3. ODS Adoption

3.1. Current NRAO/GBO facility adoption status

This table is a quick summary of the current NRAO/GBO facilities that have started uploading their observation status to the ODS API, and which satellite operators have started utilizing the ODS data for the Telescope Boresight Avoidance (TBA) technique. However, by design, the current NRAO ODS system is already capable of reporting all frequency ranges available to VLA, VLBA (10 stations and High Sensitivity Array), and GBT.

By default, the Data Senders are reporting the nominal frequency range of each designated receiver (as listed for each site below), regardless of whether an observer is using the entire receiver band or not. This ensures the receiver will have full protection from the satellite operators for potential spectral leakage and compression.

Site

Satellite Downlink

Sat. Operators adopted ODS

Effected receiver bands

Current TBA status

VLA

1990-1995 MHz1

SpaceX Starlink

L & S

ACTIVE since Jan 2025

_

10.7-12.7 GHz2

SpaceX Starlink

X & Ku

ACTIVE since Aug 2024

VLBA

1990-1995 MHz

SpaceX Starlink

L & S

ACTIVE since Sep 2025

_

10.7-12.7 GHz

SpaceX Starlink

U

ACTIVE since Sep 2025

_

37.5-42.0 GHz3

AST SpaceMobile

Q

Interim test using Q-band schedule

GBT

1990-1995 MHz

SpaceX Starlink

S & UWBR

Under development

_

10.7-12.7 GHz

SpaceX Starlink

X & Holography & Ku

Under development

1 DTC/SCS downlink band by Starlink for T-Mobile. [DTC = Direct to Cell (a.k.a., D2C); SCS = Supplemental Coverage from Space. Both acronym are used interchangeably]

2 Starlink’s broaband internet downlink band

3 SpaceMobile’s proposed V-band downlink band

3.1.1. site_id description

Facility

site_id

description

VLA

vla_A

A Configuration (Config.)4

vla_A-to-D

Config A -> D transition

vla_D

D Config

vla_D-to-C

Config D -> C

vla_C

C Config

vla_C-to-B

Config C -> B

vla_B

B config

vla_B-to-BnA

Config B -> BnA

vla_BnA

BnA config reserved exclusively for VLA Sky Survey (VLASS)

vla_BnA-to-A

Config BnA -> A

VLBA

vlba_SC

St. Croix – U.S. Virgin Islands

vlba_HN

Hancock – New Hampshire

vlba_NL

North Liberty – Iowa

vlba_FD

Fort Davis – Texas

vlba_LA

Los Alamos – New Mexico

vlba_PT

Pie Town – New Mexico

vlba_KP

Kitt Peak – Arizona

vlba_OV

Owens Valley – California

vlba_BR

Brewster – Washington

vlba_MK

Mauna Kea – Hawaii

GBT

gbt

Green Bank Telescope - WV

4 For all VLA configuration schedule, see https://public.nrao.edu/vla-configurations/

3.1.2. Frequency ranges reported by ODS for NRAO/GBO facilities

Facility

Receiver Name

freq_lower_hz

freq_upper_hz

VLA

See VLA receiver summary table

VLBA5

P

290000000.0

350000000.0

610

570000000.0

636000000.0

L

1060000000.0

1840000000.0

S

1860000000.0

3100000000.0

C

3900000000.0

7900000000.0

X

7660000000.0

9040000000.0

U

11960000000.0

15940000000.0

K

20560000000.0

25040000000.0

Q

41000000000.0

45000000000.0

GBT

See GBT receiver summary table

5 The VLBA bands being reported are slightly larger than the nominal bandpass range due to compensating the 3dB roll off at the upper and lower filter band edges.

