2014 SKA Engineering Meeting

29 Sept 2014, 09:00 → 2 Oct 2014, 17:00 UTC

Fremantle, Western Australia

Official Announcement
 

The SKA Project is now in the pre-construction phase with 11 Consortia carrying out design work to enable the project to enter the construction phase in 2017-2018. These consortia are spread across the globe and are constituted from a variety of institutes and commercial companies. As many are aware, there will be an initial delivery of design and cost information later this year, in advance of the full Preliminary Design packs, to allow any re-baselining (RBS) activity to begin.

The aim of the SKA Engineering Meeting is to provide a global overview of the status, progress and way forward for the project in terms of engineering and management, with a summary of the science goals. Part of the meeting will be devoted to presentations on the status of design and progress in each of the work-packages, which will be close to their preliminary design review (PDR). They will present their composition and approach, along with issues and options for cost reduction.
 
As we will have entered the early stages of the re-baselining process, we plan to use the engineering meeting to clarify the submissions from the consortia as well as their suggestions for re-baselining included in these submissions. In addition, we plan to include some workshop time to clarify and carry out initial development of options and have a very preliminary view on the effect of options on the work within the consortia with feedback of options and the initially identified advantages and disadvantages.

The meeting will furthermore provide a forum for consortia to work the many common issues such as interface definitions in work sessions to allow closure before PDR submission.  Naturally, there will be general face-to-face discussions among SKA Office staff, members of the SKA Element Consortia and other members of the science and engineering community.
 
The main meetings will be held Monday 29 September to Thursday 2 October at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle, Western Australia. It is open to all members of all consortia and SKA science community working as part of the pre-construction phase. This includes academic, engineering, institute and industrial consortia members.
 
Registration
 
Registration to take part in the conference is now closed. There is no registration fee. Please register early in order to help us with logistics. To do so visit this page.
 
Visa/Invitation letter
 
If you need an invitation letter to obtain a visa, please visit this page. We encourage you to apply early as this process can take time.
 
Accommodation
 
A range of accommodation options are available. Visit this page for more information.
 
Social events
 
With the assistance of the LOC, we have arranged a number of social activities where participants are most welcome, in particular:

• Monday 29/09: Welcome drinks reception immediately following the conference, hosted by the WA Government and ICRAR at the WA Maritime Museum
• Tuesday 30/09: Launch of Shared Sky, the SKA's international art/astronomy exhibition that brings indigenous & local astronomy-related art from both SKA sites together,
• Wednesday 01/10: Official conference dinner,
• Friday 03/10: Free day where recommended social activities will be offered to participants.

NB: We ask participants to indicate which events they would like to take part in when they register for the conference to facilitate logistics. Full details of all social activities available on this page.

 
Visit to the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory
 
The LOC is also arranging a visit to the Murchison Radio astronomy Observatory on Friday 3 October to visit ASKAP and MWA, with the kind support of CSIRO. Delegates wishing to participate should indicate so no later than July 23. Details on the trip, estimated costs and how to participate are available on this page. Registration for this trip is now closed.

Slides 2014_SKA_Engineering_Meeting_talks.zip