SKA South Africa Overview Thomas Kusel MeerKAT 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 Dishes SKA Dishes

SKA Dense Aperture Arrays SKA dense arrays

SKA Sparse Aperture ArraySKA Dense Aperture Arrays SKA sparse arrays

SKA South Africa

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

SKA SA project overview 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 Reserve MeerKAT development 2004 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D

Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2004 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D XDM (1 dish)

Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2004 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D XDM (1 dish) KAT-7 array (7 dishes)

Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT development 2004 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D 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 Reserve MeerKAT development 2004 MeerKAT planning, team recruited, prototypes and R&D XDM (1 dish) KAT-7 array (7 dishes) MeerKAT (64 dishes) SKA Phase 1 (250 dishes)

MeerKAT - progress to date

Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT progress Starting point: - Remote location - No infrastructure

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

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

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

Radio Astronomy Reserve MeerKAT 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 designDetail Design & qualification ProductionOperation Production quality control System Engineering philosophy: SpecifyDesignQualifyMeasure Reliability: