ska signal processing costs · 2012. 9. 25. · td‐002 rev a [17] pulsar signal processing on...
TRANSCRIPT
Name Designation Affiliation Date Signature
Additional Authors
Submitted by:
W. Turner Signal Processing Domain Specialist
SPDO 2011‐03‐26
Approved by:
K.Cloete Project Manager SPDO 2011‐03‐29
SKA SIGNAL PROCESSING COSTS
Document number .................................................................. WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001
Revision ........................................................................................................................... 1
Author ................................................................................................................ W Turner
Date ................................................................................................................. 2011‐02‐29
Status ............................................................................................... Approved for release
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
2011‐02‐29 Page 2 of 65
DOCUMENT HISTORY
Revision Date Of Issue Engineering Change
Number
Comments
A ‐ ‐ First draft release for internal review
1 29th March 2011 ‐ First Issue
DOCUMENT SOFTWARE
Package Version Filename
Wordprocessor MsWord Word 2003 08‐wp2‐040.030.020‐td‐001‐1‐cost model
Block diagrams
Other
ORGANISATION DETAILS
Name SKA Program Development Office
Physical/Postal
Address
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
Alan Turing Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester, UK
M13 9PL
Fax. +44 (0)161 275 4049
Website www.skatelescope.org
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 7
1.1 Purpose of the document ....................................................................................................... 7
2 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 7
3 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................. 9
4 SOFTWARE CORRELATOR 001 ........................................................................ 13
4.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 14
4.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 14
5 SOFTWARE CORRELATOR 002 ........................................................................ 16
5.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 17
5.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 18
6 GSA CORRELATOR ...................................................................................... 20
6.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 23
6.2 Cost Estimates Table 15 GSA Board Cost and Power Estimates ........................................... 24
7 ASKAP STYLE CORRELATOR ......................................................................... 26
7.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 28
7.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 29
8 UNIBOARD BASED CORRELATOR ..................................................................... 32
8.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 32
8.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 33
9 CASPER CORRELATOR .................................................................................. 35
9.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 36
9.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 36
10 MINIMUM POWER ASIC CORRELATOR ......................................................... 39
11 SKADS BASED CORRELATOR ...................................................................... 39
11.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 39
11.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 40
12 CENTRAL BEAMFORMER ............................................................................ 42
12.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 44
12.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 44
13 UNIBOARD BASED STATION BEAMFORMER ..................................................... 47
13.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 47
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13.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 48
14 STATION BEAMFORMER (ASIC) ................................................................... 51
14.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 51
14.2 Hybrid ASIC and FPGA Beamformer...................................................................................... 51
14.3 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 53
15 NON IMAGING PROCESSING ........................................................................ 54
15.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 56
15.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 56
16 PAF BEAMFORMING ................................................................................ 58
16.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 59
16.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 59
17 PULSAR SIGNAL PROCESSING ON UNIBOARD ................................................ 61
17.1 Procurement Method ........................................................................................................... 62
17.2 Cost Estimates ....................................................................................................................... 63
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 FPGA Pulsar Processing Cost Estimates .................................................................................. 61
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Indices of Inflation Values for cost estimation ........................................................................... 9
Table 2 Exchange Rates for use in cost estimation (based on a 7 year average) ................................. 10
Table 3 Description of the Basis of Estimate Ratings ............................................................................ 11
Table 4 Software correlator 001 component cost estimates ............................................................... 13
Table 5 Cost coverage Software Correlator 001 ................................................................................... 16
Table 6 SKA Memo 130 compliant correlator component costs .......................................................... 16
Table 7 Concept 160 beam correlator component costs...................................................................... 17
