Introduction of VLBI Technique for Geodetic Applications in India

Employment of Very Long Baseline Interferometric Technique for Geodetic Applications is not new to the International Geodetic Community. With the unprecedented precision and resolution made possible by VLBI, various tasks such as geodetic positioning, reference frames interconnections, Earth rotation monitoring, estimating the crustal movements, and mapping the extra-galactic radio sources, have attained accuracies of the levels never reached before.

Initiatives were taken first in June 2006 at BARC, Mumbai and again in January 2007 at NCRA, Pune for deciding the action to be taken for Introduction of VLBI Projects in India. The meeting was attended by experts from NCRA-TIFR, ISRO, SOI, BARC, ECIL, NGRI, RRI, PRL, Various IITs and other organisations. Contributions of Prof. Ananthakrishnan of NCRA, Pune, Dr. EC Malaimani from NGRI, Dr. VK Kulkarni from NCRA, Dr. Subramania from RRI, Shri YS Mayya from BARC/ECIL, and Shri CHVRS Gopala Krishna from ECIL, Hyderabad are worth mentioning in these meetings. However, due to various organisational and administrative reasons, it couldn’t be continued further.

Objectives of the workshop are as follows:

• To introduce the Geodetic VLBI Technique capabilities to Indian Scientific community in areas where it will make an impact (tectonic motion of Indian plate, co-location of VLBI and GNSS antenna, Determination of EOPs for realization of ITRF and ICRF, etc.)

• To facilitate interaction among various national and international organizations to list down the advantages that will accrue due to Introduction of Geodetic VLBI Technique in India.

• To finalise a multi-organisational proposal for setting up of VLBI stations in India.

The workshop will be headed by International expert Professor Harald Schuh, TU Berlin. He has been working in VLBI for past 30 years. He is the Past President of International VLBI Service (IVS) and International Association of Geodesy (IAG).

The prospective participants may register for tis workshop here.