Provision of RAMS Analysis to the SKA Signal and Data Transport Group of the University of Manchester

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Background information on The University of Manchester The University of Manchester, in its present form, was created in 2004 by the amalgamation of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). After 100 hundred years of working closely together both institutions agreed to form a single university, and on 22 October 2004 they officially combined to form the largest single-site university in the UK. The University’s aim is to be known worldwide as a place where the highest academic values and educational innovation are cherished, where research prospers and makes a real difference, and where the fruits of scholarship resonate throughout society. Further details on the University can be found at: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/facts-figures/ Background information on Project The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) The SKA will be the most sensitive radio telescope ever built and will play a major role in answering key questions in modern astrophysics and cosmology (see www.skatelescope.org). It will be one of a small number of cornerstone observatories across the electromagnetic spectrum that will transform our view of the Universe. The University of Manchester is one of three major UK university contributors to the SKA, together with Cambridge and Oxford, and its Jodrell Bank Observatory is the location of the international headquarters of the SKA Organisation, the UK-based legal entity that directs the project. The University of Manchester operates the e-MERLIN interferometer, which is an SKA Pathfinder instrument. SKA Group, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy The Manchester SKA Group is headed by Professor Keith Grainge, leader of the International Signal and Data Transport (SADT) Consortium, and is composed of astronomers and engineers from the School of Physics and Astronomy (Jodrell Bank Observatory and Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics) and the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. SKA activity in Manchester encompasses the science case and a number of engineering developments including the hardware design, construction, and verification of the signal & data transport and synchronization & timing sub-systems, non-imaging processing for pulsars and transients, and aperture array receiver design. The University of Manchester has been selected to lead the international SADT Consortium on the signal & data transport and synchronization & timing. The SKA SADT Consortium Information on the consortium is available from: http://www.skatelescope.org/skadesign/wp/sadt/