Table 8 Cost coverage Software Correlator 002 ................................................................................... 20
Table 9 GSA Phase 2 Correlator WBSPF component costs ................................................................... 20
Table 10 GSA Phase 2 Dish PAF component costs ................................................................................ 21
Table 11 GSA Phase 2 Sparse AA component costs .............................................................................. 21
Table 12 GSA Phase 2 Dense AA component costs .............................................................................. 22
Table 13 GSA concept NREs (not including institute design costs) ....................................................... 22
Table 14 GSA concept NREs (not including institute design costs) ....................................................... 23
6.2 Cost Estimates Table 15 GSA Board Cost and Power Estimates ................................................. 24
Table 16 Cost coverage GSA Correlator ................................................................................................ 26
Table 17 ASKAP Style Phase 1 Correlator component costs ................................................................ 27
Table 18 ASKAP Style Phase 2 Correlator component costs ................................................................ 28
Table 19 Cost coverage ASKAP Style Correlator SKA1 and SKA2 .......................................................... 31
Table 20 Uniboard Phase 1 Correlator component costs .................................................................... 32
Table 21 Cost coverage Uniboard Correlator for SKA1 ......................................................................... 35
Table 22 CASPER Phase 1 Correlator component costs ....................................................................... 35
Table 23 Cost coverage CASPER Correlator for SKA1 ........................................................................... 38
Table 24 AA Correlator Phase 2 component costs ............................................................................... 39
Table 25 Cost coverage Dense AA Correlator for SKA2 ....................................................................... 41
Table 26 Central Beamformer SPF component costs ........................................................................... 42
Table 27 Central Beamformer SparseAA component costs .................................................................. 43
Table 28 Cost coverage Central Beamformer ....................................................................................... 46
Table 29 Uniboard Station Beamformer component costs ................................................................. 47
Table 30 Cost coverage Uniboard Station Beamformer ....................................................................... 50
Table 31 Component cost breakdown of single station processing ..................................................... 52
Table 32 Power consumption of single station processing .................................................................. 52
Table 33 Cost Coverage of Station Processing for SKA‐1 ...................................................................... 54
Table 34 Component cost breakdown of single station processing ..................................................... 55
Table 35 PAF Beamformer cost estimates SKA 1 .................................................................................. 59
Table 36 PAF Beamformer cost estimates SKA2 ................................................................................... 59
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Table 37 Uniboard Pulsar timing component costs ............................................................................. 62
Table 38 Cost coverage UNIBOARD Pulsar processing for SKA1........................................................... 65
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AA .................................. Aperture Array
Ant. ................................ Antenna
CoDR ............................. Conceptual Design Review
DRM .............................. Design Reference Mission
EoR ............................... Epoch of Reionisation
EX .................................. Example
FLOPS ........................... Floating Point Operations per second
FoV ................................ Field of View
Ny .................................. Nyquist
Ov .................................. Over sampling
PAF ............................... Phased Array Feed
PrepSKA........................ Preparatory Phase for the SKA
RFI ................................. Radio Frequency Interference
rms ................................ root mean square
SKA ............................... Square Kilometre Array
SKADS .......................... SKA Design Studies
SPDO ............................ SKA Program Development Office
SSFoM .......................... Survey Speed Figure of Merit
TBD ............................... To be decided
Wrt ................................. with respect to
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1 Introduction
This document collates the costing information provided in each of the concept descriptions into a
single document. The level of completeness of the costing for each concept is measured against the
requirements documented in the Cost Estimation for the SKA – A ‘How to’ Manual [1].
This document is part of a series generated in support of the Signal Processing CoDR which includes
the following:
Signal Processing High Level Description
Technology Roadmap
Design Concept Descriptions
Signal Processing Requirements
Signal Processing Costs
Signal Processing Risk Register
Signal Processing Strategy to Proceed to the Next Phase
Signal Processing Co DR Review Plan
Software & Firmware Strategy
1.1 Purpose of the document
The purpose of this document is to provide documentation of the cost of the signal processing
concepts and their completeness in line with [1]. This document is part of a larger document set in
support of the SKA Signal Processing CoDR. It provides an initial perspective of Correlation, beam‐
forming and non imaging processing for the different receptor types proposed for the SKA.
SKA Memos 125, 130 and the Phase 1 DRM have been used as the baseline for best information on
system parameters while the Systems Requirement Specification, SRS, is being created.
