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The Gemini and SKA MNRF: Australia's Astronomy Future


Executive summary
The Gemini and SKA Major National Research Facility (MNRF) aims to provide significant Australian participation in major new optical, infrared and radio facilities including the twin Gemini 8-metre telescopes and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). During 2004/5, there have been several major achievements towards this goal, and several important discoveries as a result of Facility access by the community. The key achievements include: · The discovery, using the superb seeing conditions of the Gemini telescopes, of a very faint, extended stellar disk around the nearby galaxy NGC 300. Also using Gemini, the first measurement of the size of the broad-line region, using the technique of gravitational microlensing, in a high-redshift quasar QSO 2237+0305. · The completion of the rebuilding of the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) for the Gemini-North telescope. The original unit was destroyed in the January 2003 Canberra fires. The replacement unit was constructed, in collaboration with ANU staff, by a Canberra-based aerospace company, Auspace Ltd. · Successful completion, led by the Anglo-Australian Observatory, of a feasibility study for the Wide Field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS), an optical instrument which will revolutionize our understanding of the high-redshift Universe. · The development by the Anglo-Australian Observatory in conjunction with Redfern Optical Components, of optical fibres able to suppress all hydroxyl (OH) lines in the wavelength range 1.50 to 1.57 µm, thereby dramatically lowering the night-sky background in the infrared. · The completion of the design and layout of the first prototype printed circuit board for the 2 GHz digital filterbank for the Compact Array. The sensitivity and versatility of the Compact Array will be greatly enhanced on completion of the final filterbank. · Deployment in January 2005 of the Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) measurement trailer at Mileura WA, the Australian candidate SKA site. This trailer will gather data for twelve months and form part of Australia's SKA site submission proposal. · Completion of a real-time `fringe-check' facility to validate Very Long Baseline Array (VLBI) data, significantly increasing the usefulness and robustness of radio astronomy data taken with Australian facilities. · The release of disk-based VLBI systems and supercomputer-based software correlation to the Australian community, allowing a significant increase of sensitivity over existing VLBI observations. Towards the end of 2004/5, a review was conducted by an external panel of distinguished astronomers who reported that the "MNRF program is significantly advancing astronomy in Australia by paving the way for the major projects of the future". The review is publicly available at the Gemini & SKA MNRF website. AABoM will use the recommendations of the review panel in the coming year to further strengthen the impact of the MNRF on Australian Astronomy.


Table of contents
1. Progress with establishment, enhancement and operation ..................................... 4 1.1. Governance .................................................................................................... 4 1.2. Project summaries .......................................................................................... 5 1.2.1. Project Office ......................................................................................... 5 1.2.2. Gemini.................................................................................................... 5 1.2.3. SKA........................................................................................................ 7 1.3. Milestones .................................................................................................... 14 1.3.1. Project Office ....................................................................................... 14 1.3.2. Gemini.................................................................................................. 14 1.3.3. SKA...................................................................................................... 16 2. Research, access & collaboration ........................................................................ 25 2.1. Facility's access regime ............................................................................... 25 2.1.1. Gemini.................................................................................................. 25 2.1.2. SKA...................................................................................................... 25 2.2. Collaboration and linkages .......................................................................... 25 2.2.1. Gemini.................................................................................................. 25 2.2.2. SKA...................................................................................................... 26 2.3. Facility's contribution to research and training ........................................... 26 2.3.1. Gemini.................................................................................................. 26 2.3.2. SKA...................................................................................................... 28 2.4. Contribution to Australian industry ............................................................. 28 3. Promotion of the facility ...................................................................................... 29 3.1. Gemini.......................................................................................................... 29 3.2. SKA.............................................................................................................. 30 4. Commercialisation ............................................................................................... 32 5. Compliance with biological & radiation safeguards ............................................ 33 6. Financial report .................................................................................................... 34 6.1. Financial summary ....................................................................................... 34 6.2. Financial tables ............................................................................................ 36 6.2.1. In-Kind Contributions from Participating Parties ................................ 36 6.2.2. Cash Contributions from Participating Parties .................................... 37 6.2.3. Cash Heads of Expenditure.................................................................. 38 6.2.4. Summary of Resources Applied to Activities of MNRF ..................... 39 6.2.5. Summary of Planning/Construction/Upgrade/Operating Expenditure 40 6.2.6. Cash Cost (net of GST) of Purchased Capital Equipment ................... 41 6.3. Auditors report ............................................................................................. 42 Appendix A: Updated budget (June 2005) .................................................................. 45 Appendix B: Performance indicator survey................................................................. 48 Appendix C: AABoM members .................................................................................. 53 Appendix D: AABoM's advisory committees' members ............................................ 54 Appendix E: Project leaders and project participants .................................................. 55 Appendix F: Glossary .................................................................................................. 56

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1. Progress with establishment, enhancement and operation
1.1. Governance

Figure 1: Relationships within the MNRF This MNRF is managed by the MNRF Director, with assistance from the facility office. The Director reports to the Australian Astronomy Board of Management (AABoM). The MNRF programme funds part of the Australian component of two international facilities, Gemini and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The steering committees of these facilities, the Australian Gemini Steering Committee (AGSC) and the Australian SKA Consortium Executive (ASKAC) advise AABoM, and AABoM provides the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) with an annual progress report. Upon acceptance of this annual report DEST provides the facility office with the MNRF grant for that year. The facility office then distributes these funds to the various projects contingent on receipt of satisfactory progress reports detailing performance against agreed milestones. In addition, the Australian Research Council (ARC) manages the relationship with the international Gemini consortium. Payment for additional time is made by the facility office to the Gemini consortium.

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1.2. Project summaries
1.2.1. Project Office
During 2004/05 the new MNRF Office team of Lister Staveley-Smith (Director) and Mark McAuley (Executive Officer) commenced their roles with the MNRF. This increased the quantity of resources and breadth of skills available to the MNRF Office, allowing a number of achievements during the year, in particular: · · · Increased communication with MNRF project teams, including a quarterly report for project leaders and the creation of an extranet for project leaders. The MNRF budget has now been updated. During this process mistakes in the accounting of the MNRF finances by CSIRO were identified and corrected. A review of the MNRF was held at CSIRO's Radiophysics Laboratory in Marsfield. The review team consisted of: A. Beasley, G. Illingworth, P. Shaver, D. Wilson and J. Moore.

1.2.2. Gemini
1.2.2.1. Increased share of Gemini telescopes The MNRF Gemini Project in 2004/05 supported Australian use of the Gemini telescopes in two main ways: by continuing to pay for the additional 1.43% share in the Gemini Partnership, and by agreeing with the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council to purchase an additional eight nights per semester of time on Gemini South, for each of the semesters 2005B, 2006A and 2006B. Together, these arrangements will more than double the time available to the Australian community during the remainder of 2005 and 2006. Despite the increase in Australian Gemini time available, demand has increased at an even faster rate, leading to record oversubscription. For semester 2005B, a record thirty-one proposals were received, oversubscribing the available time by a factor of 2.84. The Australian share of Gemini is now more oversubscribed than any other Australian telescope. There has also been an increase over the last year in the number of Australian papers published using Gemini data. Two of the most exciting results include: · The discovery by Bland-Hawthorn et al 1 . that the disks of spiral galaxies can extend much further than previously thought. They took advantage of the superb image quality and seeing available at Gemini to trace the stars around galaxy NGC 300 far further than had ever been done before for a spiral galaxy. The question posed by this result is: how can stars form in these extremely low surface density environments? A new mode of star formation may be required. The first measurement of the size of the broad emission-line emitting gas around a high redshift quasar, by Wayth et al 2 . using the novel technique of gravitational micro-lensing. The observations were only possible with Gemini, relying both upon its superb seeing and the unique capability of its integral-field unit spectrograph.

·

1 2

Bland-Hawthorn et al. (2005, ApJ, 629, 239) Wayth et al. (2005, MNRAS, 359, 561)

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1.2.2.2. RSAA Gemini instrumentation Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIFS) The rebuilding of NIFS is now complete. Problems were encountered with the HAWAII-2 science detector and the decision was made to upgrade to a HAWAII2RG detector. This has now been installed and NIFS is undergoing final alignment in preparation for acceptance tests and shipment in August 2005. However, problems remain in interfacing detector data to the VME-based control system, and these have led to critical delays in beginning tests of the full software system. Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) GSAOI construction is now complete. Problems were encountered during the first cooldown; a cryo-cooler failure was reported and mechanisms failed to operate. Both problems have since been rectified. The optics have been installed and GSAOI has undergone its second cooldown with optics and two engineering detectors. The optical performance has been confirmed to be reasonable, but tuning of the focus and installation of the four science detector is necessary before optical performance can be critically assessed. The On-Detector Guide Window implementation has been designed. Problems persist with inadequate infrastructure to operate the four 2048x2048 detectors simultaneously. 1.2.2.3. AAO instrumentation Wide-field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS) The Anglo-Australian Observatory led an international consortium in the WFMOS feasibility study. The study is complete, having established tolerances and modelled the effects of optical alignment, fabrication and assembly errors on the delivery of image quality. The AAO has also received good fabrication data and reassurance from glass vendors confirming the approach recommended for the corrector design. Starbugs Starbugs Phase A delivered a working prototype bug that has been demonstrated to position to within 10 µm under closed-loop control. This bug has been operated in a cryogenic environment down to a temperature of ­100oC. The AAO is working with its partners to develop anti-collision algorithms for the positioning of many Starbugs (10's to 1000's) on a field plate. Phase B will continue to develop the metrology and control aspects for multiple bugs. Astrophotonics Optic Fibres Astrophotonics Optic Fibres Phase 1 delivered a new broadband optical fibre that is being used for AAOmega, the next generation optical spectrograph for the AngloAustralian Telescope, and which is being considered for WFMOS. A number of collaborative investigations have been set up to characterize and develop new fibre technologies for applications in astronomy. Phase 2 will pursue imaging fibre systems and optically reformatting fibres. Astrophotonics OH suppression The Astrophotonics OH suppression project is aimed at demonstrating the use of high-resolution Bragg gratings to remove narrow-band sky emission, thereby greatly darkening the near IR night sky and revolutionising future instruments for Gemini and other large telescopes. Over the past year the AAO has manufactured and tested a single-mode fibre which suppresses all OH lines in the spectral window 1.50 to 1.57 6


µm. These fibres are well-optimized for use on 30m telescopes with diffractionlimited performance. The project now plans to broaden the spectral window to suppress lines over the full H-band region. The project has also developed a prototype single-mode to multi-mode converter (SMF to MMF) that allows OH suppression in multi-mode fibre. This allows the technology to be used in seeing-limited applications, for example WFMOS. This work is protected by two patents pending.

