Shortly after the Christmas break, I made the long trip from Edinburgh in the UK to Perth, Western Australia, to work with colleagues at the SKAO Science Operations Centre. I have been working on the SKAO project for almost three years, and joined the team developing the Monitoring, Control and Calibration Subsystem (MCCS) software in December 2024. This software is responsible for controlling the receiver electronics connected to the antennas (131,072 of them when the telescope is complete), including the signal processing system which performs digitization and processing of the antenna signals.
The main purpose of the six week long visit was to collaborate with the system integration team on a mission to improve the reliability of a crucial part of the telescope: the power and signal distribution system (PaSD). Unlike most of the telescope’s hardware equipment which is housed in purpose built, air-conditioned processing facilities, the PaSD is installed out in the field, directly next to the antennas it is providing power to in the form of local ‘smartboxes’. The design of this system therefore had to take account of the extreme conditions it will be operating in: upwards of 50 degrees heat, exposed to the elements, and requiring major Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) shielding to avoid it impacting on telescope observations.
The trip was a very successful one; the systems integration engineers and I were able to capitalise on the advantages of being physically co-located (and in the same time zone for a change!) to resolve the problems much more efficiently than would have been possible with a remote collaboration.
At the end of my stay in Perth, an opportunity came up to visit the SKA-Low construction site, accompanying an engineer who was carrying out installation inspections and site acceptance testing for the PaSD systems. This was my first trip out to the telescope, and it was a real privilege to be able to see it in person. Located on the traditional lands of the Wajarri Yamaji, the telescope is being constructed in a remote part of Western Australia, accessible by a charter flight from Perth or a half-day drive from the small coastal town of Geraldton. I was there in the full heat of the WA summer, reaching 40 degrees, and the day and a half I spent there gave me new-found respect for the field technicians and construction workers who have to battle with those conditions every day. It was also a humbling experience; it wasn’t until I physically stood next to one of the smartboxes I have been working with and contemplated that the telescope will ultimately have over 12,000 of them that I truly appreciated the vast scale of this incredible human endeavour.