2 References
[1] R McCool, Cost Estimation for the SKA – A ‘How to’ Manual MGT‐040.070.000‐MP‐002 Rev B
[2] Signal Processing Wiki, http://wiki.skatelescope.org/
[3] Signal Processing High Level Description WP2‐040.030.010‐TD‐001 Rev D
[4] Pulsar survey with SKA phase 1 WP2‐040.030.010‐TD‐003 Rev A
[5] Signal Processing Technology Roadmap WP2‐040.030.011.TD‐001 Rev D
[6] Software Correlator Concept Description WP2‐040.040.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[7] GSA Correlator Concept Description WP2‐040.050.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[8] ASKAP Correlator Concept Decription WP2‐040.060.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[9] UNIBOARD Concept Description WP2‐040.070.010‐td‐001 Rev B
[10] CASPER Correlator Concept Description WP2‐040.080.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[11] ASIC‐Based Correlator for Minimum Power Consumption‐‐ Concept Description WP2‐
040.090.010‐td‐001 Rev B
[12] SKADS Processing WP2‐040.100.010‐td‐001 Rev A
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[13] Central Beamformer Concept Description WP2‐040.110.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[14] Station Beamformer Concept WP2‐040.120.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[15] SKA Non Imaging Processing Concept Decription: GPU Processing for Real‐Time Isolated
Radio Pulse Detection WP2‐040.130.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[16] A Scalable Computer Architecture For On‐Line Pulsar Search on the SKA WP2‐040.130.010‐
td‐002 Rev A
[17] Pulsar Signal processing on UNIBOARD WP2‐040.170.010‐td‐001 Rev A
[18] Signal Processing Requirement Specification WP2‐040.030.000.SRS‐001 Rev B
[19] Signal Processing Risk Register WP2‐040.010.010.RE‐001 Rev A
[20] Signal Processing Strategy to Proceed to the Next Phase WP2‐040.010.030.PLA‐001 RevA
[21] Software and Firmware Strategy WP2‐040.200.012‐PLA‐001 Rev A
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3 Overview
This document presents collates the costing data presented in the concept descriptions for the
Signal Processing CoDR and presents them in a common format described in the cost estimation
‘how to’ document [1]. The emphasis for the CoDR is Phase 1 with extensibility to phase 2 of the
project. Consequently, costing is considered with reference to three dates
Base Year ‐ 2007
Phase 1 Procurement date – 2014
Phase 1 Software delivery date ‐ 2017
Phase 2 Procurement date ‐ 2017
To achieve this the inflation values specified in the costing how to [1] shown in Table 1 are utilised to
correct for product, service and labour costs
Index Value Time Period of Average Reference
PPPI 1.9% 1998‐2009 Industry producer prices index ‐
annual data ‐ (2005=100) (NACE Rev.
2) (sts_inpp_a)
SPPI
(excl
telecommunications)
2.4% 1996‐2009 Service producer prices index ‐
quarterly data ‐ (2006=100) (NACE
Rev.2) [sts_sepp_q]
LCI 3.6% 1997‐2008 Labour cost index ‐ Annual data
(lc_lci_r1_a)
Table 1 Indices of Inflation Values for cost estimation
The three categories for inflation defined for inflation rates available from the Eurostat office of
statistics are:
Product Producer Price Index (PPPI)
This index takes account of price data for the mining, quarrying, manufacturing and industry for the production of products.
Service Producer Price Index (SPPI)
This index takes account of the price of rendering services, such as accountancy, legal, employment, transport, consultancy etc. Data for the European Union region is only available from 2008‐2009. Given the volatility of Western economies over this period and the short time frame of the statistics this data is not suitable for use as an inflation estimate for the SKA. However the UK Government has SPPI data from 1997‐2009. This data has been used to establish a long term value for inflation in this sector and will be used for SKA cost estimates. Telecommunications sector data has been omitted due to the immaturity and volatile nature of this sector over the time period of interest.
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Labour Cost Index (LCI)
This index takes account of the total cost of employment across the EU zone. Each concept description has quoted prices and costs applicable to the country of origin or in US dollars. These figures have been taken and converted to Euros using the Exchange rates (based on 7 year average) defined in the costing how to [1]. An abridged version applicable to the documents presented for inclusion in the Signal Processing CoDR document set is presented in Table 1.
Currency Exchange Rate (7 year average)
Australian Dollar 1.70
Canadian Dollar 1.53
Pound Sterling 0.73
US Dollar 1.30
South African Rand 9.48
Table 2 Exchange Rates for use in cost estimation (based on a 7 year average)
The costing how‐to [1] defines a Basis of Estimate Confidence Level, BECL, numerical rating as defined in Table 3.
BE # Description Documentary Evidence Minimum requirement for confidence in quantities.
BECL5 (F)
Lowest BE rating. Costs based on anecdotal evidence and best guess scenarios. Undeveloped specifications and technology under design.
Expert opinion ,vendor target prices or historical prices from analogous projects. Description of scaling laws used in estimates.
