SKA telescope manager: a status update

The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, nearing the end of its design phase and poised for construction, introduces a sophisticated Telescope Manager (TM) software system to oversee operations. This distributed Observatory will integrate two radio interferometers—one in Western Australia (SKA-Low) and another in South Africa (SKA-Mid)—operating as a unified entity with global headquarters at Jodrell Bank, UK. The TM software is designed to streamline proposal submissions, subsystem coordination, and real-time monitoring while ensuring reliability across domains. A key innovation is the adoption of the Software Engineering Institute's architecture design processes, enhancing documentation and review protocols. This adaptive approach addresses complex challenges in managing a global observatory, setting a precedent for large-scale astronomical infrastructure.

Chaudhuri, S. R., Di Carlo, M., Le Roux, G., Natarajan, S., Wadadekar, Y., Ramanujam, N. M., Kodikar, J., Sathe, V., Patil, M., Khanvilkar, A., Dange, A., Trivedi, V., Ranpura, J., Nakave, S., Kumthekar, V., Mohile, V., Valame, S., van den Heever, L., Swart, P., et al. (2018). SKA telescope manager: a status update. Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy V, 2. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313649