1.2.3. SKA
1.2.3.1. AT Compact Array Broadband Backend (CABB) Considerable progress has been made during the year in defining baseline conceptual designs for all components of the system. This has allowed work to proceed to the point where detailed prototype design is well defined and in some areas testing has begun. IF Conversion System The interface between the receiver frontend and the new broadband backend are two signals in the frequency range 4-12 GHz, representing the two polarisations of the active receiver. The IF conversion system has the function of selecting two independent 2 GHz bandwidth signals at two frequencies from each polarisation and converting them to the 2-4 GHz frequency range for input to the four samplers. Two concepts were investigated, one being a simple single conversion scheme, with a Local Oscillator (LO) in the 8-14 GHz range, and the other being an up-down conversion scheme with two LOs and an intermediate IF around 25 GHz. The former scheme relies on a switched filter arrangement to achieve the required image sideband rejection. It has the disadvantage that the LO of one frequency band may fall within the passband of the other frequency. The double conversion scheme avoids this problem, but at the expense of considerably increased complexity. The decision was made to proceed with the construction of a prototype of the single conversion design and to investigate methods to reduce the LO leakage to an acceptable level. The two 8-14 GHz LO signals required for the two frequency bands will be distributed on optical fibre from the central control building to all antennas using equipment very similar to that developed for the distribution of the mm-wave receiver LO reference frequency in the range 11-15 GHz. Much of the existing designs can be taken over, with the major new effort being in the packaging of the antenna electronics and integrating the LO and conversion systems. Sampler/Digitisers In line with its aim to demonstrate what is currently perceived to be SKA relevant technology, a decision was made at an early stage of the project to push towards the use of multi-bit digitisation. The low sensitivity to RFI resulting from the high dynamic range associated with multi-bit systems was seen to be an important feature of any SKA backend design and therefore worthy of detailed investigation in a practical system such as CABB. For this reason data paths from the antennas in the CABB system have been defined to be at least 8-bit. A 2 GHz bandwidth 8-bit digitiser, operating at 4 Gsamples per second, remains at this time just beyond the state-of-the-art. Although such a device has been advertised for imminent commercial release for the last year or more, it has not yet eventuated. A decision was made in September 2004 that the project could not afford to rely on this device becoming available and an alternative solution was sought. The design 7


that has been developed uses two commercial 2 G sample/s 10-bit A/D converters operating in an interleaved sampling mode. These devices have extra features specifically incorporated to allow optimisation in interleaved sampling schemes. The design includes special signal processing algorithms which provide the information required to adjust the sampling process to achieve maximum dynamic range. Following extensive tests on a first prototype, the design of a second prototype is now nearing completion. The latest design already includes much of the functionality required to interface to the data transmission system. Data Transmission One of the major decisions made over the past year was in the choice between analogue and digital data transmission from the antennas to the central control building. The analogue system was seen to be a relatively simple and cost effective solution. It avoided the potential for self-generated RFI at the antennas, inherent in the digital system, but had possibly serious drawbacks in the area of dynamic range. Experience gained in the design of wideband analogue fibre links for the wideband analogue correlator system at Narrabri and the Mopra spectrometer system had indicated that, with the use of special techniques to improve dynamic range, a suitable performance may have been possible. However, it was eventually realised that a dynamic range equivalent to an 8-bit digital data path was unlikely to be achievable with an analogue fibre link over the required 8 GHz of bandwidth. Since this decision, made in September 2004, a concept for a digital data transmission system has been developed and detailed design is now proceeding. The data transmission system will use, wherever possible, commercial 10 Gbit/s fibre optic components, commonly used in wide area network links. The 128 Gbits/s data from each antenna will be sent on four fibres, using four colours on each fibre in a dense wavelength division multiplexing scheme. Filter Bank/Correlator Detailed design and layout of the prototype 2 GHz digital filterbank (DFB) printed circuit board (PCB) has proceeded during the entire year. The job is significantly more complex than originally expected and is now five months behind schedule. Part of the problem has been with the PCB design software, which has proved to be very inefficient in handling such a large and complex design. The design has 17 large 1150-pin field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) with over 136,000 track segments on a twenty layer PCB. Nevertheless, the layout has recently been completed and the goal is to have a prototype 2 GHz DFB operating in July. Means of expediting the design of further prototypes and the final PCB are being investigated. It is likely that PCB layout of future designs will be outsourced. Following on from work in previous years on the FPGA firmware design for DFBs, significant effort has gone into consolidating design techniques in preparation for the initial 2 GHz design. New FFT firmware cores have been developed and successfully implemented in hardware. Further work on the overall architecture of the filter bank/correlator unit has shown that the digital delay system for the ATCA can be incorporated into the main processing core, obviating the need for a separate delay system. Installation Some initial plans for installation at Narrabri have been considered. The initial goal is to install the new backend in parallel with the existing ATCA system, so that 8


simultaneous or near-simultaneous operations will be possible. This appears to be achievable, possibly with some degradation in some aspects of the performance of the new system. The advantages of being able to compare old and new during initial testing would appear to far outweigh any disadvantages associated with a less than optimal positioning of the new system. When initial tests are complete, the new system will be moved to replace the old in an operation that is expected to require a three to four week shutdown. 1.2.3.2. New Technology Demonstrator (NTD) The revised project, from July 2004, has concentrated on the development of focal plane array (FPA) technology in association with parabolic reflectors for the antenna systems. This decision was taken after the development of Luneburg lenses for the SKA was found to be not practical, and after various other options such as the use of cylindrical antennas were also considered. There were also significant changes to the management of the NTD project. Colin Jacka was appointed as project leader, Simon Johnston as project scientist, and Tony Sweetnam as project manager from July 2004. John Kot remained as project engineer. A new project plan was created with the following technology objectives: · 10x10 FPA operating over the frequency range 800-1700 MHz, with 1 to 3 parabolic reflector antennas (cost dependent, but probably two reflectors, each 15 m diameter). · RFI and spectral line ripple cancellation using FPA (commercial applications are possible) · RF and IF beam-forming to give extremely wide fields of view. · Polarization purity · Correlation of large number (at least 20) of independent beams · Wide band operation with low RFI levels · Proof of infrastructure in remote desert environment (power supply, on-site data transport) The strategy for the revised project was to tackle the area of greatest uncertainty by first setting up an experimental test bed to determine the real difficulties with digital beamforming of signals from a focal plane array mounted in a parabolic dish. Dr John O'Sullivan was employed to deal with the overall systems engineering stemming from the use of focal-plane-arrays. Dr Tim Cornwell's contribution will be to specify the requirements and the design for the post correlator software needed to create useful scientific output from the enormous quantities of data that a telescope using focal-plane-arrays will produce. To conduct the initial experiments three key components are required: parabolic dish antennas, a digital beamformer and a focal-plane-array: · A team from India claimed that they could produce a low cost parabolic dish using their Preloaded Parabolic Dish design. However, the NTD team's assessment was that more development work was required and the proposed construction methods were labour intensive. Therefore, arrangements were made with Sydney University to acquire two disused 13.7 m parabolic dishes, complete with mounts, from the old Fleurs observatory. The antennas were installed at Marsfield in July 2005. 9


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In October 2004 MIT Haystack indicated their desire to look at ways of collaborating and sharing development costs between the MIT Low Frequency Demonstrator (LFD) project and the NTD project. At a meeting in Melbourne in November 2004 John Bunton and the MIT digital processing engineers agreed it was possible to create a common design for the digital subsystems that would meet the needs of both instruments despite some significant differences. Further, it was agreed this group should continue to work together. A white paper outlining a common, modular, extensible, digital signal processing architectural design for filterbanks, beamformers and a correlator which would satisfy the needs of both the NTD and the MIT Haystack LFD was completed in January 2005. These designs could also be used for the SKAMP project. Since then, a team from the CICT Centre has taken that design and translated it to an existing set of hardware. When fully assembled this will provide a twenty-four analogue channel, 24 MHz wide, digital beamformer which will be used for the initial experiments. The design and prototype of the discrete receiver that will be reproduced for each array element has been completed and a theoretical design for an LNA in Microwave Office has been produced. Negotiations have been completed with the University of Massachusetts for access to their Vivaldi design software and for assistance with its use. Negotiations are also underway with ASTRON to purchase a modified Thea tile/array consisting of 8x8 Vivaldi feed elements which will allow us to start our initial experiments without having to develop and make our own FPA from scratch. John O'Sullivan and Tim Cornwell have produced a document summarising the initial experiments that need to be conducted to understand issues relating to digital beamforming of focal plane arrays.

