The Technical Genesis of the Meerkat Radio Telescope

Abstract

The MeerKAT radio telescope, located at the SKA-mid telescope site in the Karoo region of South Africa, is a project that was initiated and funded by the South African government to design and build a world-class radio telescope.  MeerKAT has enabled major scientific discoveries in its first five years of operation, providing an early indication of what the scientific impact of the SKA will be.  In addition to being a powerful instrument in its own right, the MeerKAT is also an SKA precursor that has developed critical techniques and technologies that have been adopted by SKA-mid.  The MeerKAT receptors will eventually be incorporated into the SKA-mid array, contributing significantly to the sensitivity and capabilities of the international telescope.  This talk will give a retrospective overview of the path from an initial concept to the eventual realization of the telescope, describing the technical innovation and engineering processes that guided the development of the overall system and its component subsystems.

Profile

Prof. Justin Jonas was born in London and emigrated to South Africa with his parents in 1965. He attended school in Uitenhage, matriculating from Muir College in 1975, and enrolled at Rhodes University for a BSc degree in 1976. All of his degrees were obtained from Rhodes University, culminating in a PhD in Radio Astronomy in 1999. His PhD topic was the Rhodes/HartRAO 2.3 GHz radio continuum survey of the Milky Way.

He has worked in the Department of Physics and Electronics at Rhodes since 1981, starting as a research technician and progressing through the researcher and lecturer ranks, and was appointed as Professor of Physics and Electronics in 2001. From 2003 till 2006 he was seconded to be the Managing Director of the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (a post he again held temporarily during 2017/2018).

His professional interests include all aspects of observational Radio Astronomy, from instrument design through to data processing, and the observation radio emission from the Milky Way. He has a side interest in the detection of radio transients and pulsars.

His professional life is divided between Rhodes University, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and the international Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO). He has been intimately involved in the design and construction of the MeerKAT radio telescope, and is the Chief Technologist for SARAO. He is Professor of Physics and Electronics at Rhodes University, where he is Director of the Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT). He is the inaugural recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Achievement Award.

He has had a close association with the Square Kilometre Array project since 2001, sitting on various technical, management and advisory committees, and was a long-standing member of the SKAO science and engineering advisory committee (SEAC). Since 1st November 2022 he has taken up a System Scientist position at the SKA Organization (SKAO), initially in conjunction with his SARAO and Rhodes responsibilities, but this will become his full-time, post statutory retirement job when the first SKA dishes are constructed in the Karoo during 2023.

During the Covid-19 pandemic he was Technical Advisor to the National Ventilator Project team that managed the rapid development and production of 20,000 locally produced Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices that provided an alternative to invasive ventilation therapy for patients with severe symptoms. His recreational activities include hiking, road and trail running, mountain biking, dinghy and windsurfer sailing, tinkering in his carpentry and metal workshops, and model boat building.

The African Light Source: The Next Large Scale Research Infrastructure Powering Science Excellence Towards Sustainable Development

Abstract

The African Light Source (AfLS) is a  multidisciplinary large scale research infrastructure, such as a synchrotron light source or similar. It is a super multi-dimensional, analytical microscope.  It benefits numerous scientific disciplines, manufacturing industries, and technology businesses.  We need it, as it is the most important tool that enables the science that supports the most excellent research into the most important challenges facing the continent. There is already an African user base for such facilities outside of Africa, in the health sciences, the materials and minerals sciences, the heritage sciences, the environmental sciences amongst others. The African light source has developed a roadmap towards realising this facility for the African continent, and will soon release the Conceptual Design Report (CDR). Meanwhile, together with its partner organisations, it engages in both bottom up and top down activities that support the momentum that is building towards the AfLS. This talk will discuss the latest progress and status of this project.

