SKA South Africa set to help expand Africa's data processing capabilities

SKA South Africa, the organisation responsible for South Africa’s participation in the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project, and for the country’s own MeerKAT radio telescope array, is busy helping develop the data processing capabilities of the African SKA partner countries. Central to this will be the African Big Data Pilot Project. “We’ve already sent astronomers with data and computers to Kenya, Namibia and Mauritius to start working with partner institutions in these countries,” reports SKA South Africa manager: commissioning and science processing Dr Lindsay Magnus. “These are pilot projects to start building their data analysis experience.”

“The African Big Data project will be much larger,” he adds. “Data centres will be created in the partner countries, which they will operate. The negotiations are already under way on how to work with the partner countries. We hope to start this project in the near future.” The African partner countries will host outstations of the SKA during the second phase of the programme. The core elements of the SKA will be cohosted by South Africa and Australia.

South Africa’s MeerKAT, which will be composed of 64 dishes, will be a precursor of the SKA and will be, in due course, incorporated into Phase 1 of the international instrument. “By the end of this year, we’ll have 14 [MeerKAT] dishes up,” he points out. “About five will be operational. We have a key target to have 16 dishes producing science by the middle of next year.”

In a recent briefing at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory, west of Pretoria, Magnus highlighted that SKA South Africa had a strong focus on getting Africa ready for the SKA. This included human capital development and the creation of the African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network (AVN). “The idea is to look at old telecommunications dishes . . . [convert them] and use them as part of a VLBI network,” he said. The AVN and the African Big Data Pilot Project are complementary and associated initiatives. The African Big Data Pilot Project will run for five years and will serve to establish the African Big Data Cloud Network.

He also stressed South Africa’s objective of becoming a world leader in Big Data by 2020. He pointed out that, once operational, each antenna of the SKA would produce one DVD of data every second.

SKA South Africa has been emphasising human capital development at home, as well. “We have a strong emphasis on human capital development,” he affirmed. The success rate has been significant. For example, of the undergraduate students funded through the organisations’ programme, 78% have gone on to complete honours degrees. And of those with honours or BSc Eng degrees, 60% have gone on to earn master’s degrees.

The MeerKAT and SKA projects have also stimulated technology development in South Africa. Perhaps the best known example is the Reconfigurable Open Architecture Computing Hardware (Roach) board. This was designed mainly in South Africa, with assistance from US researchers. “We’re already exporting the technology,” highlighted Magnus.

The ultimate purpose of all this activity is to try to answer some very profound scientific questions about the cosmos. He pointed out that only 4% of the universe was made up of normal matter, while 21% was composed of dark matter (so called because it neither reflects nor absorbs light and so is invisible) and 75% is the even more mysterious dark energy. As a result, we really understand only 4% of the universe. The SKA will play a key role in efforts to determine the nature and properties of dark matter and dark energy.