1.2.3.3. Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Activity during the past year was in two areas. The first was in the development of InP HEMT MMICs, mainly for millimeter wave applications for the ATCA. The second was concerned with the design of RF-CMOS integrated receiver MMICs operating at around 1 GHz. InP HEMT MMICs After a pause in the early part of the period due to staff commitments to the delivery of the 3mm receivers to the ATCA, work continued on the testing of packaged MMICs fabricated in the 2003 InP HEMT run. This included tests at cryogenic temperatures of an 85-115 GHz coplanar waveguide LNA MMIC and a 30-50 GHz LNA MMIC. Both of these devices showed good performance. The former will be used in the 3mm receiver being built for Mopra, while the latter is likely to find application in the 7mm upgrade of the ATCA. New MMIC designs were prepared for submission in the April 2005 fabrication run. These included a new 3-stage 30-50 GHz LNA, 1-3 GHz and 4-8 GHz LNAs and the implementation of large format transistors for use in low frequency LNA designs, for example, a LNA for the NTD project. Plans for the design of an InP LNA MMIC for the NTD were abandoned after a study showed that the technology was unlikely to deliver the specified performance. A discrete design, possibly using large InP transistors, was considered to be a better alternative. The new designs, plus repeats of successful earlier designs, were submitted for fabrication in April 2005. The wafers are expected to be returned in September 2005.

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RF-CMOS Integrated receiver MMICs The revised goal had been to submit for fabrication in December 2004 a design containing test structures for an integrated receiver. This was deferred until February 2005 to allow a re-appraisal of project aims to bring them more into line with the developing requirements of the NTD project. Further delays resulted from problems encountered in the chip layout process, such that the designs were finally submitted in April 2005. The chips became available for testing in July 2005. The overall schedule for this component of the project has slipped accordingly, with the final product now likely to be available in early 2007. As a result, they are unlikely to find application in the NTD project, but remain a core technology development for the xNTD. Reduced scope of project It has become clear over the past year or more that the scope of the MMIC project needed to be reduced from that originally planned. This is largely due to the fact that the expected requirement for the use of specially developed MMICs in the various SKA demonstrators has not eventuated. In particular, the CABB project, which was expected to benefit greatly from the application of MMICs, particularly in the sampler and data transmission areas, has been able to satisfy requirements from commercial sources. 1.2.3.4. SKA Molonglo prototype (SKAMP) Progress has been constrained by the small project team and the need to simultaneously maintain and operate the aging telescope. However, the hardware and software for Stage 1 are complete and the system is now being commissioned and debugged. Fringes followed by images from the complete Stage 1 system are expected shortly. Planning, design and some implementation for Stages 2 and 3 has now commenced. Design and planning for the fibre optic network necessary for distributing the local oscillator and collecting all the digital data for Stages 2 and 3 is complete and implementation has started. SKAMP is also considering how it might make use of components and subsystems being developed for the NTD project. Filterbanks and the spectral line correlator are prime candidates for sharing NTD designs. The existing concept design for the spectral line correlator is compatible with the modular, extensible correlator architecture that was developed by John Bunton of CSIRO in collaboration with digital engineers form the MIT Haystack LFD team. In order to allow development and testing of the new line feed and associated beamformers and receivers required for Stage 3, without having to dismantle part of the telescope and disturb its operation, it was decided to duplicate two bays of the existing telescope for use as a prototype testbed. Construction of this Rapid Prototyping Telescope (RPT) is well underway. Work is continuing on the development of the broadband line feed both from a theoretical and a practical approach. A four square-like pair of broadband dipoles has been chosen as the line feed element. Martin Leung has been working on perfecting low loss matching from this line feed element to the LNA, essential to keeping the system noise temperature low. Argus Technologies is working on the design of a line feed module which will house eight elements and which will clip in to replace the existing feeds. These will all be tested on the RPT. Meanwhile Sergiy Vinogradov has

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been modelling the effects of the imperfect parabolic surface on the beam width and side-lobes as the beam is scanned to one side. 1.2.3.5. SKA siting The SKA siting report is proceeding well. The end of 2004 was spent assembling and integrating the RFI test trailer. Problems with the software and in a key item of equipment delayed the final deployment of this solar powered system to Mileura by one month. However, the RFI testing work is now in the process of routine collection of data following deployment of the trailer at the end of January 2005. The measurement equipment has worked well with only minor problems: · · A low noise amplifier was damaged by lightning The measurements were shut down for a couple of days due to lack of battery power following an unusual week of overcast weather · A hard disk failure caused some anxious moments until the data was recovered. Work toward the development of the detailed siting proposal follows the formal "Request for Proposals for Siting the SKA", received from the International SKA Project Office in September 2004. The Western Australian Government, through the Office of Science Innovation, is fully participating in working on the response to the Request for Proposals and a special SKA taskforce was recently created. Government of WA Departments have been the main source of detailed information about mining, towns, roads, and land ownership that has been fed into Connell Wagner's GIS database. The first task was to identify the best position for the SKA core site at the Mileura station. This was done during a visit to Mileura in January 2005 in consultation with the managers of the pastoral lease and the local indigenous native title claimants. The second task has been to develop an array layout based around the chosen core site which followed the log spiral formula specified by the SKA simulations working group and which also avoided a set of no-go areas such as populated areas, active mines and tenements and areas subject to cyclones. After several iterations the array layout will soon be partially frozen. This will allow us to concentrate on obtaining and assessing data which are not available for the whole of WA and Australia; data which is only possible to obtain for a specific latitude and longitude. 1.2.3.6. SKA supercomputer simulation & baseband processing (SKASS) We have now developed a range of software applications that utilise the computing facilities developed during the first two years of the project, including: · · pulsar processing software for use on the cluster at the Parkes radio telescope; a software cross-correlator for the Swinburne supercomputer that correlates data collected from Australian and international VLBI arrays; · auto-correlation spectroscopy software that uses the cluster at the ATCA for RFI monitoring and characterisation studies. Some of these facilities are now available to the broad radio astronomy community as enhancements to the Australia Telescope National Facility. In particular, a highlight this year was the inclusion of the Swinburne supercomputing facilities as part of the regularly available VLBI National Facility. Users can now propose for disk-based recording experiments using Australian and overseas radio telescopes that are correlated in software on the Swinburne supercomputer.

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Other highlights of the third year of the SKASS project are: · · Completion of a highly flexible software correlator using the Swinburne supercomputer (both XF and FX architectures); Completion, in close collaboration with CSIRO, of a "fringe-check" mode for the software correlator that allows real-time fringes to be formed before every regularly scheduled VLBI experiment and verification of the experimental setup. This has eliminated significant data loss from VLBI experiments, making the VLBI array more robust and efficient; Inclusion of the disk-based VLBI systems and supercomputer based software correlation as part of the Australian VLBI National Facility. These systems allow an improvement in sensitivity of up to four over the current Australian tape-based VLBI system, giving improved efficiency for VLBI observations; Production of the first VLBI images of astronomical radio sources using the new disk-based recording systems and software correlator, involving an international array of 9 telescopes, in 4 countries, probably the most complicated disk-based VLBI observation yet attempted; A new project, funded by Cray and the State of Western Australia, to achieve high performance software correlation using the Cray XD-1 machine. Development of VLBI capability in New Zealand and the very first attempts at Trans-Tasman VLBI observations; Development of software, in collaboration with the International SKA Project Office, to generate estimates for the build cost of the SKA, available at: http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~shoriuch/SKAcostsim/. Development of an online interface to the MIT Array Performance Simulator (MAPS) that can be used by remote users for defining and running SKA simulations, available at: http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/ska/Simulator/. Development of software to perform automated RFI monitoring and characterisation observations at the Australia Telescope Compact Array, test observations, and initial data reduction; Organisation of the 3rd Australian SKA simulations workshop, held at Swinburne, attended by participants from Australia and three other countries; Participation in the international site selection process, in particular the production and distribution of the SKA array configuration guidelines for international proposers by Steven Tingay in the role of Chair of the SKA Simulations Working Group and the Configuration Simulations Task Force. This work was undertaken under the banner of the International SKA Project Office, for Prof. Richard Schilizzi.

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1.3. Milestones
1.3.1. Project Office
Task Project plans to be in place, and MNRF participation deeds (one each between CSIRO, on behalf of the MNRF office, and each participant) to be signed New board composition to be agreed Annual report to be provided to DEST AABoM to meet at least: Project plan December 2002 Status Completed: June 2004 Comments

June 2003 September 2004 Four times per year

Completed: May 2003 Completed: December 2004 Four meetings were held.

Board formed September 2003. Delays occurred due to completion of auditors' reports.

