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SKA South Africa Overview

SKA South Africa Overview. Thomas Kusel. MeerKAT System Engineering Manager April 2011. Overview. Square Kilometer Array (SKA) South African SKA Project MeerKAT System Overview Reliability approach. International Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project.

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SKA South Africa Overview

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  1. SKA South Africa Overview Thomas Kusel MeerKAT System Engineering Manager April 2011

  2. Overview • Square Kilometer Array (SKA) • South African SKA Project • MeerKAT System Overview • Reliability approach

  3. International Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project

  4. Next generation astronomy instruments Optical Radio (high Freq) X-ray Radio (low freq) Infra-red

  5. Next generation astronomy instruments • Key science: • Dark energy, Dark matter • Origin of magnetism • Cradle of life • Evolution of galaxies • The dark ages • Tests of gravity Sensitivity

  6. SKA vital statistics • Site: • Final candidate sites: South Africa & Australia • Global: 55 institutes, 19 countries • Budget: ~ € 1.5 Billion (for phases 1 & 2) • Timescale: • Site decision  2012 • Phase 1 (10% scale) 2018 • Phase 2 (full scale, low & mid frequencies)  2022 • Physical: • Up to 1500 dishes (15m) within 5km radius core • Plus 1500 dishes spread to 3000km radius • Plus aperture array and sparse array • Connected to a massive data processor

  7. SKA artists impression • What makes this instrument unique? • Large collecting area (total “square kilometer”) • High sensitivity allows detection in the very early universe • Wide field of view (small dishes) • Fast survey speed • Large physical extent (3000km) • Very high resolution • Wide frequency range • (70-300MHz : 300MHz-10GHz : 10-25GHz) • Allows wide range of science

  8. SKA Offset Dishes SKA Dishes

  9. SKA dense arrays SKA Dense Aperture Arrays

  10. SKA sparse arrays SKA Dense Aperture Arrays SKA Sparse Aperture Array

  11. SKA South Africa

  12. Square Kilometre Array in Africa Radio Astronomy Reserve Site bid: Radio Astronomy reserve

  13. SKA SA project overview SKA South Africa Site Bid MeerKAT telescope Human Capital Development Win the bid to host SKA in South Africa - Stakeholder interaction - Site selection - Legislation • Build a world class radio telescope: • Must be world class, irrespective of SKA • SKA pathfinder: aligned with SKA technologies • Next generation technologies Develop skills and expertise in science & engineering

  14. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2016 2004 2006 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D

  15. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2016 2004 2006 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D XDM (1 dish)

  16. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2016 2004 2006 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D KAT-7 array (7 dishes) XDM (1 dish)

  17. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2016 2004 2006 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D KAT-7 array (7 dishes) MeerKAT (64 dishes) XDM (1 dish) MeerKAT will be a world-class radio telescope in its own right (Largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere)

  18. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2016 2004 2006 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D KAT-7 array (7 dishes) MeerKAT (64 dishes) SKA Phase 1 (250 dishes) XDM (1 dish)

  19. MeerKAT - progress to date

  20. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress • Starting point: • Remote location • No infrastructure

  21. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress: Infrastructure Power lines Roads Optical fibre network RFI shielded processor facilities On-site manufacturing facilities Support facilities and accomodation

  22. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress: infrastructure • Infrastructure: • Power • Roads • Manufacturing facilities • High speed data links • Accommodation • Maintenance facilities • Vehicles • Etc.

  23. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress: Telescope High performance computing Composite dishes RF Electronics Antenna control Array processing facilities Mechanical structures Cryogenic receivers Processing Algorithms

  24. Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress: telescope • Telescope technologies: • Mechanical structures • Cryogenics • Electromagnetics • RF • Optical fibre networks • High speed digital electronics • High performance computing • Algorithmic

  25. MeerKAT system reliability

  26. Importance of reliability • Remote location • Remote operations • 7 hours drive to Cape Town • Only small towns close by • Maintenance staff on site is difficult (turno system) • Minimise on-site acitivities • RF interference risk • Large number of antennas (64 for MeerKAT; 250 for SKA Phase 1) • Drives maintenance cost • High system availability requirement • 85% of time available for science at full performance • 24 / 7 operations

  27. System Engineering approach to reliability System Engineering philosophy: Requirements definition Architecture design Detail Design & qualification Production Operation Reliability: Specify Design Qualify Measure Setting reliability targets for the system (This is the easy part) Designing for reliability Reliability allocation; Architecture decisions; Technology choices. FMECA on designed system Qualifying the design for reliability Testing qualification models to verify that the design meets the reliability targets. Accelerated life time testing on mechanical systems. Refinement of reliability allocation and FMECA based on test results. (This is difficult and expenesive) Production quality control Measuring operational reliability – Integrated Logistic Support database. Refine reliability models. Modifications to improve reliability

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