AAVS1 System Requirements Review

© Pieter Benthem

On the (early! morning of the) 2nd of July 2015, we organised the System Requirements Review of the SKA Aperture Array Verification System (AAVS1). To save people the burden of traveling, we indulged in the interesting challenge of hosting a video-conference. Teams from the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia joined the call.

Obviously, the main items on the agenda were the AAVS1 requirements, but we also discussed several other matters. After defining the correct levels within the requirements, an overview was presented and we discussed the AAVS1 Product Breakdown Structure.

The AAVS1 requirements have of course been derived from the LFAA functional and performance requirements contained in the SKA Phase 1 System Requirements Specification. However, since AAVS1 will be constructed with fewer antennas than the eventual LFAA array, the baseline and sensitivity are reduced. The AAVS1 main array will now be designed and built, and used in conjunction with MWA for verification. The AAVS1 requirements have been chosen such that the system can be used to validate the LFAA design. The scaling has been chosen such that the required functional performance of AAVS1 will be comparable with a single logical station.

Our next major milestone is the AAVS1-DDR, 12th October 2015.