1.3.2. Gemini
1.3.2.1. Increased share of Gemini telescopes Task The agreement with Gemini will be signed by ARC, (ratifying Australia's increased share of 1.43%). Australian astronomers will have access to an increased number of nights on Gemini A decision will be made on the strategic use of the balance of the MNRF Gemini funding Project plan November 2003 Status Achieved: October 2003 Comments Brazil is the only partner who has not signed, but this has not delayed new shares coming into effect. Thirteen hours of extra time now available on each of the Gemini telescopes per observing semester. The balance will primarily be used to purchase additional nights from the UK during 2005 and 2006

January 2003

Achieved: February 2003

June 2004

Achieved: June 2004

1.3.2.2. RSAA Gemini instrumentation Task 1. Complete each of the remaining milestones for the completion of the Project plan December 2004 Status Comments NIFS completion. The NIFS science detector failed in late 2004. This 14


Near-infrared IntegralField Spectrograph (NIFS)

has been replaced with a HAWAII-2RG detector with subsequent project delays. Acceptance tests are now scheduled to begin in July 2005. February 2005 June 2005 Revised: August 2005 Revised: October 2005 Completed: November 2002 Revised: February 2006 Dependent on telescope availability Instrument is Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) Delayed due to failure of the NIFS detector and a GSAOI multiplexer.

2. Deliver NIFS to Gemini 3. Successfully commission NIFS on Gemini North 4. Award of a new instrument contract from Gemini 5. Contingent on 4 above, complete each of the milestones associated with the design and construction of GSAOI (see a to e below) 5a. Approval of operational concept definition document and functional and performance requirements document by the US Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) 5b. Completion of ordering all optical elements 5c. Completion of critical design review 5d. Completion of cryostat and integration frame 5e. Completion of first cool down with mechanisms. 6. Contingent on 4 above, deliver GSAOI 7. Contingent on 4 above, successfully commission

July 2004

September 2005

Completed: May 2003

New milestone, added after project plan.

Completed: New milestone, added January 2004 after project plan. Completed: October 2003 Completed: March 2004 August 2004 Completed: May 2005 Revised to: February 2006 On schedule Commissioning date is dependent on telescope New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan.

November 2005 May 2006

15


GSAOI. 1.3.2.3. AAO instrumentation Task Provide back-office support for Gemini-related activities in Australia. Pre-concept study for the Wide-Field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS). Complete Ukidna concept study for prototype of WFMOS. Project plan 30 March and 30 September each year. June 2003 Status On schedule

availability.

Comments Support provided at agreed level.

Completed: June 2003 Halted: December 2003 New milestone, added after project plan. Task halted as Gemini decided to seek WFMOS feasibility study. Results of Ukidna study documented. New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan. New milestone, added after project plan.

Submit proposal for feasibility study for WFMOS. WFMOS feasibility study contract to be signed and study to begin. WFMOS feasibility study submitted to Gemini. Astrophotonics ­ Phase 2 Starbugs ­ Phase B July 2004

Completed: March 2004 Completed: July 2004 Completed: March 2005 Awaiting start Awaiting start

February 2005 June 2006 June 2006

1.3.3. SKA
1.3.3.1. AT compact array broadband backend (CABB) Task Commencement of project Demonstration of DFB spectrometer Installation of 256MHz DFB at Mopra Completion of 2 GHz Project plan January 2002 October 2003 July 2004 March 2005 Status Completed: January 2002 Completed: January 2004 Completed: July 2004 Revised: Comments

16


DFB (digital filterbank) Testing of prototype February photonic data transmission 2004 system Testing of prototype conversion system Commencement of final production Six antenna ATCA operational with new backend. Completion of integration of NTD into ATCA system. Broadband ATCA tied array operational. October 2004

July 2005 Revised: October 2005 Revised: October 2005

January 2006 Revised: March 2006 January 2006 Revised: June 2007 July 2006 On hold. NTD project now considering sites other than Narrabri. NASA 7mm tracking will use existing backend for initial operations.

July 2007

Revised: September 2007

1.3.3.2. New technology demonstrator (NTD) Task Project plan Status Completed Comments

Establish cross-divisional December collaboration (CTIP, 2001 CMIT, CMS, ATNF) to investigate possible low loss and density composite dielectric materials. Develop analysis and design software for spherical lenses Demonstrate low-loss dielectric with values suitable for spherical lens. Complete design of prototype spherical lens and wideband feed. Test hybrid array / lens system using FARADAY phased array Develop signal transport model based on LOFAR and SKA specifications. Develop wideband beamformer concept using June 2002

Completed

June 2003

Completed

June 2003

Completed: November 2003 Completed: February 2003 Completed: July 2003 Completed: July 2003 "A Baseband Receiver Architecture for Medium-

June 2003

June 2003

June 2003

17


direct digital sampling.

N SKA", Ferris, D., SKA2003, Geraldton, WA, 2003 June 2003 Completed: December 2003 Completed Hayman, D and Li, L., "Measurement of a Prototype CSIRO Luneburg Lens", CSIRO ICT Centre Publication Number 04/1819 Draft business plan being circulated. Commercial negotiations in progress.

Complete construction of prototype spherical lens and wideband feed. Complete EM testing on prototype lens. Evaluate test results.

June 2004

Develop business plan for possible commercialization of dielectric / lens technology Decision point on further development work on spherical lenses. Demonstrate high-speed direct digital sampling and polyphase filter bank technology. Decide choice of NTD concept (lens; lens + array; phased array) Develop complete EM analysis of lens plus integrated feed. Stage 1: NTD design and development of proof-ofconcept prototypes. NTD PDR. Stage 2: NTD design & development. NTD CDR. Stage 3: NTD development & construction. Complete NTD construction. Sufficient LNAs available

June 2004

Revised: September 2004

June 2004

Completed

June 2004

Completed

June 2004

Completed

NTD will be a phased array-based system. Project plan being updated. The NTD project is now working to a new plan with revised milestones.

June 2004

Cancelled

June 2005

Cancelled

June 2005 June 2006

Cancelled Cancelled

June 2007 July 2005

Cancelled Revised: September 2005 LNA design was completed at the end of 2004/05.

18


Final testing of RFCMOS chips Control & Monitor software complete for testing @ Marsfield FPA prototype testing & characterisation complete Critical Design review (CDR) ­ ie Detailed Design Complete NTD Project Completion and Demonstration

September 2005 September 2005 November 2005 December 2005 June 2007

Behind schedule.

Revised: January 2006 Revised: March 2006

1.3.3.3. Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Task Submit designs for first (InP) fabrication run. Submit designs for second (sample and hold circuit) fabrication run. Submit designs for integrated receiver prototypes Submit designs for integrated receiver assemblies Begin production fabrication of integrated receivers First devices (integrated receivers) available for integration into demonstrators Submit designs for third (stage 2 InP) fabrication run Final devices (samplers) available for integration into demonstrators. Complete final integration of devices into demonstrators Project plan March 2003 April 2004 Status Completed March 2003 No longer required. Completed: April 2005 Revised: January 2006 Revised: July 2006 Revised: March 2007 Commercial devices are now available that negate this sampler development. Comments

April 2004

November 2004 January 2005 December 2004

January 2005 December 2005 December 2006

Completed: April 2005 No longer required. Cancelled Commercial devices are now available that negate this sampler development. To be reported in relevant demonstrator project.

19


1.3.3.4. SKA Molonglo prototype (SKAMP) Task Test continuum correlator design Appoint RF Engineer Design concept for spectral line correlator Project plan December 2003 March 2004 May 2004 Status Completed: May 2004 Completed: June 2004 Completed: December 2004 Comments Delayed due to limitations with the PCB manufacturer. RF Engineer: Adrian Blake Top level logic design complete; final detailed design dependent on results from continuum correlator testing, causing delay. Fringes achieved with interim correlator and a selection of single baselines.

Fringes from 96-station continuum correlator

June 2004

Revised to: July 2005

Update SKAMP scope of project document Complete design of spectral line correlator Filters and correlator boards manufactured Optic fibre installation implemented 1.3.3.5. SKA siting Task

June 2004 September 2004 May 2005 June 2005

Completed: June 2004 Delayed New milestone added during 2004/05 New milestone added during 2004/05 Revised: July 2005 New milestone added during 2004/05

Project plan

Status Completed

Comments

Establish clear contact June 2003 points between WA Office of Science and Innovation) and ATNF. Produce CDROM characterising the Mileura Station site with detailed information on landform, vegetation, geology etc Discuss with relevant bodies issues of native title, planning permission, EIA etc in relation to the Mileura site. Produce Australian Initial Site Analysis Document June 2003

Completed

June 2003

Completed

June 2003

Completed

20


for submission to ISSC. Meet with key science groups in WA capable of supporting SKA. Organise international SKA Meeting in Geraldton and ISSC visits to Mileura site. June 2003 Completed

July 2003

Completed

Respond to ISSC on initial June 2004 site analysis document. Establish a process for December selecting the best SKA site 2003 within Australia. Choose one "reference site" for further evaluation. Ensure an adequate international RFI testing procedure. Stage 2: Initiate extended RFI tests to be conducted remotely over a full year, at the reference site. Choose whether Mileura site will be the Australian SKA site. Prepare final submissions for SKA siting if required Respond to ISSC on site submission if required Complete RFI tests to be conducted remotely over a full year, at the reference site. Interact with ISSC to ensure that Australian site is selected as SKA site Evaluate siting project and identify improvements October 2003 June 2004

Completed: December 2003 Revised: September 2004 Completed: October 2003 Completed Draft procedure and selection criteria already produced. Awaiting final RFP from ISSC. ASKACC chose Mileura Station, WA as the reference site.

June 2004

Completed: January 2005

October 2004 June 2005

Completed: December 2005 Revised: December 2005 Revised: March 2006 Revised: March 2006 Revised date agreed to by the International SKA Steering Committee.

