© ASTRON + CSIRO
The SKA-Low CSP Correlator and Beamformer sub-element project (Perentie) bundles the engineering powers from AUT, CSIRO and ASTRON.
For the project members, this international constellation requires often joining teleconferences outside normal office hours as well as regular long distance travels for face-to-face meetings. During August and September both Leon Hiemstra and Koos Kegel joined CSIRO for several weeks to prepare for the Critical Design Review (CDR) planned early 2018. During our stay, the New Zealand team joined for a couple of days to take the opportunity to introduce a new team member. This close cooperation offers also a unique opportunity to learn from each other both from an engineering perspective but also from a cultural and social perspective. We joined the Australian Purple Day and have met the families during trips to the coast and the Blue Mountains.
Recently, Grant Hampson, John Bunton and Yuqing Chen visited ASTRON for three weeks to finish the CDR preparation. During this visit, Grant showed the CSIRO 2017 Collaboration Award for the Perentie team for the highly successful international collaboration with colleagues in The Netherlands and New Zealand to design and implement a high performance correlator and Beamformer.
The CDR documentation deadline is early January 2018: thanks to our fruitful collaboration we will certainly meet this date.