Profile

Prof. Connell is Professor of Physics within the Faculty of Engineering and the built Environment at the University of Johannesburg. He has research interests in Particle, Nuclear, Quantum and Applied Physics, Nuclear Energy, Materials Science, High Performance Computing and Innovation. He is a past president of the South African Institute of Physics. He is the founding member of the SA participation in High Energy Physics at ATLAS at CERN. He has published over 170 papers in International Journals and is also an ATLAS author. He has a Scopus H-index of 78 with over 27,000 citations. He is interested in technology and innovation for competitive industry (particularly in peaceful applications of nuclear technology) and has a project on the intelligent sensor-based sorting of diamond in kimberlite. He supports Nuclear Energy, both large scale generation and also Small Modular Reactors. He has worked on Open Source Monte Carlo Nuclear Engineering code development and also on Fibre Optic based on-line, in-core, real-time 4IR sensing for reactors. He also works on the implementation of the roadmap towards the African Light Source (chair: Exec). He is also on the steering committee developing the community driven African Strategy for Physics.

Women in Engineering, challenges and opportunities they get and how the stats look like in South Africa

Abstract

Gender equality and empowerment is one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, SDG 5 to be specific. Over 70 years since its existence, the UN has made significant steps and progress in realizing its goals including gender equality and empowerment, however, women still experience inequalities compared to their male counterparts, particularly in the workplace. The gender disparity is even more prevalent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Although this shouldn’t be the case given the challenges the world faces that need innovative solutions. On the contrary, we have a situation of educated people with no opportunities to develop practical skills, or women stuck in roles with no growth or meaningful contribution. South Africa is not exempt from this dilemma, although stats show that there is about 50/50 representation of the gender and in certain cases more women in the classroom and graduation. However, the case changes in professional fields and industries where males dominate in both operational and strategic roles. According to the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), 54% of engineering graduates are females, half go through candidacy, while only 6% register as professionals. The question we ask and unpack is 1. What happens between the classroom and the workplace? 2. What should be done to attract, retain, empower, and grow STEM women in the workplace and lead their own organizations? 3. Are societal norms contributing to female workforce attrition? 4. Personal role as a woman in supporting self-development.

Profile

A mechanical engineering professional who started as an engineering technician at Transnet Freight Rail, formerly Spoornet. I had a great opportunity to learn asset and maintenance management basics. This foundation shaped the professional I became and continue to be. I have grown from an entry technician role to the Head of Engineering for Downstream Operations in Shell Downstream South Africa (SDSA). I attribute this growth to the support I have had in my career such as mentors, sponsors, peers, and great leadership I have been exposed to. I am a believer in continuous learning as it gives longevity to one’s existence in the industry. I have furthered my education to obtain a master’s degree in engineering management. I keep up my knowledge by participating in research, industry engagements and groups such as being a council member of the Engineering Council of South Africa and furthering my leadership capabilities by chairing a council committee. I understand the concept of the glass ceiling dilemma for many engineers and as such I am diversifying my scope to enhance my leadership and organizational management skills by joining membership groups such as IoDSA, being the chairperson for the Shell staff consultative committee and participating in academia. In my 19-year career span, I have a few accolades that confirm that I am on the right track, these include vice president awards for Capital Stewardship, compliance, operational excellence, top quartile leader and continuous improvement. The award I am most proud of is the Women in Business that I won in the 2022 Shell Excellence Awards. I believe in balance and the value of family in one’s life as an anchor. My biggest driver for excellence and professional conduct is to be a role model to children and the young talent that is upcoming. I share my story so that no one can think that our backgrounds have an influence on what we become.

Is everything an object now?

Abstract

In this talk we will discuss a brief history of large scale storage technologies and techniques, and how many ideas have now come full circle. In particular we will discuss the rise of object based storage as the de-facto standard, and how technologies are converging into an object everywhere strategy across solid state, spinning disk and magnetic tape. The role of open-source storage platforms such as DAOS and Ceph will be highlighted, and how the collaborative nature of these efforts is fueling innovation in the storage sector.

Profile

Fulfilling the role of CEO as well as head of architecture at Tsolo Storage Systems, Simon brings a 20 year track record of delivery at the highest level, including significant contributions in both the commercial and academic sectors. As lead for scientific computing at SARAO until 2020, Simon oversaw the design, development and operation of one of the most sophisticated scientific computing infrastructures in the scientific community. Simon has also demonstrated significant entrepreneurship and innovation, being awarded as the top IP creator within the NRF in 2019, as well as building a highly successful laboratory medicine company (Nanolabs) which was recently acquired by Discovery Health.