The SKA Dish SPF and LMC Interaction Design: Interfaces, Simulation, Testing and Integration

Abstract

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is responsible for developing the SKA Observatory, the world's largest radio telescope ever built: eventually two arrays of radio antennas - SKA1-Mid and SKA1-Low - will be installed in the South Africa's Karoo region and Western Australia's Murchison Shire respectively, each covering a different range of radio frequencies. In particular, the SKA1-Mid array will comprise of 133 15m diameter dish antennas observing in the 350 MHz-14 GHz range, each locally managed by a Local Monitoring and Control (LMC) system and remotely orchestrated by the SKA Telescope Manager (TM) system. All control system functionality run on the Tango Controls platform. The Dish Single Pixel Feed (SPF) work element will design the combination of feed elements, orthomode transducers (OMTs), and low noise amplifiers (LNAs) that receive the astronomical radio signals. Some SPFs have cryogenically cooled chambers to obtain the sensitivity requirements. This paper gives a status update of the SKA Dish SPF and LMC interaction design, focusing on SPF, LMC simulators and engineering/operational user interfaces, prototypes being developed and technological choices

    Similar works