African VLBI Network Training Site

Download the FULL AVN 2018 Training Programme here  

Programme Overview: 2018 AVN Training School:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Observational and Technical Radio Astronomy Training

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday 09 April: Welcome, Introductions & Overview

• 08:30 — 09:00: Registration in the Foyer
• 09:00 — 10:00: Welcome and Introduction  <download>  <download>  <download>
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: Participants to introduce themselves/student representatives
  
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/ Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Tour of the Facility  
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Radio Astronomy Overview - Lecture  <download>
  
• 15:00 — 16:00: Historical Background of Radio Astronomy & Marconi Experiment - Lecture/Interactive Session
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Historical Background of Radio Astronomy - Interactive Session
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 10 April: Introduction to Radio Astronomy

• 09:00 — 11:00: Radiometer Equation & Signal Flow - Lecture & Demonstrations  <download>
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 12:30: Radio Antennas — Lecture & Demonstration  <download>
• 12:30 — 13:00: Introduction to Equipment & Instrumentation (overview) - Lecture
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Introduction to Equipment & Instrumentation - Practicals/Exercises
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Radio Cosmology & the Cosmic Microwave Background - Invited Talk 
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday 11 April: Coordinate & Timing Systems

• 09:00 — 10:00: Overview of Coordinate Systems - Lecture   <download>
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: Overview of Coordinate Systems - Exercises
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 12:00: Continue with Exercises  
• 12:00 — 13:00: Time Systems - Lecture  <download>  <download>
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Telescope Pointing - Lecture
  
• 15:00 — 16:00: Design of SKA Band 5 - Invited Talk
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Introduction to Student Presentations
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 12 April: Microwave Receiver Systems

• 08:30 — 09:30: Microwave Receiver Systems - Lecture  <download>
  
• 09:30 — 11:00: Microwave Receiver Systems - Practicals & Tour
  
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Microwave Receiver Systems - Practicals & Tour
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Microwave Receiver Systems - Exercises
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Contnue with exercises/preparing talks
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 13 April: Astronomy with a Small Radio Telescope

• 08:30 — 10:00: Measurement Errors - Lecture
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: Continuum Drift Scan Observations - Lecture <download>  <download>          
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Continuum Drift Scan Observations - Exercises  
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Design of MeerKAT - Invited Talk 
• 15:00 — 16:00: Continue with exercises/preparing talks
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 18:00: Hike               
• 18:30 — 19:30: Cultural Dinner [labs will close at 18:00]



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday 14 April: Excursion 

• 09:00 — 17:00: Excursion (Buses depart at 09:00)              
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 15 April: No class, free time

• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday 16 April: Bayesian Statistics & CMB Cosmology

• 09:00 — 11:00: The CMB & Cosmology — Lecture  <download>
  
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Bayesian Statistics, Parametric Modelling & PyMC — Lecture  <download>
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Parametric Fitting using PyMC — Exercises 
• 16:00 – 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 18:00: Continue with Exercises
  
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 17 April: Antenna Systems & RFI 

• 09:00 — 10:00: Antenna Systems & Maintenance - Lecture  <download>
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: RFI - Lecture  <download>
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 12:30: RFI - Demonstration
  
• 12:30 — 13:00: RFI - Exercises
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Astrophysical Radiation Processes - Lecture  <download>
• 15:00 — 16:00: A Tour of the Dark Universe - Invited Talk  <download>
• 16:00 – 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Student Presentations (4 students)
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday 18 April: Pulsars & SETI

• 09:00 — 10:00: Pulsars - Lecture  <download>
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: SETI - Lecture  <download>          
• 11:30 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Measuring the Redshift of Voyager - Exercises               
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Continue with exercises
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Introduction to Gamma Ray Astronomy - Invited Talk  <download>
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 19 April: SANSA visit & Amateur Radio Astronomy

• 09:00 — 10:00: Antenna Conversion - Invited Talk  <download>
• 10:00 — 10:20: Tea/Coffee break
• 10:30 — 13:00: Half day tour to SANSA - Tour & Invited Talk 
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Amateur Radio Astronomy - Invited Talk & Demonstration 
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: History of the AVN - Invited Talk  <download>
• 17:30 — 18:00: Student Presentations (2 students)
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 20 April: Radio Continuum Observations & Radio Surveys

• 09:00 — 11:00: Calibrating a Small Radio Telescope - Practical 
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Measuring the Brightness Temperature of the Sun - Lecture and Exercises  <download>
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Multi-wavelength Astronomy/Radio Surveys - Lecture  <download>
  
• 15:00 — 16:00: Astronomical Data Mining & VO Tools - Lecture  <download>
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 18:00: Astronomical Data Mining & VO Tools - Demonstration & Exercises
  
• 18:30 — 19:30: Star Party [labs will close at 18:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday 21 April: Excursion 

• 09:00 — 17:00: Excursion (Buses depart at 09:00)              
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 22 April: No class, free time

• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday 23 April: Introductory Interferometry

• 09:00 — 10:00: Introduction to Interferometry - Lecture  <link1> <link2> <link3> <link4>
• 10:00 — 11:00: Two-Element Interferometer - Demonstration & Exercises
  
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Fourier Transforms & Sampling Theorem - Lecture & Exercises  <link5> <link6>
  
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 16:00: Imaging using CASA - Exercises 
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: The Transient Radio Sky: Pulsars, FRBs & SETI - Invited Talk  <download>
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 24 April: From Interferometry to VLBI

• 09:00 — 10:00: Informal session, Interferometry
• 10:00 — 11:00: VLBI Fundamentals I - Lecture  <download>
  
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Visit to HartRAO Control Room
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: VLBI Fundamentals II - Lecture  <download>
  
• 15:00 — 16:00: The Dynamic VLBI Sky - Invited Talk  <download>
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: Informal session, Interferometry 
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday 25 April: Introduction to Geodetic & Astrometric VLBI + Gaia

• 09:00 — 10:00: Introduction to Geodetic VLBI - Lecture
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: Astrometric VLBI & the ICRF - Lecture 
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Exercises using ICRF-2 Data 
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: The Gaia Space Mission: The Second Data Release - Invited Talk 
• 15:00 — 16:00: Exercises using the Newly-Opened Gaia DR2 Archive
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break 
• 16:30 — 17:30: Student Presentations (4 students)
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday 26 April: Geophysical Modelling and Experiment Scheduling for VLBI 

• 09:00 — 10:00: Geophysical Modelling and Atmospheric Propagation - Lecture
  
• 10:00 — 11:00: Planning, Scheduling & Running a VLBI Experiment - Lecture  <download>
• 11:00 — 11:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 11:30 — 13:00: Student Presentations (5 students)
• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:00 — 15:00: Student Presentations  (4 students)
• 15:00 — 16:00: Feedback and discussion session: Student presentations and reports 
  
• 16:00 — 16:30: Tea/Coffee break
• 16:30 — 17:30: The PhD Journey Without Tears - Invited Talk
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 18:00]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 27 April: Excursion and Closing Ceremony

• 09:00 — 10:00: VLBI at Low Frequencies: AGN in XMM-LSS - InvitedTalk 
• 10:30 Excursion: Closing Ceremony (buses depart at 10:30) 
• 12:00 — 16:00: Closing Ceremony 


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday 28 - Monday 30 April: No Class, Free Time

• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 18:30 — 19:30: Dinner [labs will close at 20:00]


 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday 1 May: Departure, Networking Meeting

• 13:00 — 14:00: Lunch
• 14:30: Buses depart

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------