Interim UK PrepSKA: Manchester

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The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be one of the most complex scientific instruments ever built. It will, when fully deployed, consist of a continent-sized array of ~4000 dishes, with a novel flat panel aperture array component capable of all-sky imaging, and work in the frequency range 70MHz to ~25GHz. The array will be supported by an IT infrastructure designed to handle data rates comparable to the current internet traffic of the Earth. The breadth of science that the SKA will address is truly remarkable. It will be used to extend our understanding of the birth of the first stars and galaxies, to study of the large-scale structure of the universe and the role of dark energy and hot and cold dark matter. Astronomers will also use the SKA to determine whether general relativity holds in the strong gravitational fields associated with massive black holes, understand the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism, and explore the conditions required for life elsewhere in our galaxy. The SKA, uniquely for large scientific infrastructures (and only made possible by its phased construction plan), will be able to deliver ground-breaking science while still under construction. The scale of the SKA means it can only be constructed as a global project; and so scientists and engineers from 19 countries are cooperating to develop the technology. Recently, the worldwide efforts have been brought to a focus here in the UK through two events: first, the STFC are coordinating a project with 24 partners from around the globe, which has received EC FP7 funding for a Preparatory Phase Study for the SKA (PrepSKA); secondly, the SKA Program Development Office (SPDO) moved to Manchester in February. The SPDO will serve as the central coordinating body for all SKA R&D around the world. This proposal, a close collaboration of the Universities of Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford, requests funding of £9.89M (£8.76M plus £1.13M working allowance and contingency) from STFC to enable the UK to continue its key role in the development of the SKA. We have designed the work programme, which will run from July 2009 to March 2012, not only to be fully integrated with the global PrepSKA efforts, but also to ensure that we build upon the highly-successful SKADS work. The proposal has two major themes; the first focuses on the development of the SKA system architecture and the core technologies; the second concentrates on the evolution of the advanced digital aperture array, working alongside our European colleagues. UK-PrepSKA has many major deliverables amongst which are the implementation of the SKA costing tool; the coding of simulation software which will study in detail the SKA signal path; the design of the fully integrated fibre optic data link and phase transfer system; the development of an efficient digital beamformer; the exploration and testing of the SKA data handling and processing algorithms; the detailed design of the mid-frequency aperture array; the delivery of an LNA and matched antenna element with Tsys < 50K at 800MHz; the demonstration of an analogue-to-digital converter with SKA performance. The work will culminate in the construction of a Digital Aperture Array Verification System to complement the dish verification system that will be developed by our US and other colleagues.