SKA Advanced Instrumentation Program (AIP) meeting at ASTRON

© ASTRON, 2017.

On June 8 and 9, 2017, the SKA Organisation, ASTRON, MFAA, PAF and WBSPF consortia had a meeting at ASTRON in Dwingeloo to consider new technologies that can improve the scientific capabilities of the SKA beyond Phase 1, and to discuss the structure and timescales of the SKA Advanced Instrumentation Program (AIP) and its successors.

Currently, the AIP includes consortia on Mid-Frequency Aperture Arrays (MFAA), Phased Array Feeds (PAF) and Wide-Band Single Pixel Feeds (WBSPF). These consortia are executing research and development programs to demonstrate feasibility and increase maturity of their respective technologies for application in the SKA.

The workshop had 37 registered participants and included a series of talks on how new technologies will vastly improve the scientific prospects for SKA, a session on the SKA Observatory Development Program, a session on the status and plans of the current MFAA, PAF and WBSPF consortia, and several technical talks by these consortia.

One of the main conclusions of the meeting is that, since the SKA Observatory is setup for a 50 year lifetime and will offer world's biggest radio telescope, continuous upgrades and expansions, enabling new capabilities, are essential for the future of the SKA.

All presentations of the meeting, including a wrap-up of the discussions, can be downloaded from the meeting website: http://www.astron.nl/ska-aip2017/