June 2005 June 2005

June 2006

Revised: September 2006 Revised: October 2006

June 2006

21


1.3.3.6. SKA supercomputer simulation & baseband processing (SKASS) Task SUT SKA workforce established. SUT and Parkes supercomputer operational Initial simulations of baseband data including RFI Completion of a twostation software correlator running on the SUT supercomputer Investigation of new ATNF digital filter bank A meeting of Australian groups undertaking SKA simulations Participation in global coordination of SKA simulation activities Software correlator operational Workstation cluster to Narrabri Project plan June 2003 June 2003 June 2003 Status Completed Completed Completed Comments

June 2003

Completed

June 2003 June 2003

Completed Completed

June 2003

Completed

June 2004 June 2004

Completed Revised: October 2004 Completed

A baseband recording June 2004 system that can be deployed at any Australian radio telescope A meeting of international groups undertaking SKA simulations Establish the MIT/Haystack simulation software package as the standard SKA simulation package Complete development of the LOFAR package as the standard simulation package for SKA June 2004

Completed: July 2003

June 2004

Revised: October 2004

June 2005

Cancelled

These three milestones have now been replaced by the five new milestones listed below. These

22


Software correlator integrated with array configuration studies RFI mitigation studies at Parkes and the ATCA Develop MIT/Haystack simulation package to be suitable for SKA studies. Use clusters at Parkes and ATCA, in conjunction with the baseband recorders, to conduct RFI surveys at these two sites. Use cluster at ATCA to process pulsar observations and measure suitability of the ATCA tied-array for pulsar observations. Use software correlator, baseband recorders and supercomputing facilities to prove the concept of eVLBI using an array of Australian radio telescopes. Develop software to calculate SKA cost based on parameters provided by all international SKA consortium members and guidelines set by the International Engineering Management Team. Demonstrate RFI mitigation in simulated and real data Real and simulated spectral line observations with RFI mitigation Software correlation for eVLBI. as part of first eVLBI experiments. Configuration studies for national and international

June 2005

Cancelled

June 2005 June 2005

Cancelled Completed

modifications have been in response to several new opportunities within Australian SKA-related projects and within the international SKA project.

June 2005

Revised: September 2005

The only outstanding task is to make the archived baseband RFI survey data available via an online interface.

June 2005

Revised: January 2006

June 2005

Completed

June 2005

Completed

June 2006

On schedule

June 2007

On schedule

These two milestones have now been replaced by the six new milestones listed below.

June 2006

New milestone

June 2006

New milestone

23


SKA site selection process, leading to the submission of the Australian site proposal in December 2005 and the evaluation of internationally proposed configurations as part of site proposals by June 2006. Development of RFI monitoring and characterisation hardware and software at the ATCA. Continuation of RFI observations and provision of data to ATCA users. Support on-going eVLBI National Facility observations with software correlator. Continue SKA simulations as part of international project. Complete write-up and publication of results obtained throughout the course of the Swinburne MNRF program. June 2006 New milestone

June 2007

New milestone

June 2007

New milestone

June 2007

New milestone

24


2. Research, access & collaboration
2.1. Facility's access regime
2.1.1. Gemini
All Australian astronomers are eligible to apply for time on the Gemini telescopes. Proposals are evaluated on the basis of scientific merit by the Australian Time Allocation Committee, which oversees time allocation on all optical/infrared nationalaccess telescopes. There is no direct charge for access to the Gemini telescopes and the telescopes are not used for commercial purposes. When new instruments, such as those being developed by the Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Anglo-Australian Observatory, are commissioned on the Gemini telescopes, they will be available to all Gemini consortium astronomers, including Australian astronomers.

2.1.2. SKA
As the SKA will not be operational for many years, there is currently no defined access regime. However, the Australian facilities that are being developed or enhanced as part of the SKA planning phase have the following access regimes: · Australia Telescope Compact Array: Proposals for observing time are allocated by the Australia Telescope National Facility's time assignment committee on the basis of scientific merit. Molonglo prototype: Proposals for observing time will be allocated by the Australia Telescope National Facility's time assignment committee. The 30% of the Swinburne supercomputer (and all associated software) available for SKA-related work is fully open to all users and access can be arranged by contacting the SKASS project leader. In addition, the Swinburne software correlator and VLBI equipment are now included in the Australian VLBI National Facility. As such, users can propose to use the Swinburne facilities via the normal ATNF call for proposal and proposal peer review processes, as of June 2005. Users are not charged for access to the facility

· ·

2.2. Collaboration and linkages
2.2.1. Gemini
· · NIFS: Auspace Ltd. WFMOS: Durham, Oxford, Johns Hopkins and Portsmouth Universities, US National Optical Astronomy Observatory and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre Starbugs: The University of Technology Sydney, the Australian ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems Collaboration, and the European Union's Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy (principally through the UK Astronomy Technology Centre). Astrophotonics Optic Fibres: Polymicro Technologies Inc, Optical Fibre Technology Centre, and Crystal Fibres in Denmark.

·

·

25


·

Astrophotonics OH suppression: Redfern Optical Components for Fibre Bragg grating work, and the University of Bath for MMF to SMF conversion.

2.2.2. SKA
· · · · CABB: Xilinx NTD: MIT Haystack observatory, South African SKA team and ASTRON (Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy). MMIC: Northup Gruman Space Technologies, IRA Bologna, JBO, ASTRON, Macquarie University and IBM. Suzy Jackson attended the European Microwave Week in Amsterdam in October 2004. This resulted in useful interaction with EU colleagues with good feedback on her integrated receiver designs and their relevance to the SKA. SKASS: Cray computer Pty Ltd, Auckland University of Technology, National Radio Astronomy Observatory (USA), University of Western Sydney, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Haystack Observatory, Communications Research Laboratory (Japan), Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (South Africa), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science.

·

2.3. Facility's contribution to research and training
2.3.1. Gemini
The Gemini telescopes are playing an important role in the training of Australian postgraduate students. In 2004-5, 66% of the proposals received had Australian PhD student involvement. Papers to date published in refereed journals (Australian authors in bold): · Kalirai, J.S., Richer, H.B., Reitzel, D., Hansen, B.M.S., Rich, R.M., Fahlman, G.G., Gibson, B.K., von Hippel, T. (2005). "The Initial-Final Mass Relationship: Spectroscopy of White Dwarfs in NGC 2099 (M37)", Astrophysical Journal (Letters),618, p. L123-L127. Da Costa G.S. (2004). "The Stellar Populations of dE Galaxies in Nearby Groups", Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 21, p. 366-370. Smith J.K., Bunker A.J., Vogt N.P., Abraham R.G., Aragon-Salamanca A., Bower R.G., Parry I.R., Sharp R.S., Swinbank A.M. (2004). "H-alpha Kinematics of a z~ 1 Disc Galaxy from Near-infrared Integral Field Spectroscopy", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 354, p. L19-L23. de Grijs R., Smith L.J., Bunker A., Sharp R.G., Gallagher J.S., Anders P., Lancon A., O'Connell R.W., Parry I.R. (2004). ``CIRPASS Near-infrared Integral-Field Spectroscopy of Massive Star Clusters in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 1140'', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 352, p. 263-276. Croom, S.M., Schade, D., Boyle, B.J., Shanks, T., Miller, L., Smith, R.J. 2004, ApJ, 606, 126. "Gemini Imaging of QSO Host Galaxies at z~2". Stanway, E.R., Glazebrook, K., Bunker, A.J., Abraham, R.G., Hook, I., Rhoads, J., McCarthy, P.J., Boyle, B., Colless, M., Crampton, D., Couch, W., Jorgensen, I., Malhotra, S., Murowinski, R., Roth, K., Savaglio, S., Tsvetanov, Z. 2004, 604,

·

·

·

· ·

26


L13. "Three Ly Emitters at z~6: Early GMOS/Gemini Data from the GLARE Project". · Forbes, D., Favio, R.F., Forte, J.C., Bridges, T., Beasley, M.A., Gebhardt, K., Hanes, D.A., Sharples, R., Zepf, S.E. 2004, Mon. Not, Royal, Astr. Soc., in press. "Gemini/GMOS Imaging of Globular Clusters in the Virgo Galaxy NGC4649 (M60)". · Sharp R.G., Parry I.R., Ryder S.D., Knapen J.H., Mazzuca L.M. (2004). ``Agedating a Star-Burst with GEMINI/CIRPASS Observations of the Core of M83'', Astronomische Nachrichten, 325, p. 108-111. · Smith V.V., Hinkle K.H., Cunha K., Plez B., Lambert D.L., Pilachowski C.A., Barbuy B., Melendez J., Balachandran S., Bessell M.S., Geisler D.P., Hesser J.E., Winge C. (2002). ``Chemical Abundances in 12 Red Giants of the Large Magellanic Cloud from High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy'', Astronomical Journal, 124, p. 3241-3254. · Davidge T.J., Da Costa G.S., Jorgensen I., Allington-Smith J.R. (2002). ``The M31 Dwarf Spheroidal Companion Andromeda V: g', r', and i' Imaging with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini North'', Astronomical Journal, 124, p. 886-895. Paper submitted for publication: J. Bland-Hawthorn, M. Vlajic, K.C. Freeman, B.T. Draine (2005). ``NGC 300: An Extremely Faint, Outer Stellar Disk Observed to 10 Scale Lengths'', Astrophysical Journal, in press. · Randall B. Wayth, Matthew O'Dowd, Rachel L. Webster (2005). ``A Microlensing Measurement of the Size of the Broad Emission Line Region in the Lensed QSO 2237+0305'', Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in press. · Melatos, A., et al. 2005, ApJ. "Rapid Variability of Subarcsecond Shock Structure in the Crab Nebula". In addition, Gemini instrument development has resulted in the following: · · McGregor, P. J., Hart, J., Stevanovic, D., Bloxham, G., Jones, D., van Harmelen, J., Griesbach, J., Dawson, M., Young, P., & Jarnyk, M. 2004, SPIE, 5492, 10031044: "Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager" Stevanovic, D., & Hart, J. 2004, SPIE, 5495, 305-313: "Cryogenic Mechanical Design of the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI)" Bland-Hawthorn, J., Englund, M.A. & Edvell, G., New approach to atmospheric OH suppression using an aperiodic fibre Bragg grating, Optics Express 24:12 (2004) Leon-Saval, SG, Birks, TA, Bland-Hawthorn, J, Englund, M., Multimode fibres with single mode performance (2005), Optics Letters, submitted (April 2005) Haynes, R., and 4 colleagues, New age fibers: the children of the photonic revolution (2004), SPIE 5494, 586-597 Bland-Hawthorn, J., and 4 colleagues, Honeycomb: a concept for a programmable integral field spectrograph (2004), SPIE 5492, 242-250

