SKA program report
The SKA/LOFAR team has been busy on a number of fronts, including technical projects and preparations to host the LOFAR delegation visit. Good results continue to be obtained from the artificial dielectrics project and, with colleagues in CTIP (CSIRO Telecommunications and Industrial Physics), CMS (CSIRO Molecular Science) and CMST (CSIRO Manufacturing Science and Technology), we expect to have a prototype 1-m Luneburg lens constructed using the new material by mid-2003.
In another multi-beaming antenna project, we have commenced specification and design of a prototype phased array to be developed in collaboration with ASTRON and CEA Communications P/L. This antenna will probably be an 8 x 8 Vivaldi horn array which, in a fully-developed form, could be used as a focal-plane array at Parkes. Operating in the approximate frequency range 500 MHz - 1.5 GHz, the array will have digital-beam forming and signal processing to emulate the data processing and transport undertaken in a small SKA-station. The general approach, as mapped out under the MNRF 2001 program, is to evaluate which multi-beaming antenna technology - or combination of technologies - offers the best path to the SKA; the larger-scale CSIRO demonstrator will then focus on that direction.
The phased-array work has been given a boost by the welcome presence of Arnold van Ardenne from ASTRON (Netherlands), who is visiting for three months. We are also pleased to welcome Bill Imbriale from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA), who is visiting CTIP/ATNF for one year. Two summer vacation students are working in the SKA area this year. Paul Connor from Tasmania University is undertaking an SKA infrastructure study and Simon Nawrot from University of Western Sydney is working on a radio frequency systems project. Still on the personnel front, Suzy Jackson will be transferring to the SKA group in May to contribute to research and development in the phased-array project; Suzy will also be commencing a PhD in this area.
In December the ATNF signed a collaborative agreement with Connell Wagner P/L, one of Australia's largest engineering consultancies (Figure 1). Connell Wagner will contribute $0.5 M in services to the SKA over the next year. Projects are underway in several areas, the largest of which is an engineering infrastructure study for possible sites for the SKA. While this will examine potential Australian sites in detail, it will also be enormously useful for planners within the international SKA consortium. Peter Hall and Steve Negus will be program leaders for ATNF and Connell Wagner respectively, while Ron Beresford will manage the technical projects on ATNF's behalf.
Figure 1: ATNF Director Ron Ekers (front right) and Connell Wagner Regional Manager Tony Barry signing the SKA collaboration agreement. Others present (L-R) are Kourosh Kayvani, Steve Negus, Jeff Schafer (all from Connell Wagner), Peter Hall, Ray Norris and Kieran Greene.
Field work has been high on the agenda, with a December expedition by Ron Beresford to a potential SKA site near Murnpeowie, in outback South Australia. In collaboration with Robert Jenkins, the Senior Project Manager for the South Australia Office of Economic Development, Ron spent a week doing a first-round inspection and making preliminary interference measurements (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Interference testing at Murnpeowie Station,130 km
north-east of Leigh Creek, South Australia
Further work is planned in western New South Wales and, along with completed phase-one Western Australia studies, the newer evaluations will be incorporated into Australia's initial site analysis document to be submitted to the International SKA Steering Committee (ISSC) by 31 May 2003.
Peter Hall
SKA/LOFAR Program Leader
(Peter.Hall@csiro.au)