3.1.3. Observation modes supported by ODS reporting

Facility

Observing mode

Sub mode

Special mode

ODS reporting

VLA

Spectral Line

Covered by main VLA Data Sender feature

Continuum

Covered by main VLA Data Sender feature

Polarimetry

Covered by main VLA Data Sender feature

Subarrays

Covered by VLA Data Sender as subarray = (0, 1, 2)

Mosaicking and OTF

Covered by VLA Data Sender otf-mosaic feature

Moving Objects

Covered by VLA Data Sender Non-Sidereal target feature

Solar Observing

Covered by main VLA Data Sender feature

VLBI at VLA (HSA)

Covered by VLBA Data Sender as vla site with subarray = 3

Pulsars

Covered by main VLA Data Sender feature

Holography

Point & Shoot

Not supported currently

Holography

On the Fly (OTF)

Not supported currently

Manual scripts

(many)

Not supported currently

VLBA

Spectral Line

Dual band obs

Covered by main VLBA Data Sender feature

Continuum

Dual band obs

Covered by main VLBA Data Sender feature

GBT

Spectral Line

Mapping

Covered by main GBT Data Sender, under test for X-band

Continuum

Mapping

Covered by main GBT Data Sender, under test for X-band

Moving Objects

Mapping

Under test for X-band

Radar/ngRadar - transmit

Not supported currently

Radar/ngRadar - receive

Not supported currently

VLBI at GBT (HSA)

Covered by VLBA Data Sender as gbt site with subarray = 0

Pulsars

Not supported currently

Cyclic Spectroscopy (pulsars)

Not supported currently

Breakthrough Listen

Not supported currently

Baseband (raw voltages)

Not supported currently

Manual scripts

(many)

Covered by main GBT Data Sender MRMR6

6 MRMR = Manual RFI Mitigation Request

3.2. Current ODS Community

3.2.1. Radio Astronomy Observatories

The ODS system is currently being adopted, developed, and tested independently by the following non-NRAO radio astronomy facilities. Some have already had the Telescope Boresight Avoidance (TBA) engaged by SpaceX:

  • Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO-ODS) - TBA operational

  • CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility (CSIRO-ODS) - TBA operational

  • MIT Haystack Observatory (Haystack-ODS) - TBA operational

  • Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO-ODS/DSA-2000) - under development

3.2.2. Satellite Operators

Several satellite operator have signed a coordination agreement with NSF to utilize the ODS API and JSON data to develop avoidance techniques that work best for their system with radio astronomy, including the following companies (satellite constellation name):

Satellite operators

Constellation Name

ODS Adoption Status

SpaceX

Starlink

TBA operational at 10.7-12.7 GHz & DTC for NRAO, HCRO, MIT Haystack, CSIRO

Amazon

Leo (formerly Kuiper)

Under planning

AST SpaceMobile

Bluewalker

Under test (for pushing TLE data)

3.3. Steps to create one’s own ODS system (for radio observatory user)

Although the current ODS JSON format is available for any radio observatory to use without any warranty by NRAO, please contact the NRAO ODS Helpdesk to inform us of your adoption plan as well as review and acknowledge all the disclaimer terms on ODS Data Format. This will help us keep you informed of any future releases and changes to the ODS JSON Schema.

Additionally, you will need to set up and maintain your own ODS API server to report your ODS Mitigations Requests (MRs), as summarized in the Developer Notes.

To have satellite operators utilize your ODS data, you will first need to contact each of the satellite operators individually (if your facility is based outside the US) or coordinate with the satellite operators through NSF (for US-based radio telescopes only). You will then need to grant access to the satellite operators for querying your ODS data with your own preferred authentication mechanisms, such as one in How to interface with the NRAO ODS API.

3.4. Relevant software tools

  • ODSutils - a standalone ODS RFI analysis utilities for HCRO. Developed by Dr. David Deboer at UC Berkeley/SETI (https://github.com/david-deboer/odsutils)

  • SOPP - Satellite Orbit Prediction Processor, a predictive algorithm that both anticipates potential incoming satellite RFI and then optimizes the telescope scheduling to observe a relatively cleaner sky region. Developed by Prof. Kevin Gifford at CU Boulder (https://pypi.org/project/sopp/)