SKA Pre-Construction Phase 1

The Square Kilometre Array is a large next generation radio telescope that is planned to be many times more sensitive than the current most sensitive telescopes in the world and transform our view of the universe. It is a global mega-science project involving scientists and engineers from institutes and industry partners in more than 20 countries. It will be a radio interferometer with an aggregate collecting area of about 1 million square metres spread over at least 3000 km and operating in the frequency range ~70 MHz to 10 GHz (and possibly 30 GHz in the future). It is one of a small number of flagship astronomical instruments that will span the entire electromagnetic spectrum from radio to gamma rays, and beyond the electromagnetic spectrum to gravitational waves, cosmic rays and neutrinos, and whose collective aim is chart the full history of the universe from its beginnings in the Big Bang to the present day.

The SKA can be regarded as a vast sensor network whose backbone is an optical fibre network linking all elements of the system, from the collectors (dishes, aperture arrays) to the correlator, to the science data processor and high performance computer, and on to the national and regional science centres around the world. The work to be carried out under this grant focusses on the optical fibre network and the options for transporting the signals throughout the SKA, as well as on generation and distribution of the synchronisation and timing signals that are used throughout the telescope.

The beneficiaries of this research will be the astronomy community in the UK and globally, UK and global industry, young scientists and engineers, and the general public.

When the SKA is in operation, it will be the most advanced radio telescope on the planet, able to tackle the major questions in astrophysics and cosmology and to make new discoveries. It will transform our view of the universe. The UK astronomy community continues to play a leading role in developing the science case and deriving requirements on the technical design, and is well placed to take full advantage of the SKA capability when it comes on line late this decade.

A project of the size and scientific & technical interest of the SKA is a strong attractor for the best young science and engineering talent in the UK, both in the academic world as well as in industry. It provides engagement in state of the art engineering and science, as well as project management of a global project. The high quality team being built up in Signal & data transport (SADT) and synchronisation & timing (SAT) is evidence that this process is already taking place, and this can be expected to continue when industry engagement ramps up.

Signal & data transport and synchronisation & timing is attracting UK and global industry interest due to the technical requirements that push the state of the art and provide opportunities for industry to engage in research that is likely to result in new or modified product lines as well as direct supplies to the SKA project. Potential impact areas on the medium and longer term include the following:

SADT: Internet traffic volume is expanding exponentially. Low cost innovative solutions for data flow and storage will be the goal of industry players in this area. SKA requirements for low cost data transmission over fibre will help drive technology to support these future infrastructure requirements for high definition, multiple video data streaming for communications and entertainment, cloud computing, data warehousing, data mining, etc. There is also high interest in 'bursty' bandwidth on demand support, and subsequent charging schemes for quality of service, that will be studied as part of the SADT activity.

SAT: Very accurate time and frequency transfer has significant impact in many areas including aerospace and defence requirements. There is the potential to support increasingly high speed telecommunications networks and time division multiple access (TDMA) networks. Improved accuracy in timing will benefit geodesy, and this could be extended to surveying and civil engineering. Global navigation could also benefit, and the pressure to develop higher precision GPS sensors will allow for improved seismological warnings.