1. SKA TDP Advisory Committee Report to US SKA Consortium, 17 November 2008, Madison Trish Henning

2. SAC activities, membership Committee met 10 Sept 2008, at NSF Committee met 10 Sept 2008, at NSF Members Members –Sarah Church (Stanford, via telephone) –Phil Diamond (Manchester) –Paul Goldsmith (JPL) –Peter Hall (Curtain) –Trish Henning (UNM, USSKA) –John Webber (NRAO, Chair)

3. Also in attendance NSF SKA TDP Oversight Group NSF SKA TDP Oversight Group –Rich Barvainis –Andy Clegg –Tom Gergely –Vern Pankonin (phone) Other NSF Other NSF –Jeffrey Pier

4. Attendance, cont. TDP Project TDP Project –Jim Cordes –Lynn Baker –Athol Kemball SSEC Chair SSEC Chair –Ken Kellerman

5. Meeting Objectives (extracted from Charge to Committee) 1. Review TDP organizational structure and management 2. Assess progress against schedule in the Project Execution Plan (cp Annual Progress Report to Plan) 3. Assess work packages and budgets 4. Focus on the plan for implementing the cooperative efforts between the TDP and PrepSKA 5. Recommend improvements to address any issues uncovered

6. 1. TDP Organizational structure and management Well conceived and appropriate, Central office coordinates activities within working groups, good involvement with global project Well conceived and appropriate, Central office coordinates activities within working groups, good involvement with global project Provides sub-awards to many participating institutions Provides sub-awards to many participating institutions Management team has good skills and project involvement Management team has good skills and project involvement

7. 2. Assess progress against schedule (PEP) TDP team following PEP, making progress in technical areas TDP team following PEP, making progress in technical areas AWG formed, producing results AWG formed, producing results CWG defining achievable objectives, though staffing incomplete (hiring ongoing) CWG defining achievable objectives, though staffing incomplete (hiring ongoing)

8. 3. Assess work packages, budgets Work packages well organized, adequately budgeted Work packages well organized, adequately budgeted AWG principal objectives: develop cost- effective solutions mainly for SKA-mid, involving modest aperture antennas, various possible optics, receptors for single-pix broadband (or ultra) receivers, optimizing cost of A e /T sys, or SS as required by science AWG principal objectives: develop cost- effective solutions mainly for SKA-mid, involving modest aperture antennas, various possible optics, receptors for single-pix broadband (or ultra) receivers, optimizing cost of A e /T sys, or SS as required by science

9. 4. Cooperative agreements between TDP and PrepSKA Good degree of integration of TDP within PrepSKA (TDP tasks agreed by SPDO) Good degree of integration of TDP within PrepSKA (TDP tasks agreed by SPDO) Still need Research Associate to be resident at SPDO, liaison between TDP and global project Still need Research Associate to be resident at SPDO, liaison between TDP and global project

10. 5. Specific recommendations 1. Put more emphasis on effects of antenna/optics design on calibration and imaging 2. Consider how to integrate antenna development into PrepSKA WP2 3. Implement a uniform test facility for feed measurement 4. Keep focused on definite tasks in plan; aim for reference design

11. Recommendations II 5. Encourage people to disseminate results; publications as well as conference and internal proceedings 6. Encourage increased NRAO effort within the SKA program 7. Speed up hiring of CWG postdocs. Hire liaison Research Associate 8. Include maintenance and life-cycle costs as part of all tech assessment

12. Recommendations III 9. Consider operations models implied by technical alternatives, e.g. with 3:1 bandwidth receivers for minimum Tsys, do you mount all bands at once, or alternate among them? 10. Keep going on multiple fronts in all areas to retain creative tension 11. Issue TDP memos as SKA memos as appropriate