CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science Technologies for Radio Astronomy Tasso Tzioumis Assistant Director – Engineering June 2015 Mark Bowen Group Leader – Front End Technologies

(From last ATUC meeting) ASKAP & SKA: Core business of the Engineering Program. Most of the program’s people and effort at present. Development projects for all ATNF facilities. Depends on budgets. Strategic developments – develop capabilities. External contracts help to maintain capabilities. Broad directions largely unchanged (June 2015) Directions for ATNF Engineering ATUC 2 June 2015

Available resources & allocations After CSIRO restructure (refer last AUC report, Nov 2014) Lost: ~9 positions via attrition and redundancies.  ~ 42 FTE total remained in Technologies Since Nov 2014: Lost: 1 senior digital engineer + 1 retirement Have permission to replace - underway Gained: ~2 FTE short-term contracts – ASKAP production Some recruitments in progress.  Overall largely unchanged! But will grow into next FY. ASKAP : ~ 22 FTE  Ongoing commitment SKA: ~ 11 FTE  Re-structuring after SKA re-baseline More digital group effort? CSP-LOW? Active politicking!! Still only ~5 FTE (fragmented) for ALL other projects!! ATUC 2 June 2015

Staffing – Conferences SKA CSP meeting – Cape Town March 2015 SKA Preliminary Design Reviews - Manchester Document submission Nov – Dec 2014 (~30+ documents/consortium) Australian Site Infrastructure – Feb 2015 Central Signal Processing (CSP) – Dec 2014 Signal and Data Transport (SaDT) – Jan 2015 Dish – Feb 2015 Assembly Integration and Verification (AIV) – Feb 2015 Special session on SKA in ICASSP conference (Brisbane April 2015) ”Signal Processing Challenges for the Square Kilometer Array” John Bunton presented invited paper on “SKA CORRELATORS AND BEAMFORMERS” 4 Participants from Digital group  Very valuable networking SKA-Dish related visits to Manchester AT-RASC (URSI regional meeting), May ASKAP SKA Survey SKA CSP workshop – Penticton Canada (June 2015) ATUC 2 June 2015

CABB (unchanged since last ATUC) Last ATUC: Formal CSIRO commitment ceased Sept 2014 Now ALL tasks covered by post-retirement fellows!! BUT Personal commitment by staff member to continue work on the 16 MHz mode. Possible delivery for 16 MHz end 2015?!  still the target No horizon for 4 MHz mode. NO CSIRO commitment possible. Facilitate as far as possible. Some hope that 16 MHz may be completed. ATUC 2 June 2015

ASKAP Update ATUC 2 June 2015 Aaron Chippendale to update in detail Still to do: Phase closure under TOS control Test zoom modes under TOS control Tied-array processor for VLBI Transient buffer for CRAFT

Ultra-wideband Receiver for Parkes Observed band MHz; Tsys < 20K over most of band Science: pulsar timing, polarisation, interstellar scattering, dispersion, spectral lines, Galactic continuum, VLBI ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grant $370k awarded for 2015 Investigators: Bailes, Gaensler, Wyithe, Bhat, Levin, van Straten, Wen, Melatos, Manchester, Hobbs, Kramer, Han Institutions: CSIRO, Curtin, MPIfR, Melbourne, Monash, NAO/CAS, Swinburne, Sydney, Western Australia Collaboration agreement in development – sign by July 2015 ATUC 2 June 2015

Parkes RFI Spectrum (Sept. 2014) UWB Receiver Band Phone (CDMA/3G) Phone (GSM/3G) Aircraft Satellite Phone (3G) Credit: Dick Manchester, Paul Roberts, Aidan Hotan, Ron Beresford, Brett Preisig

ATUC 2 June 2015 Parkes UWB Feed Design Credit: Alex Dunning Quad-ridge horn with dielectric insert and outer rings Feed/OMT and dielectric cryogenically cooled - outer rings at ambient temperature Low cross-polarization (< -15 db) Beamwidth and focal position almost frequency-independent

ATUC 2 June 2015 Credit: Alex Dunning

Prototype UWB Feed Progress Prototype feed development at CSIRO New technology  MUST test and “retire risk” Proof of concept feed testing in June 2015 – Room temperature ATUC 2 June 2015 Teflon dielectric Feed Horn Outer rings

ATUC 2 June 2015 UWB Feed Installed in Antenna Test Range Credit: Alex Dunning M. Bourne and A. Dunning Installing UWB Feed Credit: Alex Dunning Technological Challenges Cryogenic cooling - Materials Vacuum window Wideband LNA development System integration

