SKA South Africa Overview Thomas Kusel Meer KAT

SKA South Africa Overview Thomas Kusel Meer. KAT System Engineering Manager April 2011

Overview 1. Square Kilometer Array (SKA) 2. South African SKA Project – Meer. KAT System Overview – Reliability approach

International Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project

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

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

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 (15 m) within 5 km radius core Plus 1500 dishes spread to 3000 km radius Plus aperture array and sparse array Connected to a massive data processor

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 (3000 km) • Very high resolution – Wide frequency range • (70 -300 MHz : 300 MHz-10 GHz : 10 -25 GHz) • Allows wide range of science

SKA Offset Dishes

dense arrays SKA Dense Aperture Arrays

sparse Aperture arrays SKA Dense Sparse Aperture. Arrays Array

SKA South Africa

Square Kilometre Array inreserve Africa Radio Reserve Site bid: Astronomy Radio Astronomy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meer. KAT - progress to date

Radio Astronomy Meer. KAT progress. Reserve Starting point: - Remote location - No infrastructure

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

Radio Astronomy Meer. KAT progress: Reserve infrastructure Infrastructure: -Power -Roads -Manufacturing facilities -High speed data links -Accommodation -Maintenance facilities -Vehicles -Etc.

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

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

Meer. KAT system reliability

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 Meer. KAT; 250 for SKA Phase 1) – Drives maintenance cost • High system availability requirement – 85% of time available for science at full performance – 24 / 7 operations

System Engineering approach to reliability System Engineering philosophy: Requirements definition Architecture design Detail Design & qualification Design Qualify Production Operation Reliability: Specify 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) Measure Production quality control Measuring operational reliability – Integrated Logistic Support database. Refine reliability models. Modifications to improve reliability