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Abstract Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) provides the highest-resolution images in astronomy. The sharpest resolution is nominally achieved at the highest frequencies, but as the observing frequency increases, so too does the atmospheric contribution to the system noise, degrading the sensitivity of the array and hampering detection. In this paper, we explore the limits of high-frequency VLBI observations usingngehtsim, a new tool for generating realistic synthetic data.ngehtsimuses detailed historical atmospheric models to simulate observing conditions, and it employs heuristic visibility detection criteria that emulate single- and multifrequency VLBI calibration strategies. We demonstrate the fidelity ofngehtsim’spredictions using a comparison with existing 230 GHz data taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), and we simulate the expected performance of EHT observations at 345 GHz. Though the EHT achieves a nearly 100% detection rate at 230 GHz, our simulations indicate that it should expect substantially poorer performance at 345 GHz; in particular, observations of M87* at 345 GHz are predicted to achieve detection rates of ≲20% that may preclude imaging. Increasing the array sensitivity through wider bandwidths and/or longer integration times—as enabled through, e.g., the simultaneous multifrequency upgrades envisioned for the next-generation EHT—can improve the 345 GHz prospects and yield detection levels that are comparable to those at 230 GHz. M87* and Sgr A* observations carried out in the atmospheric window around 460 GHz could expect to regularly achieve multiple detections on long baselines, but analogous observations at 690 and 875 GHz consistently obtain almost no detections at all. 

The search for the polarized imprint of primordial gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as direct evidence of cosmic inflation requires exquisite sensitivity and control over systematics. The next-generation CMB-S4 project intends to improve upon current-generation experiments by deploying a significantly greater number of highly-sensitive detectors, combined with refined instrument components based on designs from field-proven instruments. The Precursor Small Aperture Telescope (PreSAT) is envisioned as an early step to this next generation, which will test prototype CMB-S4 components and technologies within an existing Bicep Array receiver, with the aim of enabling full-stack laboratory testing and early risk retirement, along with direct correlation of laboratory component-level performance measurements with deployed system performance. The instrument will utilize new 95/155 GHz dichroic dual-linear-polarization prototype detectors developed for CMB-S4, cooled to 100mK via the installation of an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator, along with a prototype readout chain and prototype optics manufactured with wide-band anti-reflection coatings. The experience gained by integrating, deploying, and calibrating PreSAT will also help inform planning for CMB-S4 small aperture telescope commissioning, calibration, and operations well in advance of the fabrication of CMB-S4 production hardware.