Notice ID: N0018924QZ091
The proposed purchase order is to provide support for a 1-year period for the transportation of observational data from potentially compromised sources to support Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP) determination at United States Naval Observatory (USNO). Additionally, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Haystack will provide post-correlation software package support for the Haystack Observatory Postprocessing System (HOPS) and difx2mark4 software programs, provide consultation for special processing due to complex geodetic experiments, provide assistance with electronic-Very Long Baseline Interferometry (eVLBI) connections at USNO and Kokee Park Geophysical Observatory as well as provide Mark6 support.
The interagency VLBI correlator at USNO has been a fundamental infrastructure for space geodesy since it began operations in 1986. That (MarkIIIA) hardware correlator was designed and constructed by MIT/HO, who has been providing engineering support to USNO ever since. Support has covered the various hardware correlator updates and upgrades, such as to MarkIV, as well as the more recent (in the 2010s) transition from hardware to software correlation (SWC), such as to the distributed FX-type correlation (DiFX). The primary purpose of the correlator at USNO is to support rapid turnaround of geodetic VLBI observations to provide the most timely and accurate values for time-varying Earth orientation parameters (EOP) such as the length of the day and polar motion. These observations are also used to estimate the positions of the extragalactic radio sources that define the celestial reference frame (CRF) and the positions (and velocities) of the radio telescopes that define the terrestrial reference frame (TRF), being the EOP the parameters that link the two frames together. MIT/HO shall provide assistance and support to USNO for post-correlation programs for both legacy and VGOS data, for post-processing requiring special attention, for electronic VLBI capabilities, and in the general area of VLBI data storage and transfer.
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