Pre-construction Consortia

The SKA is being designed by 11 groups from across the world. Each group, or consortium, works on a specific element of the telescope. A brief description of each consortium and Australia's involvement is provided below. For a more extensive overview, please visit the SKA Organisation's SKA Design homepage.

Back to top	The "Telescope Manager" consortium is designing the hardware and software necessary to control the telescope and associated infrastructure. The Telescope Manager consortium is led by the Indian National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA). For more information about the Telescope Manager consortium, please visit the Telescope Manager consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) International: National Research Council Canada (NRC), Canada GTD GmbH, Germany National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), India Tata Research, Development and Design Centree (TRDDC), India National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Portugal Geo-Space Sciences Research Centre (CICGE-FCUP), Portugal SKA South Africa, South Africa Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK
Back to top	The "Central Signal Processor" consortium is designing the hardware and software necessary for providing radio signals from space to the supercomputer. The Central Signal Processor consortium is led by the National Research Council of Canada. For more information about the Central Signal Processor consortium, please visit the Central Signal Processor consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) Swinburne University of Technology International: National Research Council of Canada, Canada (NRC), Canada Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), Canada MDA Systems Ltd, Canada Key Lab of Aperture Array and Space Application (KLAASA), China Max Plank Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPifRA), Germany National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), India National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy SELEX Electronic Systems, Italy University of Malta, Malta Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE), The Netherlands Netherlands eScience Center (NLeSC), The Netherlands AUT University, New Zealand Massey University, New Zealand University of Auckland, New Zealand Compucon New Zealand, New Zealand Open Parallel Ltd, New Zealand SKA South Africa, South Africa Reutech Radar Systems (A Division of Reutech Limited), South Africa Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE), Spain Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain IBM Zurich, Switzerland Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK University of Manchester, UK University of Oxford, UK Adaptative Array Systems Limited, UK NVIDIA, USA NASA JPL, USA
Back to top	The "Signal and Data Transport" consortium is designing the hardware and software necessary for transmitting data between all the parts of the SKA. The Signal and Data Transport consortium is led by the University of Manchester. For more information about the Signal and Data Transport consortium, please visit the Signal and Data Transport consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia Academic and Research Network (AARNet) University of Western Australia - (ICRAR) International: Tsinghua University/ Peking University, China National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) / Tata Consulting, India Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE), The Netherlands Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Portugal SKA South Africa, South Africa Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), South Africa Meraka Institute (CSIR), South Africa EM Software and Systems (EMSS), South Africa University of Granada, Spain University of Manchester, UK, UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), UK DANTE, UK
Back to top	The "Science Data Processor" consortium is designing the hardware and software necessary for interpreting the astronomical data from the telescope. The Science Data Processor consortium is led by the University of Cambridge. For more information about the Science Data Processor consortium, please visit the Science Data Processor consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) - UWA Pawsey Supercomputing Centre International: Canadian Universities Collaboration, Canada Centre for High Performance Computing, South Africa Chinese Universities Collaboration, China Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH (JUELICH), Germany Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPifRA), Germany Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC), Canada Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands New Zealand Alliance (NZA), New Zealand Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Spain SKA South Africa, South Africa Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UK University of Manchester, UK University of Cambridge, UK University of Oxford, UK University College of London, UK University of Southampton, UK Observatoire de Paris (Station de Radioastronomie de Nancay), France Portuguese ENGAGE SKA Consortium, Portugal Universite d'Orleans, France
Back to top	The "Dish" consortium is designing the dish antennas. The Dish consortium is led by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). For more information about the Dish consortium, please visit the Dish consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, (CSIRO) International: National Research Council, Canada Joint Laboratory for Radio Astronomy Technology (JLRAT), China Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPifRA), Germany Vertex Antennentechnik, Germany IAF Fraunhofer, Germany National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), Italy European Industrial Engineering (EIE), Italy Società Aerospaziale Mediterranea (SAM), Italy University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy SKA South Africa, South Africa EM Software and Systems (EMSS), South Africa Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain Unversidad de Cantebria, Spain Instituto Geográfico Nacional, Spain Chalmers University/Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden Omnisys Instruments AB, Sweden
Back to top	The "Mid-frequency Aperture Array" consortium is designing the mid-frequency antennas and telescope. The Mid-frequency Aperture Array consortium is led by ASTRON. For more information about the Mid-frequency Aperture Array consortium, please visit the Mid-frequency Aperture Array consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners International: Key Lab of Aperture Array and Space Application (KLAASA) , China University of Bordeaux, France Paris/Nançay Observatory, France University of Malta, Malta Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Netherlands Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), Portugal SKA South Africa, South Africa University of Cambridge, UK University of Manchester , UK University of Oxford, UK
Back to top	The "Low-Frequency Aperture Array" consortium is designing the low-frequency antennas and telescope. The Low-Frequency Aperture Array consortium is led by ASTRON. For more information about the Low-Frequency Aperture Array consortium, please visit the Low-Frequency Aperture Array consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) - Curtin University International Key Lab Aperture Array and Space Application (KLAASA), China German Long Wave Consortium (GLOW), Germany National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Italy University of Malta, Malta Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE), The Netherlands University of Cambridge, UK University of Manchester, UK University of Oxford, UK Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Back to Top	The "Assembly Integration and Verification" consortium is preparing activities at the remote sites to incorporate existing infrastructure (such as the existing ASKAP telescope) into the newly-built SKA telescope. The Assembly Integration and Verification consortium is led by SKA Africa. For more information about the Assembly Integration and Verification consortium, please visit the Assembly Integration and Verification consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium Partners Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) International: Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands SKA South Africa, South Africa
Back to top	The "Infrastructure Australia" consortium is designing and costing critical SKA infrastructure in Australia. The Infrastructure Australia consortium is led by CSIRO. For more information about the Infrastructure Australia consortium, please visit the Infrastructure consortia page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium partners Australia: Aurecon Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Horizon Power Radio Quiet Zone (RQZ) Solutions Rider Levett Bucknall
Back to top	The "Infrastructure South Africa" consortium is designing and costing critical SKA infrastructure in South Africa. The Infrastructure South Africa consortium is led by SKA South Africa. For more information about the Infrastructure South Africa consortium, please visit the Infrastructure consortia page on the SKA Organisation homepage.
Back to top	The "Wide Band Single Pixel Feeds" consortium is developing a broad spectrum single pixel feed for the SKA. The Wideband Single Pixel Feeds consortium is led by Chalmers University. For more information about the Wideband Single Pixel Feeds consortium, please visit the Wideband Single Pixel Feeds consortium page on the SKA Organisation homepage. Consortium partners International: Joint Laboratory for Radio Astronomy Technology (JLRAT), China Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, Germany Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), The Netherlands Chalmers University / Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden Ozyegin University, Turkey