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Messages - Matt Wilkinson

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Lasers / Re: Laser manufacturers for SLR

« on: February 02, 2023, 10:57:55 AM »

Hi Arttu

Thanks for posting this. We are also thinking at Herstmonceux about our next laser and looking at the choices out there. Our HighQ 2kHz laser works, but is no longer supported.

Some options:

Photonics Industries.
RGLX Series High Pulse Energy
Picosecond Lasers
It offers 4mJ in IR and 2.5mJ in green. It can fire up to 5kHz. However, the pulse width is 25ps.
https://www.photonix.com/product/rglx-series-lasers/
Edgewave
PX-series InnoSlab Laser
It offers a maximum pulse energy up to 1.5mJ in IR and 0.6mJ in green. The pulse width is 10-12ps. It can fire up to 50MHz. The maximum output average power is 400W in IR and 200W in green.
https://www.edge-wave.de/web/en/produkte/ultra-short-pulse-systeme/px-serie/
NeoLASE
Picosecond Laser – neoMOS 10ps
It offers a maximum pulse energy up to 0.25mJ in IR. The pulse width is <10ps. I. It can fire up to 40MHz. The maximum output average power is 50W in IR.
https://neolase.com/produkte/?lang=en
ALPHALAS
High-Energy Picosecond Laser: PICOPOWER™-RG1-1064-10K
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.05mJ in IR and 0.033mJ in green. The pulse width is <30ps. I. It can fire at 10kHz. The maximum output average power is 0.5W in IR.
https://www.alphalas.com/products/lasers/high-energy-picosecond-laser.html
PASSAT
High-Energy DPSS Picosecond Lasers
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.5mJ in IR and 0.3mJ in green. The pulse width is 8ps. I. It can fire at 400Hz. This can be upgraded to 1.2mJ in IR 07mJ in green and 1kHz. Alternatively, there is a 0.065mJ version that fires at 14kHz.
https://passatltd.com/compiler-picosecond-lasers/
LUMENTUM
PicoBlade 3
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.0225mJ in IR and 0.0125mJ in green. The pulse width is 10ps. I. It can fire at 8MHz.
https://www.lumentum.com/en/products/laser-ultrafast-industrial-picoblade-3
EKSPLA
Atlantic 80
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.2mJ IR and 0.1mJ in green. The pulse width is 10ps. It can fire at 1MHz.
https://ekspla.com/product/atlantic-series-industrial-picosecond-diode-pumped-laser/
DaHENG
Sagittar-H
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.1mJ and 0.1mJ in green. The pulse width is 12ps. It can fire at 1MHz.
https://www.gophotonics.com/products/lasers/daheng-optics/29-923-sagittar-h
AMPHOS
Amphos5000 Series
https://www.amphos.de/products/amphos5000/
Spark Lasers
Sirius
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 0.06mJ in IR and 0.032mJ in green. The pulse width is 10ps. It can fire at 1 MHz.
https://spark-lasers.com/produit/sirius/
CNI
Mode-locked picosecond pulsed
laser at 532nm
It offers a maximum pulse energy of 2.0mJ in green. The pulse width is 15ps. It can fire at 5 kHz.
https://www.cnioptics.com/mode-locked-laser/58700246.html/

If you can decide what fire rates and pulse energies you want then the choices become easier. We would also be interested in IR operations.

Matt

Data and Software Questions / Re: OrbitNP.py - New Release 1.2

« on: June 01, 2022, 10:06:36 AM »

An orbitNP.py update is now available on the ILRS website

https://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/technology/software/index.html

The update includes the following changes:

Version 1.2.1
-- CPF interpolation replaced with high order polynomial fit. This is to provide better prediciton values and to remove some actifacts in range residuals.
-- Update matplotlib subplot axis referencing method to work with the latest versions.

Data and Software Questions / Re: OrbitNP.py - New Release 1.2

« on: January 25, 2022, 12:57:28 PM »

Graham pointed me to these proceedings:

https://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/about/reports/workshop/lw08.html

And the document:

https://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ilrw8_section09.pdf

which contains the paper "Formation of on-site Normal Points" that details the original mathematical method used.

Data and Software Questions / OrbitNP.py - New Release 1.2

« on: January 04, 2022, 10:22:57 AM »

A new version of the orbit adjustment and normal point formation software, orbitNP.py, is now available through the ILRS software webpage https://ilrs.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov/technology/software

This software is designed to work for all SLR stations to compute range residuals and form ILRS normal points. It can be installed and used for comparisons at stations.

