SKA1-Low : IEEE's Rachel Courtland provides a first-hand account from Murchinson

[gary]

In a 28 Nov 2017 article in IEEE Spectrum, Rachel Courtland travels to Murchison in WA
and provides a first-hand account on the preparation and testing prior to the construction of SKA1-Low,
so designated because the SKA is being built in stages and "1" denotes a small initial incarnation of the array
and "Low" designates it is designed to receive the low frequency components.

The South African component currently under construction is designated SKA1-Mid.

Originally Posted by Rachel Courtland, IEEE

Important challenges still must be overcome before workers even begin building SKA1-low, which could start in 2019 and continue for five years. A team of engineers is validating the antenna design, using a combination of simulation and measurements, in preparation for a key review next year. Antennas can interfere with one another, notes MWA director Wayth, and in some cases they can cause signals to cancel out, creating blind spots. “Right now we’re making sure we fully understand the electromagnetics of how the stations work just to make sure nothing unexpected pops up,” says Wayth, who is also part of the design team for the Australian SKA array.

But Wayth says most of the technical challenges have already been worked out. At this point, the biggest issues are logistics and infrastructure, he says. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, [and] it needs to have power and communications and timing and everything distributed to it.”

Story here with pictures :-
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/...ralian-outback