ICRAR to build SKA-Mid telescope’s frequency distribution system

BY ICRAR

A €7.5 million construction contract awarded by the SKAO will see ICRAR’s Astrophotonics group (based at the University of Western Australia (UWA)) build critical infrastructure for the SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa, keeping the dishes of the sprawling observatory perfectly synchronised over the hundreds of kilometres it will span once complete.

“Having the UWA design selected for use on the SKA-Mid telescope was a great honour,” said A/Prof. Sascha Schediwy, the team’s lead. “It really validated the hard work the team put into the design and testing of the technology.”

“With the frequency distribution system being such a specialised piece of hardware, winning the construction contract gives our team this fantastic opportunity to ensure the job is done how we’d envisioned.”

The frequency distribution system will serve as the telescope’s “beating heart”, sending precise timing signals to each dish in the spiraling array, ensuring the timing signal does not degrade as it travels over the vast distances of fibre optic cable which will connect the dishes of the array together.

ICRAR’s Astrophotonics group began developing the project in 2014 with the aim of maintaining phase-coherence on large radio antenna arrays. The scope of the project has evolved substantially over its development, scaling from an experimental system into a tried and tested technology. In November 2017 ICRAR’s solution was formally selected for use on the SKA-Mid telescope, with the project awarded a AU$1.5m (€964,000) grant by the Australian Government to develop a prototype for mass-manufacturing in 2019.