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Engineering Working Group (EWG)

Signal transmission Task Force

Terms of reference:

• Advise the ISPO and ISSC, via the EWG Chair, on signal transmission and related engineering aspects of the SKA project, including:
- Long and short-haul signal transport
- Data and monitoring/control signal distribution
- Local oscillator generation and distribution (excluding distribution within receiver assemblies)
- Likely interaction with commercial data carriers, and implications for SKA system design

• Function as an impartial commentary and review body for demonstrator and pathfinder projects in the areas listed above.

• Act as a forum for the exchange of ideas between SKA engineering groups, and between the SKA project and external collaborators (including collaborators from industry and other scientific projects).

• Produce a whitepaper for the signal transmission sub-system for consideration by the SKA community and by external engineering assessors charged with evaluating the SKA project. The draft whitepaper will be available by December 31 2005, with the final version completed by March 31 2006. The whitepaper will be prepared according to agreed EWG guidelines and will address issues such as:
- Common cost and performance descriptors across SKA concepts
- Dependence of the signal transmission design on key SKA specifications
- Critical enabling technologies, and their likely development path
- Risk assessment for various technologies
- Large-scale production issues
- Reliability and maintainability issues
- Contribution of current and new-generation demonstrators
- Key technologies or techniques to be demonstrated in a large-scale SKA international pathfinder
- Possible links with industry in pre-competitive and procurement phases of the SKA project.

Members
- Edward Ackerman, Photonic Systems, USA
- Paul Alexander, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Ron Beresford, CSIRO/Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia
- Daniel Floreani, Cisco, USA
- Reinhard Keller, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany
- Peter Maat, ASTRON, The Netherlands
- Roshene McCool, Jodrell Bank Observatory, United Kingdom
- Ralph Spencer (chair), Jodrell Bank Observatory, United Kingdom
- Graham Town, Macquarie University, Australia