SKA Introduction Jan Geralt Bij de Vaate Andrew Faulkner, Andre Gunst, Peter Hall
Overview The SKA Why Aperture (phased) Arrays AA pathfinders/pre-cursors Development path towards SKA
The next step: SKA Square Kilometre Array 100 times larger in collecting area more power full in survey speed Unprecedented instrument! W20 : Recent Developments in Phased Array Radar
Australia Southern Africa SKA Phase 1 Implementation 250 Dishes including MeerKAT GHz ~280 80m dia. Aperture Array Stations MHz 90 Dishes including ASKAP GHz Survey
Southern Africa SKA Phase 2 Implementation ~ 2700 Dishes 0.3 – 20GHz ~ 250 Aperture Array Stations MHz ~ m dia. Aperture Array Stations MHz Australia
Why aperture arrays? Low frequency operation Survey speed The ability to create multiple beams for a very large Field of View Extremely flexible in observational parameters Multiple experiments can be run concurrently ICT based: AAs provide many new opportunities
v URSI GA Istanbul 2011 LOFAR Lessons7 LOFAR core LOFAR station
LOFAR: Digital Beam Forming W20 : Recent Developments in Phased Array Radar Antenna-Beam Station-Beam Station Dipole (Tied) Array-Beam Array
Precursor: MWA ICRAR+partners Western Australia 128 tiles
SKA-low implementation
b h Realized 16 element proto type array
SKA-AADC consortium 1.ASTRON Management, system, processing 2.ICRAR Australia Site, verification systems 3.INAF Italy Receiver 4.University of Cambridge System, antenna+LNA 5.University of Oxford Signal processing 6.KLAASA (China) 7.Associate members: –JIVE –University of Manchester –University of Malta –GLOW (German low frequency consortium) –MIT
AA-mid
EMBRACE at Westerbork (NL)
Dual Beam Demonstration
From EMBRACE to SKA-mid Issues to be resolved; –Power consumption –Cost –Performance, calibratebility, noise SKA 2 requirements not clear SKA 2 timescale ?
SKA Schedule: AA-mid SKA 1 SKA 2 Stage 1 Pre-Con Stage 2 SRR PDR MFAA AIP 2000m 2 AERA 3
AERA 3 African European Radio Astronomy Aperture Array m 2 14 stations ~80 deg 2 per Field of View baseline m Science –BAO –Pulsar search –Polarization –HI absorption –RRL
Status Selected environmental test site –At the KAT7/meerKAT construction site
Status Ground anchor tests Karoo –August 2013
Status, Moura, Portugal Renewable energy installation AA Test station
MFAA consortium 1.ASTRON System design, proto-typing, management 2.Observatoire d’ Paris (Nancay) Front-end chips 3.University of Bordeaux ADC 4.University of Cambridge System design 5.University of Manchester ORA 6.China: KLAASA Receiver, antenna: 3x3m 2 array 7.Associate members: – PortugalRenewable energy –University of MaltaFractal ORA –South AfricaSite support
Conclusion Phased arrays open a new era in radio astronomy Surveys limited only by computing power –Very much an IT telescope Cost and power to be reduced in order to realize 100 million element system W20 : Recent Developments in Phased Array Radar