ILRS full-rate data files can also be used to inspect the SLR measurements for any satellite pass for any station and repeat the normal point calculation.

The update contains many refinements and new features and these are listed below.

Please update to this version and also consult the README file. If you have a questions, issues or suggestions you can post them in the comments below.

With regards
Matt

###
# Update History
###

Version 1.1
-- Added import of warnings Python3 module
-- New method for cal2mjd() and mjd2cal()
-- Include option for full CRD normal point output file.
-- Include 1st iteration quick-pass option to prevent high density segments dominating pass fit.
-- Include input of 'System Configuration ID'.
-- Adjusted method for gauss fit to front of residual distribution.
-- Allow for disagreement in first epoch and H4 record.
-- Station coordinates and velocities taken from an ILRS SINEX solution file
-- Peak-Mean calculated using a tangent fit to a smoothed profile.
-- Option to include unfiltered range measurements

Version 1.2
-- Gauss fit filter added.
-- Peak-Mean default as 1*sigma iterative mean.
-- Option to calculate a '50' record if not included in full-rate CRD file.
-- Include option to output final ranges in CRD format with met and calibration values.
-- Filtering at two levels. The first is to form the normal points and the second is to include in the full-rate output
-- Include option to input satellite centre of mass offset to improve the orbit solution and flatten range residuals.
-- Indicate if individual normal point residual bins have slopes.
-- Select SLR station data in full-rate data file from list.
-- Matplotlib figure window now kept open to allow for much faster plotting of a series of passes.

Station Equipment Questions / Infrared thermal usb camera

« on: November 05, 2019, 11:36:55 AM »

Hi
At the recent Technical Workshop in Stuttgart, we heard from a number of people operating infrared cameras. The reports were encouraging but the cameras are expensive. Could i ask what people on here think of these cheaper cameras?:

https://www.flir.co.uk/products/boson/?model=20640A012
Longwave infrared; 7.5 µm – 13.5 µm
640 x 512
60Hz
12 µm pixel

Thanks!

Data and Software Questions / Re: CRDv2 experience (as a provider)

« on: October 07, 2019, 01:20:08 PM »

Please also see this earlier post on CRDv2.
http://sgf.rgo.ac.uk/forumNESC/index.php?topic=51.0

I could not recover the author's name. Was it you??

Data and Software Questions / CRDv2 experience (as a provider)

« on: October 07, 2019, 01:18:10 PM »

How are you getting on with generating version 2 CRD SLR data files?

At Herstmonceux, we are about to start submitting our data in CRDv2 format. I wrote a Python script to generate the files following a similar method to how we write the CRDv1 files in FORTRAN.

It wasn't too much trouble and i think it is all correct now. If you have not looked at doing this yet, there are changes to be aware of in some of the fields and there are also additional fields:

H5 Prediction Header
C5 Software Configuration
C6 Meteorological Instrumentation Configuration
C7 Calibration Target Configuration *new*
41 Calibration Detail Record
42 Calibration "Shot" Record *new*

One major change is the recording of the calibration records. In the v2 version only one '40' record should be included with additional calibrations recorded as '41'. The epoch of the '40' record should be the at the middle of the pass segment and the calibration value determined from pre and post measurements.

See the latest CRDv2 document from the ILRS website: https://ilrs.cddis.eosdis.nasa.gov/data_and_products/formats/crd.html

It was clear to me in doing this that more data can be included in the CRD files than we are providing at Herstmonceux. In time, i will look at including the '30' records for Pointing angles.

We also don't collect the information requested in the '21' Meteorological Supplement Record. Is anyone collecting this information?:

Wind speed (m/s)
Wind direction (degrees azimuth, North is zero)
Weather conditions (two-digit SYNOP/WMO “present weather” code, or “rain”, “snow”, “fog”, “mist”, “clear”, “na”, etc.)
Visibility (km)
Sky clarity (i.e., zenith extinction coefficient)
Atmospheric seeing (arcsec)
Cloud cover (%)
Sky temperature in degrees Kelvin

We do however collect visibility values and so i will look in to including this in the future. Is there an instrument that anyone is using that reliably provides the rest of this information?