Concept Design Phase.System and Domain Conceptual Design Review undertaken. (CoDR)
BECL4 (F)
Technical specifications in rough draft stage. Costs either anecdotal or best guess. Quantities reasonably well known. All aspects speculative but at a mature stage of discussion within the group. Schedules, contracts, risk plans all in progress. Relationships with potential suppliers under development.
Vendor written estimates,quotes requested without competitive tender or historical prices from analogous projects. Description of scaling laws used in estimates.
Definition Design Phase.System and Domain Requirements Review Undertaken. (SRR)
BECL3 (F)
Technical specifications under peer review. Costs obtained from reliable sources and reiterated several times. Quantities known to high degree. Designs finalized and agreement reached on implementation modes. Costs and methodologies accepted throughout the group. Risk mitigation plan in place awaiting approval.
Quotes requested without competitive tender, catalog prices or historical prices from analogous projects. Description of scaling laws used in estimates.
Preliminary Design Phase.System and Domain Critical Design review undertaken. (CDR)
BECL2 (F)
Technical Specifications finalized. Schedule of delivery finalized. Quantities finalized. Contractual arrangements being concluded. Variations unlikely. Integration into system known, documented and
Quotes for supply under competitive tender. The use of scaling laws to estimate costs is not acceptable at this stage.
Detailed Design Phase.Domain Pre‐production design review undertaken. (PR) System Critical Design review undertaken. (CDR)
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costed. Associated labour costs known. Logistics of supply and delivery known and costed. Costs Corroborated by at least one other peer in the group. Risk mitigation plan approved
BECL1 (F)
Highest BE rating. Meets all of the requirements for BE2. Corroborative evidence from actual costs incurred elsewhere (Precursor) .Supply contract firm. Variation possibilities very limited or Zero. Labour rates firm for 12 months. Schedule and Risk quantified.
Contract signed.The use of scaling laws to estimate costs is not acceptable at this stage.
Fabrication & assembly Phase. Contract tender quantity.
Table 3 Description of the Basis of Estimate Ratings
At the CoDR all costs are at the lowest BE rating of 5 which is defined as:
Costs based on anecdotal evidence and best guess scenarios. Undeveloped specifications
and technology under design.
A complete costing for the Signal Processing is to include:
Software Development
Subsystem Hardware costs
o Component cost
o Safe Operation
o Internal M&C
o Internal Power
o Internal Software & licences
o Localised or Internal Temp Control
o EMC (shielding and resilience)
o Integrated diagnostics
o Test, Verification, Validation
o Internal Integration
o Spares
o Repair and rework
o Quality control
o NRE development costs
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o Labour (manufacture & field installation)
o Simulators
o Test Equipment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations costs
o Maintenance
o Annual power costs
o Upgrades
o Labour
Within this document each concept is presented against the above costing items. The coverage at
the CoDR is largely confined to component, annual power and NRE costs. The remaining categories
will be populated and the BE levels improved as the signal processing progresses through the
development phase towards the SRS.
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4 Software Correlator 001
The costing presented in this section is for the software correlator 001 concept which has been
extracted from the concept description WP2‐040.200.012‐PLA‐002 Rev A. The concept covers phase
1 of the SKA only and SKA Memo 130 has been taken as its base line for functionality. The concept
makes assumptions with respect to the interfaces from the dishes and Sparse AA stations with
respect to channelization and network connectivity. The concept assumes no bridging hardware is
required between the network from the arrays and the software correlator. This, coupled with the
assumed achievable processing capability of a GPU card, accounts for the major differences between
the software correlator concepts.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish Server + 2 x NVidia Maxwell
GPU
250 €5k €1.25M €1.1M
Infiniband switch + HCA per
port
250 €1k €0.25M €0.2M
Sparse AA
(430
beams)
NVidia Maxwell GPU 2000 €5k €10M €8.6M
Infiniband switch + HCA per
port
430 €1k €0.43M €0.4M
Total €10M
Table 4 Software correlator 001 component cost estimates
The component costs currently do not include the following Cables, Racking, Breaker panels, M&C
nodes and switches, operating systems, infrastructure software and spares.
No estimates of NRE are currently availabel.
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4.1 Procurement Method
The equipment procurement model is Commercial Off The Shelf, COTS.
4.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
1Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €10M Based on
projecting
manufacturer’s
current figures
to 2015
Estimates for
servers, GPUs and
switch only.
