SA's bandwidth situation poses a threat to the country's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope.
SKA SA project manager Bernie Fanaroff says this is a challenge that SA has to overcome to beat Australia in the bid.
“Very large bandwidth is required for the SKA. We're talking about hundreds of terabits per second. That's more than SA's entire traffic. It's more than America's entire traffic.”
Fanaroff says SKA SA is in discussions with operators to address the problem.
“If bandwidth costs here are going to be more expensive than in Australia, that's going to make a difference. It's going to be an important number.”
Rescue cables
WWW Strategy MD Steven Ambrose says SA does not currently have the free capacity required for the SKA.
However, he adds that the imminent arrival of the West Africa Cable System and Africa Coast to Europe cables in 2012 will provide sufficient international capacity to meet the requirements of the telescope.
“This is even taking SA's Internet growth into account, with a predicted 10 million Internet users by 2015.”
The costs are globally set and the cost of international bandwidth on the various cables is a commodity that bears internationally related commodity pricing, says Ambrose.
“Due to this, the costs of the bandwidth will be similar for both countries. The main issue will be the local leg to connect to the landing stations. In this regard I believe that the local provider will have to meet international pricing levels to be competitive.”
He also says indications are that dedicated fibre will be laid for this purpose, and in the context of the overall costs, will not be a deciding factor in the equation.
Bandwidth hike
Democratic Alliance shadow minister of science and technology Marian Shinn says the timeframe needs to be taken into account. “By the time we need the bandwidth for the SKA, we should have the capacity.”
She also says the expected cables will provide the necessary capacity required by the time operations start on the telescope if SA wins the bid.
“In fact, winning the bid will be a great incentive to improve bandwidth in SA.”
SA went from 80GBps in 2009 to 5 460GBps in early 2011, says Ambrose. “This will expand by a further 5 120GBps in 2011 and an additional 5 120GBps in early 2012, bringing the capacity to 15.7TBps per second in total.
“Not all the capacity on our current cables are lit, or used, so there will be excess capacity available for the telescope by 2012.”
Neck on neck
Fanaroff says SA is on track with its bid for the telescope and the necessary reports are being prepared.
“The reports are due on 31 May and then a recommendation will be made by 2012 on which country should host the SKA.”
The project manager adds that some tests need to be done before the reports can be completed.
“The most important test is the test of radiofrequency interference. We've done the first part. The other parts need to be done by the international project group and they will have to finish soon because the reports are due in May.
“We also have to do a test on the troposphere. We were waiting for equipment from America and now both countries [SA and Australia] will do this test on the troposphere.”
Fanaroff adds that a major costing exercise also needs to be done.
“We are fairly confident that we will be cheaper than Australia in capital and construction costs.” His says his only concern relates to bandwidth, in terms of costs.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) previously said although both sites have been found to be excellent to host the SKA, it is necessary to determine which of the two locations is best in terms of quality of site and cost to construct.
Bandwidth monster
The final decision regarding the successful host country for the telescope is expected in 2012, with work due to start in 2013. Operations will start in 2015, provided a significant portion of the array has been commissioned.
The SKA will consist of approximately 3 000 dish-shaped antennae and other hybrid receiving technologies, with a core of about 2 000 antennae. These stations will be spread over a vast area of up to 3 000km.
The core of the telescope will be located in Carnarvon, in the Northern Cape, with about three antenna stations in Namibia, four in Botswana and one each in Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. Each antenna station will consist of about 30 to 40 individual antennae.
At an estimated construction cost of $2 billion, the SKA is poised to be by far the largest radio telescope in the world, and consolidate Africa as a major hub for astronomy in the world, says the DST.
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