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SKA South Africa Overview
Thomas KuselMeerKAT System Engineering Manager
April 2011
Overview
1. Square Kilometer Array (SKA)
2. South African SKA Project – MeerKAT System Overview– Reliability approach
International Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project
Next generation astronomy instruments
Infra-red
X-ray Radio (low freq)
Optical
Radio (high Freq)
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
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
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
SKA Offset DishesSKA Dishes
SKA Dense Aperture ArraysSKA dense arrays
SKA Sparse Aperture ArraySKA Dense Aperture ArraysSKA sparse arrays
SKA South Africa
Square Kilometre Array in AfricaRadio Astronomy ReserveSite bid: Radio Astronomy reserve
SKA SA project overview
SKA South Africa
MeerKAT telescopeSite Bid 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
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT development
2004
MeerKAT planning, team recruited,
prototypes and R&D
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT development
2004
MeerKAT planning, team recruited,
prototypes and R&D
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016
XDM (1 dish)
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT development
2004
MeerKAT planning, team recruited,
prototypes and R&D
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016
XDM (1 dish)
KAT-7 array(7 dishes)
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT development
2004
MeerKAT planning, team recruited,
prototypes and R&D
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016
XDM (1 dish)
KAT-7 array(7 dishes)
MeerKAT(64 dishes)
MeerKAT will be a world-class radio telescope in its own right(Largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere)
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT development
2004
MeerKAT planning, team recruited,
prototypes and R&D
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2016
XDM (1 dish)
KAT-7 array(7 dishes)
MeerKAT(64 dishes)
SKA Phase 1(250 dishes)
MeerKAT - progress to date
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT progressStarting point:- Remote location- No infrastructure
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT progress: InfrastructurePower lines Roads
Optical fibre network
On-site manufacturing facilitiesRFI shielded processor facilities
Support facilities and accomodation
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT progress: infrastructure
Infrastructure:- Power- Roads- Manufacturing facilities- High speed data links- Accommodation- Maintenance facilities- Vehicles- Etc.
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT progress: Telescope
Array processing facilities
Composite dishes RF Electronics High performance computing Antenna control
Cryogenic receiversProcessing Algorithms
Mechanical structures
Radio Astronomy ReserveMeerKAT progress: telescope
Telescope technologies:- Mechanical structures- Cryogenics- Electromagnetics- RF- Optical fibre networks- High speed digital electronics- High performance computing- Algorithmic
MeerKAT 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 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
System Engineering approach to reliability
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)
Measuring operational reliability – Integrated Logistic Support database.
Refine reliability models.
Modifications to improve reliability
Requirements definition
Architecture design Detail Design & qualification
Production Operation
Production quality control
System Engineering philosophy:
Specify Design Qualify Measure
Reliability: