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AA Consortium
The path to AAVS1
22 October 2012
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design
AAVS1
AA Consortium
Precursor to AAVS2 – the pre-production prototype of SKA Phase 1
• A large system yet to be fully defined (work in Stage 1 PEP)
• Probably ~256 dual polarisation elements in a number (4?)
stations
• To verify:
– All the front end electromagnetic and analogue systems
– Deployment in volume
– Costs and construction time in for AA-low
– Scaleable processing systems
– Algorithm and control of the beamforming systems
– RFI screening
• To be built on the SKA site in Western Australia
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design
Developing AAVS1
AA Consortium
• Based on, and extensions, of precursor verification
systems
• AAVS0 local in Europe
• AAVS0.5 on target site
• LOFAR in Europe
• MWA in Australia
• PAPER in South Africa
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design
Uses of AAVS0
AA Consortium
• Develop and test the electromagnetic performance of the element
and array
• Test the mechanical design and deployment issues
• Develop LNA and analog chain design
• Develop the prototype processing and algorithms
• Take AAVS0 to a “16 element” AAVS1 development system,
making AAVS1 ready for deployment
BUT
• Affected by RFI and uses higher power on its amplifiers, ADC may
not have sufficient resolution
• Tough to see anything much Astronomically
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design
Uses of AAVS0.5
AA Consortium
• Deployment considerations at the SKA1-low site
• Consortium logistics in accessing the MRO
• Testing surrounding low-power, low-noise amplifiers and analog
gain chains
• Signal processing trade-offs in a clean RFI environment
• Limited astronomical testing with a small system
• Potential materials issues in the environmental conditions of the
site
• Opportunities to correlate with MWA for beam performance tests,
in the event that this is seen as possible and desirable by MWA
collaborators
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design
What can we do with AAVS0.5?
AA Consortium
• Measure noise temp at low noise site
• Check the local RFI with a realistic system
• Test the low power properties with low noise amplifiers
and gain chain
• Use Australian commitment for AA-low!
Establish AA-low near the
target Australian site
October 2012
AA Consortium - Bologna
System design