Modern VLBI observations for both astronomy and geodesy continue to demand the utmost in sensitivity. Of the methods potentially available for increasing the sensitivity of continuum VLBI observations, increasing the recorded bandwidth is generally the most cost effective.

Over the past two years a broadly-supported program has been underway at Haystack Observatory to increase the sensitivity of the Mark IIIA VLBI system by more than a factor of 2. The result is an upgrade to the existing Mark IIIA data-acquisition system, dubbed Mark IV, which increases the maximum data rate to 1024 Mbits/sec, more than quadrupling the maximum data-rate of the Mark IIIA.

A new correlator, based on a new custom VLSI correlator chip is also being designed to support the 1 Gbit/sec data rates from the Mark IV data-acquisition-system. An international collaborative effort is being mounted to help defray the high costs of development.