Please share your experience in providing CRDv2 below. Any questions or advice welcome

Thanks

Mission Tracking Feedback / Recovered: Radioastron

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:18:14 PM »

Lavochkin Association did not manage to establish communication with the Spectr-R satellite. Attempts continued from 10 January to 30 May 2019. The State Commission examined the satellite’s technical condition on 30 May 2019 and decided to finish the RadioAstron observing program. The satellite successfully operated for 7.5 years instead of the originally planned 3 years. The link with the satellite was lost due to the very long exposure to the space radiation which has affected the onboard low-gain antenna communication system. Currently, the Astro Space Center is completing the data transfer, correlation and archiving of the vast amount of unique scientific data. International science teams continue to process, analyze and publish the results.

Open a Discussion / Recovered: 'Space debris EU-ESA agreement'

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:17:24 PM »

Good morning.
How is it going to affect our community this new in relation with space debris applications?
https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Safety/ESA_and_the_United_Nations_team_up_for_space_debris

We are designing our new station in order to be compatible with space debris activities in the future if it is necessary.
BR

In-Sky Safety / Re: FLARM

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:16:25 PM »

Recovered Post:

Hi.
The TRX-1500 FLARM rx is not available any more. Another good option, the one we already acquired, is the AT-1 receiver (it is the TRX-1500 successor).
https://www.gps.co.uk/air-avionics-at-1-traffic-system/p-0-3170/
Serna.

In-Sky Safety / Re: On telescope camera for plane spotting

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:15:56 PM »

Recovered post:

Good morning.
We are currently defining our Telescope system (our plan is to buy it this year). It is really interesting your work related with the optical camera for aircraft security. So we will have it into consideration for our system (in addition with ads-b, flarm, all-sky camera, directional microphone...).
Best regards.
serna_yebes

Station Performance / Recovered: 'Station Performance 2017-2018 (Canberra Workshop Replay)'

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:14:54 PM »

Data and Software Questions / Recovered: 'Python library for (new) CRD format'

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:12:03 PM »

Today, while writing my own CRD-parsing python3 code, I felt a little bit wheel-reinventing

Since the new CRD/CPF format is going to release at the Canberra meeting, I guess it's time to think about our new CRD2.0 python library?
It should have following functions: verify the CRD2.0 format, extract data, etc.

I found in GitHub the CRD/CPF library from Olli Wilkman:

https://github.com/dronir/SLRdata

Could be a good start.

Solutions, Advice and Experience / Re: Keeping our kHz laser at the right temperature

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:10:19 PM »

Recover Post:

Hi Arttu

Water spraying over the laser electronics doesn't sound like fun!

We run a Lauda E100 at the SGF. When we had temperature variation problems it wasn't the water cooler temperature that was unstable it was the temperature control of the amp. That temperature control system became unstable as the water flow around it had become very low, sounds similar to your problem but not so bad.

The fix was to add a bottle of Durgol Universal Descaler, as recommended by Michael Schmidt, to the water and run it for 2+ hours. This restored the water flow rate meaning the amp temperature control could work as intended again so no more temperature variation to cause the range variation we'd seen.

We have run the same Lauda water cooler continuously since the arrival of our kHz laser so 10+ years. I have replaced the fan motor 2 or 3 times though, it's not impossible to get to but access is tricky.

The water cooler has always been set at 20°. We don't run a filter on the outlet as Michael told us to remove it, we also stopped using OptiShield on his advice. We have always changed the water at least once a year. Micheal now recommends changing the water and flushing the system with Durgol every 6 months.

The last time I changed the water I added a bottle of Durgol before draining the old water and noticed an obvious improvement in water flow, despite having used Durgol at previous changes. It appears it doesn't take long for the limescale build up inside the laser waterways to have a noticeable effect on flow rate.

Toby

Solutions, Advice and Experience / Re: Keeping our kHz laser at the right temperature

« on: June 14, 2019, 02:09:42 PM »

Recovered Post:

Hi Arttu,
in Graz we are using (since delivery of the laser) a Lauda chiller. LAUDA ecoline RE110
Cooling power @20° = 500W; Heating power = 1500W;
We have a filter of 100µm at the output (renewing once a year). And we changed the position of the temperature sensor from internal (chiller reservoir) to the output tube of the laser for having shorter warm up times. As a “descaler” we are adding OptiShield to the distilled water. This mixture we are renewing around every 5 to 10 years but we have to add around half a litre of distilled water every week. (losing a lot ??) By the way, beside some very short service periods, we never switched the HQ-Laser system off.
Greetings, Franz

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