Technology challenges for the Square Kilometer Array

Abstract

The Square Kilometer Array will be the premier facility for radio astronomy during several decades, starting around 2020. It will provide orders-of-magnitude increases in sensitivity and field of view, allowing a wide range of fundamental science questions to be answered. However, a number of key technology areas need further development to meet the demanding performance and cost goals of the SKA. These include wide-bandwidth feeds and low noise amplifiers, very low power digital signal processing, real time interference detection and excision, software to handle massive data rates and volumes, and low-cost operations. Developing solutions for each of these areas will require industry expertise and experience. 1 2