Safe Operation Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
COTS items are CE
marked and should
therefore be fit for
safe operation
Internal M&C N ‐ ‐ COTS server and OS
provides most but
not all of the
internal M&C.
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
PSUs integral to
servers
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Built into COTS
equipment
EMC (shielding and resilience) NA ‐ Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
1 Links to manfacturer’s current cost and power figures given in Technology roadmap document WP2‐040.030.011‐TD‐001
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Servers FCC
compliant
Integrated diagnostics Y TBC €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Diagnostics for
servers, switches,
HCA & NICs inbuilt.
However this may
not be sufficient
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐
Test Equipment N ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs Y €1.9M pa Based on
projecting
manufacturer’s
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
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current figures
to 2015
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 5 Cost coverage Software Correlator 001
5 Software Correlator 002
The costing presented in this section is for the software correlator 002 concept which has been
extracted from the concept description WP2‐040.200.012‐PLA‐002 Rev A. The concept covers phase
1 of the SKA only and SKA Memo 130 has been taken as its base line for functionality. However, it is
noted that the concept description has deviated from the baseline of 430 beams from the Sparse AA
and uses a figure of 160 beams. To provide some level of consistency across concepts for other
technologies a cost figure for the 430 beam case has been derived as well as quoting the 160 beam
case.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish NVidia Maxwell GPU 272 €2,500 €0.68M €0.59M
Mellanox 34 port Infiniband
switch
16 €6.5k €0.104M €0.9M
CASPER Roach Unit 125 €5k €0.625M €0.54M
Sparse AA
(430
beams)
NVidia Maxwell GPU 1096 €2,500 €2.7M €2.3M
Mellanox Mellanox
MIS5022Q‐1BFR 8 port
Infiniband switch
430 €1.9k €0.82M €0.7M
CASPER Roach Unit 3870 €5k €19.35M €16.9M
Total €22M
Table 6 SKA Memo 130 compliant correlator component costs
The component costs currently do not include the following Cables, Breaker panels, M&C nodes and
switches, operating systems, infrastructure software and spares.
The NRE is limited to estimates of writing the main correlation software and does not currently
include estimates for infrastructure software documentation, verification, integration, validation or
management.
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish NVidia Maxwell GPU 272 €2,500 €0.68M €0.59M
Mellanox 34 port Infiniband
switch
16 €6.5k €0.104M €0.09M
CASPER Roach Unit 125 €5k €0.625M €0.54M
Sparse AA
(160
beams)
NVidia Maxwell GPU 408 €2,500 €1.02M €0.88M
Mellanox Mellanox
MIS5022Q‐1BFR 8 port
Infiniband switch
160 €1.9k €0.304M €0.26M
CASPER Roach Unit 1440 €5k €7.2M €6.2M
Total €10M
Table 7 Concept 160 beam correlator component costs
5.1 Procurement Method
The equipment procurement model is Commercial Off The Shelf, COTS. The CASPER ROACH FPGA
processing unit is assumed to comply with model.
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5.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
2Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €22M
(480 beams
Sparse AA)
€10M
(160 beams
Sparse AA)
Based on
projecting
manufacturer’s
current figures
to 2015
Estimates for
servers, GPUs,
ROACHs and
switches only.
Safe Operation Y €0 Manufacturer’s
data sheets
COTS items are CE
marked and should
therefore be fit for
safe operation.
ROACH units are
assumed to conform
to the COTS model
Internal M&C N ‐ ‐ COTS server and OS
provides most but
not all of the
internal M&C.
