NASA NTRS · 19910057847
A high data rate recorder for astronomy
Abstract
A magnetic tape recorder developed for the special requirements of radio astronomy and geodesy is described. These requirements include a high bit packing density and long record times. The current version of this longitudinal recorder used by the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) records 5.5 Terabits on a 14-in diameter reel of inch-wide tape. A maximum record rate of 256 Mb/s is achieved in the VLBA configuration with one recorder operating at 4 ms and utilizing 32 of the heads in a single stack. The VLBA recorders have been tested using a longitudinal density of 2.25 fr/micron; 448 data + 56 system tracks are recorded in 14 passes, each lasting 50 min, for a total record time (at 128 Mb/s) of 12 h on 14-in diameter reel of inch-wide 13-microns-thick D1-equivalent tape.
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Hinteregger, H. F., Rogers, A. E. E., Cappallo, R. J., Webber, J. C., Petrachenko, W. T.. 1991-05-01. A high data rate recorder for astronomy. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19910057847
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