· ·

· · ·

27


2.3.2. SKA
Russell Gough presented a paper titled "MMICs for the Australia Telescope mmwave receiver system" at the GASS Symposium of the European Microwave Week in Amsterdam in October 2004. Vinogradov presented simulations of the new feed at the International Conference on Antenna Theory (ICATT05) in Kiev, Ukraine in May 2005. The paper will appear in the Conference Proceedings. A paper has also been accepted to the next URSI Conference to be held in October, 2005, in Delhi, India. Other papers include: · · Horiuchi, S. et al. 2005, in preparation. "The structure and evolution of the parsecscale jet in J0006-0623 from global VLBI observations"; Takeuchi, H. 2005, in National Institute of Information and Communications technology (Japan), Technology Development Center News, #24, p 9. "Development of software baseband converter" Dodson, R. Tingay, S.J. et al. 2005, in National Institute of Information and Communications technology (Japan), Technology Development Center News, #24, p 18. "The Australian experience with the PC-EVN recorder" Dodson, R., Tingay, S.J. et al. 2005, in proceedings of the 7th EVN symposium (Eds Rafael Bachiller, Francisco Colomer, Jean-Francois Desmurs, and Pablo deVicente), p 253. "The Australian experience with the PC-EVN recorder" Koyama, Y. et al. 2005, in proceedings of 19th Asia Pacific Advanced Networks meeting (APAN) 2005. "e-VLBI with the high speed international research networks" Green, Kesteven, Campbell-Wilson, Adams, Bunton, Leung, Sadler & Hunstead: "The SKA Molonglo Prototype (SKAMP) Project - Progress Report" Oral and poster presentation made to SKA2004 conference in Penticton, Canada, July 2004. Leung, Vinogradov, "Progress towards a wide-band line feed for the Molonglo SKA Demonstrator", SKA2004, Penticton, Canada. Rondineau, Nosich, Daniel, Himdi, Vinogradov, "MAR Analysis of a sphericalcircular printed Antenna with finite ground excited by an axially symmetric probe", IEEE Transactions on AP, 52, May 2004. Smith, Vinogradov, Vinogradova, "Rigorous analysis of extremely large spherical reflector Antennas, 2004 URSI International Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory", May 2004, Pisa, Italy. Vinogradova, Vinogradov, Smith, Rigorous analysis of extremely large spherical reflector Antennas: EM case, European conference for Mathematics for Industry (ECMI), June 2004, Eindhoven, Netherlands. Vinogradov, Green, Campbell-Wilson, Leuing, Vonogradova, Bunton, Kesteven, "Comparative Analysis of Cylindrical Reflectors of Ideal andApproximately Parabolic Shape", the International Conference on Antenna Theory (ICATT05), Kiev, Ukraine, May 2005.

·

·

·

·

· ·

·

·

·

2.4. Contribution to Australian industry
Please refer to the commercial Australian partners listed in 2.2 for a list of companies whose R & D has been stimulated by the new technology developments mentioned in this report. 28


3. Promotion of the facility
The Project Office hosted a Gemini and SKA MNRF symposium on 7th June 2005. The symposium was open to all members of the astronomical community, and was the main event during the financial year for promoting the MNRF.

3.1. Gemini
The major focus of the National Gemini Office's outreach efforts this year has been reaching out to the Australian astronomical community, to advertise the increased time available, increased completion rate of programs and wide range of new instruments that will be commissioned in 2005/06. The project scientist made a national tour, giving talks about Gemini to people from nine institutions in four states and territories. GSAOI and Starbug technologies were presented at the 2004 meeting of the Society of Photo-optical and Instrumentation Engineers in Glasgow. A number of presentations were given over the past 12 months that relate to the AAO MNRF program, these are as follows: · · · · · · · · · · · · New age fibers: the children of the photonic revolution (2004), SPIE 5494, 586597, Haynes, R., and 4 colleagues Instrument science at the Anglo-Australian Observatory (2004), SPIE 5492, 16781688, Bland-Hawthorn, J. Honeycomb: a concept for a programmable integral field spectrograph (2004), SPIE 5492, 242-250, Bland-Hawthorn, J., and 4 colleagues All-silica fiber with low or medium OH-content for broadband applications in astronomy (2004), SPIE 5494, 598-609, Ferwana, S., and 6 colleagues Starbug: enabling the smart focal plane (2004), SPIE 5495, 600-610, McGrath, A. and A. Moore A survey of fiber-positioning technologies (2004), SPIE 5495, 348-359, Smith, G., and 5 colleagues The MOMFOS fiber positioner (2004), SPIE 5492, 1835-1845, Moore, A. M. and A. J. McGrath Ukidna: the RAVE machine (2004), SPIE 5492, 353-363, McGrath, A. J., W. Saunders, F. Watson, and S. Miziarski Prototyping results for a wide-field fibre positioner for the Giant Segmented Mirror Telescope (2004), SPIE 5382, 755-762, Moore, A. and A. McGrath Instrumentation at the Anglo-Australian Observatory (2004), SPIE 5492, 75-81, Barden, S. C. KAOS: kilo-aperture optical spectrograph (2004), SPIE 5492, 364-372, Barden, S. C., A. Dey, B. Boyle and K. Glazebrook Wide-field corrector with ADC compensator and image stabilizer for f/1.7 Gemini telescope prime focus (2004), SPIE 5492, 841-851, Liang, M., S. C. Barden and R. Robles Echidna: the engineering challenges (2004), SPIE 5492, 1228-1242, Bzreski, J. K., and 7 colleagues

·

29


· · · ·

"Photonics in Astronomy," Univ. of Bath, June 2004 "Photonics in Astronomy," Photonics Showcase, U. Sydney, Nov 2004 "Astrophotonics," Univ. of Texas, Dec 2004 "In search of the Dark Ages: New Technologies and New Ideas," UC Irvine, California, May 2005 In addition, several websites are maintained, including: · · · http://www.ausgo.anu.edu.au/ http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~nifs/ http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~gsaoi/

3.2. SKA
The six projects within the Astronomy MNRF involved with SKA continue to work with international partners to position Australia at the forefront of SKA. For example: · The CABB project engineer was invited to give a presentation at an EU Radionet workshop on digital backends held in Bonn, Germany in September 2004; · The concept for the NTD was presented at the international 2004 SKA meeting by Professor Ron Ekers, and gained considerable international attention, as evidenced by the subsequent approaches by the South Africans and Canadians for collaboration, as discussed above; · 3rd Australian SKA simulations workshop in September 2004; · Dr Steven Tingay organised a summer school on radio astronomy and a radio astronomy workshop on Trans-Tasman VLBI in Auckland in March 2005. · Dr Steven Tingay co-organised a VLBI operations and e-VLBI workshop for Australian collaborators in Hobart in February 2004; · Mr Craig West gave research morning tea talk at NRAO, Socorro in July 2004, on software correlators for VLBI; · Dr Steven Tingay gave ICT Faculty seminar on the Swinburne SKA project in December 2004; · Tingay, Ogley, Horiuchi, various oral and poster presentations as part of SKA2004, International SKA Workshop, July 2004 (Penticton, Canada); · Tingay SSWG presentation to the ISSC meeting in Penticton, July 2004; · Tingay presentation to Auckland University of Technology SKA forum, December 2004; There has also been extensive consultation and promotion of the Site Proposal and the proposed SKA telescope: · · · · July 18-22, 2004. Poster presented to SKA 2004 on Mileura Widefield Array. August 13, 2004. Federal Government Forum on Radio-quiet Zones. November 11-12, 2004. Presentation to MWA wokshop in Melbourne. January 10 -14, 2005 Week long show and tell trip with the WA Mid West Development Commission visiting the Murchison Shire Council, the Pia Wajarri Community, the Meekatharra Shire Council, the Cue Shire Council and the Combined Universities at Geraldton. January 31, 2005. Presentation to WA SKA Advisory Committee on SKA. 30