Cost of UWB system (ARC proposal) Total direct costs: ~$1M Proposal for 50% from Partners & 50% ARC funds Shortfall: ~$100k from ARC But new partners committed funds at this level. Labour effort (from CASS) at ~$1.5M ~ 6 FTE years effort. Timescale? (~2-3 years?) Need to manage limited CASS resources Existing commitments – ASKAP, SKA, FAST FAST ramp-up will slow progress in the short-medium term SKA re-baseline  limited scope for reallocation of effort? Scope to leverage digital developments from ASKAP/SKA work? Implications for single digital back-end for ALL Parkes systems! Broadly on target to develop – subject to resources! ATUC 2 June 2015

Feasibility study accepted by NAOC. Negotiationg with Chinese for full receiver system design & construction Challenging delivery deadline: September 2016 Fully externally funded. Detailed costing completed. Contract negotiations under way. Strategic relationship with China! MUST nurture & develop!? Resource requirements & conflicts Recruit/Collaborate/secondment? FAST – 19 beam 1.3 GHz receiver ATUC 2 June 2015

ADE PAF and system for MPIfR Contract for standard ASKAP PAF for Effelsberg telescope. Poor RFI environment at Effelsberg – need mods to PAF filtering Also for Parkes: Usable spectrum ~ MHz (GSM bands below 1 GHz) SPECIAL SYSTEM Single dish PAF system PAF filter modifications Modified beamformer outputs Ethernet output  Advanced Modifications externally Funded Strategic use of PAF…. Commissioning/Early science: Request from MPIfR for Bonn PAF at Parkes

Advantages: Attraction of early PAF science at Parkes (~ 1 year) Showcasing single-dish PAF – more customers (e.g. Jodrell Bank) Easier to commission/debug PAF Resources at Parkes from Bonn & others Demonstrate need for Parkes – future funding? More collaborations & outside resources Costs: Effort to install at Parkes – 2-3 months FTE? Disruption of Operations at Parkes Need to maintain Parkes Pulsar effort  Rx changes? (costs?) Commissioning effort (BUT experience very valuable) Recommendation: Benefits outweigh costs?? Bonn PAF at Parkes - Proposal ATUC 2 June 2015

Tentative timelines: Install/Commission: OCT2015 semester? Bonn PAF modifications – by Nov 2015? Parkes preparations: Early in semester – Complete by end 2015? Fibre wiring ~ 2 week shutdown? Other wiring; Racks install; …. Install: Dec 2015 – Jan weeks. Replace MB system for 1 year. Engineering Commissioning: Jan-Mar 2016 Science Commission & Scientific Observations: APR2016 semester? 2-3 engineers/scientists external support Germany and Jodrell Bank Joint CSIRO/MPIfR post-doc OCT2016 semester:  PAF to Bonn Re-install MB system at Parkes?? Develop new PAF system for Parkes?? Bonn PAF at Parkes – Proposed Timelines ATUC 2 June 2015

Commissioning expected to continue throughout 2015OCT Semester - It will not be possible for proposers to request observations using the PAF. Astronomical observing may be possible 2016APR and/or 2016OCT. PAF will not be a National Facility instrument: the control software, documentation and available support will not be to National Facility standard. Collaborative projects with MPIfR or CASS are encouraged – Only a limited number of observing modes will have been tested and a significant contribution of resources towards firmware or software development is likely to be required. Teams wishing to use the PAF for astronomical observing will be required to submit a proposal to the TAC at the regular proposal deadline for the use of National Facility time, explicitly addressing resourcing issues. MPIfR are planning to lead a proposal to use the PAF for FRB detection, and will welcome collaborators who can contribute resources to this project. To be discussed at this ATUC meeting Bonn PAF at Parkes – science collaborations (from discussions with MPIfR) ATUC 2 June 2015

SKA re-baseline No SKA1-survey  re-focus CSIRO effort SKA1-dish involvement reduction PAF AIP to be setup – continue PAF development some effort available in group?  UWB, FAST,… SKAO decision in April 2015: CSIRO to lead SKA1 CSP-LOW (signal processing)  More digital effort? Correlator and Beamformer – Hardware and Firmware Contentious decision within CSP consortium Technical and political discussions on-going Closer collaboration with European partners?? CSP Board meeting – 9 June 2015  Final decision? SKA re-baseline Implications for Technologies program ATUC 2 June 2015

ASKAP & SKA: Core business of the Engineering group. Most of the group’s people and effort at present. CSP-LOW lead? Development projects for all ATNF facilities. Depends on budgets. UWB Receiver at Parkes Single-dish PAF at Bonn/Parkes FAST 19-beam system Strategic developments – develop capabilities. External contracts help to maintain capabilities. Summary ATUC 2 June 2015

Thank you Astronomy & Space Science Tasso Tzioumis t wwww.csiro.au/cass Astronomy & Space Science Mark Bowen t wwww.csiro.au/cass