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
PSUs integral to
servers
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0 Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Built into COTS
equipment
EMC (shielding and resilience) NA ‐ Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
2 Links to manfacturer’s current cost and power figures given in Technology roadmap document WP2‐040.030.011‐TD‐001
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Servers FCC
compliant
Integrated diagnostics Y TBC €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Diagnostics for
servers & NICs
inbuilt. However
this may not be
sufficient
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs Y €1M Professional
Engineer’s
opinion
Estimated 10 person
years
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐
Test Equipment N ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs Y €100k pa Based on
projecting
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
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manufacturer’s
current figures
to 2015
time at 1€ per Watt
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 8 Cost coverage Software Correlator 002
6 GSA Correlator
The costing presented in this section is for the Giant Systolic Array correlator concept which has
been extracted from the concept description WP2‐040.050.010‐TD‐001 Rev B. The concept covers
both phase 1 and phase 2 of the SKA though the main focus is on phase 2. SKA Memo 130 has been
taken as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish
WBSPF
3072 ant
1 GHz per
polarisation
GSA Correlator Board 1008 €5.602k €5.65M €4.9M
Rear connectivity 1008 €118 €0.12M €0.10M
Front connectivity 1008 €52 €0.05M €0.04M
48U 19” precision rack 24 €654 €0.02M €0.02M
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
24 €3268 €0.08M €0.08M
Total €6M
Table 9 GSA Phase 2 Correlator WBSPF component costs
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish
PAF
2048 ant
750
MHz/pol
30 beams
GSA Correlator Board 9600 €5.602k €53.78M €46.4M
Rear connectivity 9600 €118 €1.13M €1.0M
Front connectivity 9600 €52 €0.5M €0.4M
48U 19” precision rack 184 €654 €0.12M €0.1M
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
184 €3268 €0.6M €0.5M
Total €56M
Table 10 GSA Phase 2 Dish PAF component costs
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
Sparse AA
2563 stations
3004MHz/pol
1000 beams
GSA Correlator Board 2000 €5.602k €11.2M €9.6M
48U 19” precision rack 42 €654 €0.03M €0.02M
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
42 €3268 €0.14M €0.1M
Total €11M
Table 11 GSA Phase 2 Sparse AA component costs
3 Phase 2 Sparse AA is 250 stations 4 Sparse AA bandwidth is 350 MHz
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
Dense AA
256 stations
300MHz/pol
1000 beams
GSA Correlator Board 2000 €5.602k €11.2M €9.6M
48U 19” precision rack 42 €654 €0.03M €0.02M
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
42 €3268 €0.14M €0.12M
Total €11M
Table 12 GSA Phase 2 Dense AA component costs
System Infrastructure Quantity Cost each Total Cost 5Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
System 200kW 48VDC
battery‐backed power plant
27 €0.2M €5.4M €4.7M
Shielded room, cooling and
power distribution
infrastructure
1 €0.4k €0.4M Not in the
scope of the
signal
processing
Total €5M
Table 13 GSA concept NREs (not including institute design costs)
5 3.6% pa PPI
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NRE Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost 6Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
ASIC 1 €5M €5M €3.8M
GSA and patch board
design and fabrication
1 €0.4k €0.4M €0.3M
System Infrastructure 1 €0.8M €0.8M €.6M
Total €5M
Table 14 GSA concept NREs (not including institute design costs)
6.1 Procurement Method
The GSA correlator is mostly bespoke design including the GSA circuit boards and front and back interconnects. There is also major activity based on ASIC development. This will involve sub‐contracting a lot of the low level ASIC design to a specialist design house. COTS equipment is to be used for racking, data and M&C switches and breaker panels
6 3.6% pa PPI
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6.2 Cost Estimates Table 15 GSA Board Cost and Power Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €89M Projection from
EVLA correlator
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐ M&C components
and network
included based on
EVLA capability
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Projection from
EVLA correlator
48VDC supplies with
battery backup
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0 Either part of
component cost
(heatsinks) or
correlator room
(plenum
cooloing)
Concept assumes all
fans and provision
of cooling air flow is
a service provided
by the correlator
room
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Read across
from EVLA
correlator
GSA X board cost
breakdown includes
M&C component
costs
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Test, Verification, Validation Y €0.6M
Read across
from EVLA
correlator
Only partial ASIC
RTL development
and test. Other
figures available in
concept description
in terms of duration
but not effort or
cost
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs Y €5M Professional
Engineer’s
opinion based
on read across
from EVLA
correlator
Doesn’t include
institute design
costs.