·


·

February, 2005. Presentation to Wajarri Elders Working Group meeting at Yalgoo, WA. · April 5, 2005. Presentation to Perth office of Yamaji Land and Sea Council. · April 18, 2005 Address public meeting at the Murchison Shire Council. · May 2, 2005. BJB presentation to media and parliamentarians at Scitech SKA meeting. · May 2, 2005. Presentation to WASKAAC. · May 4, 2005. Presentation to WA industry representatives at OSI on SKA. · Regular presentations were made by Green to technical meetings held at the Radio Astronomy Laboratory, UC Berkeley, in the second half of 2004, as part of her sabbatical leave taken at Berkeley. · Green, Kesteven and Bunton attended the SKA2004 Conference and presented posters and gave short oral presentations. · Invited seminars were given by Green at University of California, Berkeley (Oct 2004) and VLA Operations Centre, NRAO, Socorro, New Mexico (Sept 2004). Opportunities to revive collaboration with the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Sydney are actively being sought. This has also opened collaborative possibilities with researchers in the United Kingdom. In addition to the professional activities listed above, some examples of public talks and press coverage include: · · · · · · · · · · · Tingay lecture to Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society in August 2004; Tingay lecture to Eaglehawk Senior Secondary College in Bendigo, August 2004; Tingay lecture to Bendigo District Astronomical Society in August 2004; Craig West lecture to Ballarat Astronomy Society and Ballarat Amateur Radio group, October 2004; Tingay lectures to Bendigo Senior Secondary College in April 2005; Tingay lecture to Bendigo District Astronomical Society in April 2005. Computerworld magazine: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php?id=1226084576, July 2004; Tingay interviewed on ABC Victorian regional radio, August 2004; Newspaper article in Bendigo Advertiser in August 2004; Tingay interviewed on ABC Victorian regional radio, April 2005; Two newspaper articles in Bendigo Advertiser in April 2005.

31


4. Commercialisation
The OH suppression developments that are flowing from the Anglo-Australian Observatory's instrumentation project have commercial potential. The new MMF to SMF converter allows a wide range of photonic actions to take place within a multimode fibre. This allows for the first time MMF coupling performance with SMF photonic capability, a function which is likely to have application across a wide industrial and science base. Beyond astronomy, the AAO have identified, and are investigating, four key areas for possible application: · Local area networks · Medical imaging · Passive and active sensors · New enabling technologies for space-based instruments In addition, progress towards commercial applications of the Luneberg lens technology, developed at an earlier stage of the NTD project, is continuing.

32


5. Compliance with biological & radiation safeguards
Both the Gemini and SKA facilities are purely for astronomical research and associated technological developments. This work is not normally considered contentious in terms of science ethics, environmental risks, or danger to participants or others. The Gemini Observatories have fulfilled all environmental requirements for their operation, as have the facilities of the Australia Telescope. Any expansion of Australia Telescope activities beyond the existing sites will be subject to an environmental impact study. Site selection studies for the SKA in Western Australia are in collaboration with the Office of Science and Innovation and local leaders of the Aboriginal community.

33


6. Financial report
6.1. Financial summary
As indicated in the 2003/04 annual report, "the MNRF continued to significantly under-spend due to a number of projects running behind schedule. The board will be taking steps in 2004/05 to rectify these scheduling issues." The board has now approved an updated budget covering all projects (see appendix A) and formal approval for this revised budget from DEST is pending.

Figure 2: Revised expense budget .v. original expense budget The updated budget was developed in the third quarter of 2004/05, and therefore was expected to provide an accurate forecast for the 2004/05 financial year. However, as normal, the MNRF accounts for the year were distributed across six organisations, increasing the complexity in conducting budget updates. Therefore, the variation of actual expenditure in 2004/05 against the revised budget of only 3.6% 3 is extremely reassuring, and indicates good communication between the Project Office and the MNRF participants. The revised budget plans for a significant increase in expenditure 2005/06, addressing the commitment made in the 2003/04 annual report to have a plan to get the MNRF back on track for completion of its goals by the end of the MNRF in June 2007. During the re-budgeting process, mistakes in the accounting of the MNRF revenue by CSIRO were discovered. These errors were brought to the attention of CSIRO's corporate finance team, and the mistakes were corrected. From an MNRF perspective the primary problem was in the overstatement of the contributions made by CSIRO to the MNRF, with some of the original budget numbers being reported instead of actual contributions. The revenue aspect of the financial tables (section 6.2) for 2002/03 and 2003/04 has therefore been updated to reflect the actual contributions. However, it should be noted that this accounting error did not impact on the reporting of MNRF expenditure to-date, nor does it change the contributions that CSIRO will make to the MNRF over the life of the program. CSIRO will contribute to the MNRF during the remaining years of the MNRF to ensure it meets in full its matching obligations.

3

Actual of $8,360,736 against a budget of $8,669,567

34


The major outstanding issue from a revenue perspective is a budgeted $1,500,000 contribution to the MNRF from the Sydney University Trust Fund. This amount was provided to the Trust Fund by the ARC to cover for currency fluctuations. At the end of 2004/05 discussions were underway to determine if this contribution will be made to the MRNF, or if it will continue to be held as a contingency to cover for future currency fluctuations. However, from an overall MNRF perspective, interest earned and increased contributions by some participants, means that the MNRF will still meet its committed matching contributions from participants even if this $1,500,000 is not made available. An improvement this year in the area of financial management was the co-ordinated audit of the MNRF. The auditors, BDO, visited all active participants and produced a consolidated audit report for the MNRF (see section 6.3). This provides a much clearer picture of the MNRF finances compared to previous annual reports. As confirmed by the auditor's report (section 6.3) all expenditure of the MNRF grant has been solely on the Facility in accordance with the Facility business plan.

Dr Martin Cole Chairman 30th September 2005

Dr Lister Staveley-Smith Director 30th September 2005

35


6.2. Financial tables
6.2.1. In-Kind Contributions from Participating Parties

36


6.2.2. Cash Contributions from Participating Parties

37


6.2.3. Cash Heads of Expenditure

38


6.2.4. Summary of Resources Applied to Activities of MNRF

39


6.2.5. Summary of Planning/Construction/Upgrade/Operating Expenditure

40


6.2.6. Cash Cost (net of GST) of Purchased Capital Equipment

41


6.3. Auditors report

42


43


44


Appendix A: Updated budget (June 2005)
Project Office Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total Gemini share Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total AAO Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total RSAA Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total Original budget receipts & payments -$1,051,600 -$876,600 $1,957,400 $2,360,700 -$1,291,600 $1,098,300 Original budget receipts & payments $4,302,400 $5,687,400 $5,928,400 $6,136,400 $5,227,400 $27,282,000 Original budget receipts & payments $112,000 $252,000 $412,000 $812,000 $1,012,000 $2,600,000 Original budget receipts & payments $242,600 $242,600 $242,600 $242,600 $242,600 $1,213,000 Updated budget receipts $336,381 $121,428 $168,961 $175,782 $178,478 $981,029 Updated budget receipts $4,505,521 $5,889,838 $5,561,018 $6,007,162 $5,098,162 $27,061,701 Updated budget receipts $134,900 $413,000 $891,100 $700,000 $700,000 $2,839,000 Updated budget receipts $420,000 $216,000 $220,000 $220,000 $0 $1,076,000 Updated budget payments $336,381 $121,428 $168,961 $175,782 $178,478 $981,029 Updated budget payments $2,341,571 $5,203,851 $3,957,418 $6,873,294 $4,985,377 $23,361,511 Updated budget payments $134,900 $413,000 $891,100 $700,000 $700,000 $2,839,000 Updated budget payments $420,000 $216,000 $220,000 $220,000 $0 $1,076,000

45


CABB Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total NTD Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total MMIC Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total SKAMP Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total

Original budget receipts & payments $1,150,000 $1,475,000 $1,800,000 $450,000 $400,000 $5,275,000 Original budget receipts & payments $895,000 $1,710,000 $2,360,000 $1,010,000 $610,000 $6,585,000 Original budget receipts & payments $1,100,000 $900,000 $600,000 $350,000 $300,000 $3,250,000 Original budget receipts & payments $217,500 $441,000 $434,500 $523,200 $167,000 $1,783,200

Updated budget receipts $425,144 $469,082 $670,000 $1,890,000 $1,830,000 $5,284,226 Updated budget receipts $1,488,995 $1,123,467 $721,682 $2,492,010 $1,905,988 $7,732,142 Updated budget receipts $310,541 $158,661 $310,330 $550,420 $525,400 $1,855,352 Updated budget receipts $134,000 $312,000 $647,000 $523,200 $167,000 $1,783,200

Updated budget payments $425,144 $469,082 $670,000 $1,890,000 $1,830,000 $5,284,226 Updated budget payments $1,488,995 $1,123,467 $721,682 $2,492,010 $1,905,988 $7,732,142 Updated budget payments $310,541 $158,661 $310,330 $550,420 $525,400 $1,855,352 Updated budget payments $134,000 $140,000 $503,067 $503,067 $503,067 $1,783,200

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SKA Siting Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total SKASS Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total Interest Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total Total Year 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Total

Original budget receipts & payments $200,000 $200,000 $200,000 $200,000 $0 $800,000 Original budget receipts & payments $877,900 $633,800 $311,600 $234,200 $205,200 $2,262,700 Original budget receipts & payments $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Original budget receipts & payments $8,045,800 $10,665,200 $14,246,500 $12,319,100 $6,872,600 $52,149,200

Updated budget receipts $117,000 $71,566 $857,010 $714,335 $77,075 $1,836,986 Updated budget receipts $593,050 $722,936 $355,200 $355,200 $355,200 $2,381,586 Updated budget receipts $114,534 $27,695 $207,346 $442,673 $190,463 $982,710 Updated budget receipts $8,580,066 $9,525,673 $10,609,647 $14,070,782 $11,027,766 $53,813,933

