Executive