The II National Workshop of SKA science and technology

Session

SKA-related technology and HPC activities

Techno

3 Dec 2018, 11:30

61. The SKA project: the engineering perspective - 15'

Davide Fierro

03/12/2018, 11:30

Oral

60. The SKA Project: technical requirements and challenges - 25'

Luca Stringhetti

03/12/2018, 11:45

Oral

The short presentation will present what we consider to be most important technical challenges for the SKA project. Before doing that, we need to put some context around and the current status of the project. The bridging phase and the adoption process to get to a successfully System CDR will be presented. The bridging phase will cover the gap between the Element CDRs and the System CDR, its...

21. LFAA experiences in Italy - 20'

Jader Monari

03/12/2018, 12:10

Oral

The Italian contribution within the SKA1-LOW instrument and in particular on the Low Frequency Aperture Array (LFAA) Element has been important since the conception of the Square Kilometer Array project.

The Low Frequency Aperture Array is a key component of the SKA. Combining 128 thousands of antennas into up to 2048 stations, with multiple beams and an instantaneous frequency coverage of 50...

11. The SKALA4-AL antenna: the Italian solution for SKA1-LOW - 15'

Pietro Bolli (INAF - OAA)

03/12/2018, 12:30

Oral

This contribution deals with the SKALA4-AL antenna developed by INAF in collaboration with CNR-IEIIT and the industrial partner Sirio Antenne. This dual-polarized Log Periodic Dipole Antenna optimized to operate between 50 and 350 MHz is a candidate for the SKA1-LOW telescope. The main characteristics of the antenna are: aluminium material, 50 ohm single-ended feeding, screw fastening and...

67. The SKA1-LOW receiver: the Italian experience from SKADS to AADC - 15'

Federico Perini (IRA - INAF)

03/12/2018, 12:45

SKA-related technology and HPC activities in Italy

Oral

INAF/IRA has a long and well established tradition with low frequency arrays thanks to the Northern Cross radio telescope, located in Medicina (Italy). Since the beginning of the Italian adventure in the SKA project, with the participation to the SKADS EC-FP6 program, INAF/IRA has been involved, as part of its general effort, to contribute into the design of RF receivers for low frequency...

43. ITPM ADU 1.5 for LFAA and general purpose application - 15'

Francesco Schilliro' (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

03/12/2018, 14:00

Oral

ITPM ADU is an international collaboration led by INAF team, whose goal is the realization of a digital equipment designed and produced for SKA-LFAA station signal processing. The project started in 2013 and led to the production of a digital platform consisting of 3 hardware upgrades (ITPM 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2), the processing and management firmware for LFAA and the station control software....

62. The SKA-Dish Local Monitor and Control - 25'

Corrado Trigilio (INAF-OA Catania)

03/12/2018, 14:15

Oral

The Square Kilometre Array is currently completing the pre-construction phase in which two arrays of radio antennas (SKA1-Mid and SKA1-Low), observing at different frequencies, are being designed to be installed in the South Africa's Karoo region and Western Australia's Murchinson Shire. The SKA1-Mid array will consist of 133 15-m diameter dish antennas observing in the 350 MHz-14 GHz range...

35. Centrall Signal Processing Consortium: the Italian contribution - 25'

Gianni Comoretto

03/12/2018, 14:40

Oral

The SKA Central Signal Processor represents the largest radioastronomical correlator ever designed, including a massive real time pulsar search and pulsar timing machine.

Italian contribution to this element is described. It includes a study of the element local monitor and control, with particular emphasis to the pulsar search machine, the final optimization stag of the pulsar search, and...

51. Telescope Manager Consortium: the Italian contribution - 25'

Mauro Dolci (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

03/12/2018, 15:05

Oral

Telescope Manager (TM) is the central element of the SKA. Its role (and responsibility) are the management of the preparation of astronomical observations, the execution of telescope operations and the control and monitoring of the overall telescope status.
To accomplish these functions, TM was originally structured as made of of specific sub-elements: Observation Management (OBSMGT,...

71. PHAROS2: A C-Band Cryogenic Phased Array Feed

Alessandro Navarrini

03/12/2018, 15:30

Oral

High-sensitivity large-scale surveys are an essential tool for new discoveries in radio astronomy. A Phased Array Feed (PAF) placed at the focal plane of an antenna can increase the Field-of-View (FoV) and the mapping efficiency by fully sampling the sky. Multiple beams can be formed by adding signals from electrically small focal plane radiating elements of the array using different sets of...

66. Low-Frequency Array Verification with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - 15'

Stefania Matteoli (CNR – IEIIT)

03/12/2018, 16:30

SKA-related technology and HPC activities in Italy

Oral

New-generation radio telescopes such as the SKA’s aperture array require advanced techniques to confirm the desired performance and calibrate the instrument. At low frequencies, the strong mutual coupling between the array elements and the interaction of the antennas with the environment can drastically alter the expected response of the elements and compromise the calibration process.
In this...

75. Supercomputing and Big Data: the SKA requirements - 25'

Maurizio Miccolis

04/12/2018, 09:15

Oral

76. Supercomputing and big data for the SKA: challenges and opportunities for Italy - 30'

A. Possenti / R. Smareglia

04/12/2018, 09:40

Oral

SKA Data Challenger is only one of the IT technologies challengers in which the SKA project is involved. These imply all activities from data management, network transfer, (super)computing infrastructure to, last but not least, software pipeline development and workflow management. INAF, as Italy main actor in the SKA project, can play an important role, both in the evolution of the exascale...

77. LOFAR-IT HPC Activities - 30'

U. Becciani / G. Taffoni

04/12/2018, 10:10

Oral

On March 2018, INAF approved the participation to the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) and the organization of a LOFAR-IT Consortium leaded by INAF itself aiming at coordinating at Italian level the participation to ILT.
The University of Turin (Department of Phyiscs: DP-UniTO) has recently formalised the participation to LOFAR-IT Consortium.
A Board of the LOFAR-IT project has been...

37. Setting the stage for SKA: planning training and support for the community - 15'

Marcella Massardi (INAF-IRA/Italian ARC)

04/12/2018, 10:40

Oral

Training and support services will provide the pillars for the future SKA endeavour.
The AENEAS WP5 analysis identified the crucial aspects in preparing for the new frontier that is SKA: several challenges await our astronomical communities to proficiently face the opportunities offered by it. A preparatory plan based on coordinated training events that exploit current facilities and tests...

70. The SKA project: technological challenges

Luca Stringhetti

Oral