Updated budget payments $117,000 $71,566 $857,010 $714,335 $77,075 $1,836,986 Updated budget payments $727,790 $373,966 $370,000 $400,000 $420,000 $2,291,756 Updated budget payments $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 Updated budget payments $6,436,322 $8,291,021 $8,669,567 $14,518,908 $11,125,385 $49,041,202

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Appendix B: Performance indicator survey
Note: There are two facilities covered by this MNRF: The Australian share of Gemini and the SKA. As the SKA will not be operational until at least the next decade, it is not possible to complete a performance indicator survey for the SKA. Therefore this performance indicator survey is only related to the Australian share of Gemini facility. Name of Facility The Australian share of Gemini NB: All questions refer to the current reporting period, unless otherwise specified. 1. Facility demand and usage (a) Facility demand >100% indicates Facility is oversubscribed (b) Users accessing the Facility User Type National Number International Percentage Number of total users 17% 0 Total Percentage Number of total users 0% 7 230 %

·

Public-funded researchers (not university) Industry University Other (please specify) Total

7

· · · ·

0 33 0 40

0% 83% 0% 100%

0 0 0 0

0% 0% 0% 0%

0 33 0 40

(c) Competitive government grants used to access and conduct research at the Facility Not applicable. Astronomers are not charged to use the Australian share of Gemini, rather time is allocated on scientific merit. The funding for the Australian share in Gemini is detailed in the financial tables elsewhere in the annual report. (d) Opportunity cost to access similar overseas facilities Not applicable. No eight metre class optical telescopes exist in Australia, and the Australian share of Gemini is already Australian access to an international facility. (e) Details of similar/same facilities emerging in Australia Not applicable. No eight metre class optical telescopes are planned for Australia. 2. Access arrangements (a) User satisfaction with access arrangements The Australian Gemini Office carried out a survey of Australian Gemini users. The results are discussed in the main text. In summary, users were very satisfied with the quality of data received and the support from both the national office and Gemini 48


observatory staff. There were, however, serious concerns about lack of data reduction software, and the very small proportion of even highly ranked telescope proposals that actually received complete data sets. (b) To what extent have overseas users accessing the Facility provided increased leverage for Australian researchers to access overseas facilities? In addition to the enhanced links Australia has developed with the other partner countries through its membership in Gemini, science programs being pursued by Australian researchers on the Gemini telescopes involve a high level of international collaboration. In 2004/05 over seventy percent of proposals involved international collaboration. Collaborations involving astronomers in countries which belong to the Gemini partnership have the opportunity of obtaining multiple allocations of time for their project through being able to apply to the individual time assignment committees in each of the partner countries. Australian astronomers are effective users of this "joint proposal" mechanism; in 2004/05, fifty percent of the proposals received were in this category. 3. Facility promotion and enhancement to Australian SET (a) Publications and activities which include data obtained from research performed at the Facility Publication Academic Peer reviewed journal and conference articles Books and chapters in books Media Other (Websites) Newspaper, TV, radio Popular scientific press (eg ABC Science Online) Number Local 1 0 0 0 0 Overseas 7 0 0 0 0

(b) Prizes awarded for research conducted at the Facility Award Name of awardee Reason

(c) Other communication and promotional activities Activity Trade Displays Seminars Community-based fora eg talks to schools Workshops Number Local 0 15 3 1 Overseas 0 10 0 0

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Conference poster presentations

3

5

(d) To what extent has the Facility contributed to enhancing the skills base and training opportunities for Australian researchers? The Gemini telescopes are playing an important role in the training of Australian postgraduate students. In 2004/05 66% of the proposals received had Australian PhD student involvement, which in terms of numbers amounts to eight students who obtained Gemini data for their thesis. In addition there are ten postdoctoral researchers supported on Gemini-related ARC grants, located at the Australian National University's Research School for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales and the University of Queensland. 4. Collaborative activities Gemini is an international partnership managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy under a cooperative agreement with the USA National Science Foundation. The running of the Gemini telescopes is therefore beyond the scope of this report which is concerned solely with the approximately six percent of Gemini that comprises the Australian share of Gemini. The international collaboration of the users of the Australian share of Gemini is covered in 2 (b) above. 5. Commercial activity and application of research results (a) New Australian Enterprises Activity Start-up companies and spinoffs Other (please specify) Number 0 0 Capitalisati on ($'000) 0 0 Comment

(b) What evidence is there that industry and research users are adopting sophisticated technologies and advanced designs and products developed by use of the Facility? None. (c) What evidence is there of new industry and/or research clusters, or expansion of existing clusters, that can be attributed to the existence and use of the Facility? None.

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6. Financial indicators (a) Income from access arrangements User Type · Public-funded researchers (not university) Industry University Other (please specify) Total National ($'000) 0 International ($'000) 0 Total ($'000) 0

· · · ·

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0

(b) Additional investment (surplus to budget in Schedule 3) Investor National Cash ($'000) · Public-funded researchers (not university) Industry University Federal Government State Government Local Government Non-Government Org Philanthropic contributions Other (please specify) Total 0 In-kind ($'000) 0 International Cash ($'000) 0 In-kind ($'000) 0

· · · · · · · · ·

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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(c) Commercialisation of research results and knowledge diffusion Activity · · Licensing agreements Contract services and consultancies undertaken by Facility for fee paying clients Income to Facility from royalties and sales of products and services Other (please specify) Total Number 0 0 Income ($'000) 0 0 Comment

·

0

0

· ·

0 0

0 0

(d) Total income received in the reporting year Income type · · · · Total Cash ($'000) Total In-kind ($'000 ) Total MNRF grant ($'000) Total National $1,764,992 $0 $1,476,836 $3,241,828 $0 International $0 $0 Total $1,764,992 $0 $1,476,836 $3,241,828

(e) Self sufficiency in terms of operating costs Percentage of total income that covers the Facility's operating costs excluding the MNRF grant. 4 14 %

4

During 2004/05 $1,200,259 of the MNRF grant was used towards the purchase of an additional share of Gemini for Australia, and $276,577 was contributed towards the operating costs of the Australian share of Gemini. The calculation of the self sufficiency of operating costs only considered the portion of the MNRF grant contributed towards the operating costs. In addition, a second payment of approximately $276,000 was due to be made at the end of 2004/05, however this payment was made late (ie early 2005/06) and has not been included as the MNRF is reported on a cash-accounting basis as requested by DEST.

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Appendix C: AABoM members
· · · · · · · · Dr Martin Cole (Chair), Cole Innovation & Design Pty Ltd Dr Brian Boyle, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Dr Matthew Colless, Anglo-Australian Observatory Dr Ron Ekers, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Mr Roger Franzen, Auspace Ltd Prof Penny Sackett, Australian National University Dr Lister Staveley-Smith, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Prof Erich Weigold, Australian Research Council

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Appendix D: AABoM's advisory committees' members
Australian Gemini Steering Committee · Prof. Warrick Couch (Chair), University of New South Wales · A/Prof. Tim Bedding, University of Sydney · Dr Brian Boyle, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Dr Matthew Colless, Anglo-Australian Observatory · Prof. Gary Da Costa, Australian National University · Dr Paul Francis, Australian National University · Prof. Peter Hoj, Australian Research Council · Prof. Penny Sackett, Australian National University · Prof. Rachel Webster, University of Melbourne Australian Square Kilometre Array Consortium Executive · Dr Bob Frater (Chair), ResMed Ltd · Dr Martin Cole (Deputy Chair), Cole Innovation & Design Pty Ltd · Prof. Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology · Dr Michael Barber, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Dr Brian Boyle, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Dr Ron Ekers, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Dr Anne Green, University of Sydney · Prof. Sergei Gulyaev, Auckland University of Technology · Prof. John de Laeter, Curtin University of Technology

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Appendix E: Project leaders and project participants
Project Office ­ Mark McAuley · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Increased share of Gemini telescopes ­ Warrick Couch · Australian National University · Australian Research Council · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Swinburne University of Technology · University of Melbourne · University of New South Wales · University of Sydney RSAA Gemini instrumentation ­ Peter McGregor · Australian National University AAO instrumentation ­ Sam Barden · Anglo-Australian Observatory AT compact array broadband backend (CABB) ­ Warwick Wilson · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation New technology demonstrator (NTD) ­ Colin Jacka · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) ­ Warwick Wilson · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation SKA Molonglo prototype (SKAMP) ­ Anne Green · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · University of Sydney SKA siting ­ Tony Sweetnam · Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation · Government of Western Australia SKA supercomputer simulation & baseband processing (SKASS) ­ Steven Tingay · Dell Computer Pty Ltd · Government of Victoria · Swinburne University of Technology

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Appendix F: Glossary
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · AABoM AAO ATNF CABB CDR CSIRO DEST DFB FPA GSAOI MMIC MNRF NIFS NTD PCB PDR RFI RSAA SKA SKAMP SKASS VLBI WFMOS Australian Astronomy Board of Management Anglo-Australian Observatory Australia Telescope National Facility Compact Array Broadband Backend Critical Design Review Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Department of Education, Science and Training Digital Filter Bank Focal Plane Array Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit Major National Research Facility Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph New Technology Demonstrator Printed Circuit Board Preliminary Design Review Radio Frequency Interference Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics Square Kilometre Array SKA Molonglo Prototype SKA Supercomputer Simulations Very Long Baseline Interferometry Gemini Wide Field Multi-Object Spectrograph

56