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐
Test Equipment N ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
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Annual power costs Y €6.7M pa
All Phase 2
Projection from
EVLA correlator
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Includes power
plant efficiency and
cooling
Excludes F part of
correlator
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 16 Cost coverage GSA Correlator
7 ASKAP Style Correlator
The costing presented in this section is for the ASKAP style correlator concept which has been
extracted from two concept descriptions:
Phase 1 : WP2‐040.060.010‐TD‐002
Phase 2: WP2‐040.060.010‐TD‐001[8]
SKA Memo 130 has been taken as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1 Dish
FPGA ATCA Board
(4 FPGAs per board)
32 €6k €0.197M €0.2M
ATCA Shelf 2 €8k €0.016M €0.01M
48VDC Power 1 €4k €0.004M €0.01M
SFP+ modules 500 €77 €0.04M €0.03M
SKA1
Sparse AA
480 beams
Mid‐size FPGAs 320 €0.8k €0.26M €0.3M
Pizza box enclosure + PSUs
+ connector panel
320 €1.5k €0.48M €0.2M
10 G bps optical link7 16,000 €80 €1.3M €1.1M
Total €2M
Table 17 ASKAP Style Phase 1 Correlator component costs
7 28 Gbps links could be used to reduce Sparse AA SKA1 correlation to under 1.5 M Euro re 2007
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
Dish
WBSPF
+ PAF
ATCA Shelf WBSPF
(filterbank)
47 €150k €7.1M €6.1M
ATCA Shelf PAF
(filterbank)
11 €150k €1.65M €1.4M
ATCA Shelf Correlator 242 €150k €36.3M €31.3M
100 G bps Fibre links 11,000 €770 €8.5M €7.3M
Aperture
Array
Sparse
+Dense
ATCA Shelf AA hi
(correlator)
90 €150k €13.5M €11.6M
ATCA Shelf AA lo
(correlator)
50 €150k €7.5M €6.5M
ATCA Shelf AA hi+lo
(correlator)
120 €150k €18M €15.5M
100 G bps Fibre links 50,000 €770 €39M €33.6M
Total €113M
Table 18 ASKAP Style Phase 2 Correlator component costs
The component costs do not include the 48VDC power supplies, cabinets, cable management,
breaker panels, M&C network and processing loads. The optical cross connect required for AA
correlators is also not included.
No figures for NRE are provided. The most significant of these would be for ASIC correlator chip
development.
7.1 Procurement Method
The ASKAP correlator is mostly bespoke design including the processing circuit boards and Rear Transition Modules for optical interconnect. There is also major activity based on ASIC development for the phase2 implementation. This will involve sub‐contracting a lot of the low level ASIC design to a specialist design house.
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The use of the ATCA standard simplifies the effort required for card design as common outlines are used. The mechanical aspects of the implementation including shelf, cabinet and air cooling largely fit the COTS procurement profile. However, the pizza box arrangement suggested as part of the proposed SKA1 solution may be bespoke.
7.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €2M SKA1 Projection from
ASKAP
correlator
FPGA solution SKA1
ASIC solution SKA2 €113M SKA2
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐ M&C components
and network
included based on
ASKAP capability
Internal Power Y SKA1 €0
Included in
component
cost
Projection from
ASKAP
correlator
48VDC supplies with
battery backup
N SKA2 ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0 Either part of
component cost
(heatsinks) or
correlator room
(plenum
cooloing)
Concept assumes
ATCA rack including
fans. Provision of
cooling ambient air
is a service provided
by the correlator
room
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
Cards to be
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Read across
from ASKAP
correlator
technology
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
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Annual power costs N SKA1
Projection from
ASKAP
correlator
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not Include
power plant
efficiency and
cooling
Y SKA2
€2.7 M pa8
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 19 Cost coverage ASKAP Style Correlator SKA1 and SKA2
8 Estimated ASIC dissipation only
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8 Uniboard based Correlator
The costing presented in this section is for the phase 1 UNIBOARD correlator concept which has
been extracted from the concept descriptions WP2‐040.070.010‐TD‐001. SKA Memo 130 has been
taken as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1 Dish Uniboard Tier 1 16 €10k €0.16M €0.14M
Unibord Tier 2 16 €10k €0.16M €0.14M
Unibord Tier 3 64 €10k €0.64M €0.55M
SKA1
Sparse AA
480 beams
Uniboard 760 €10k €7.6M €6.55M
Total €7M
Table 20 Uniboard Phase 1 Correlator component costs
The component costs are purely limited to the processing boards and do not include racks, 48VDC
power supplies, backplane, cabinets, cables, cable management, breaker panels, M&C network and
processing loads.
The quantities detailed in Table 20 have taken the 2009 Uniboard quantities and scaled them by a
factor of 4 to allow for two future generations of FPGA and Uniboard before 2015.
No figures for NRE are provided.
8.1 Procurement Method
The Uniboard correlator is a bespoke design requiring the documentation and drawing set associated with design activities for the processing circuit boards, backplane and shelf metalwork.
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8.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €7M Read across
from current
Uniboard
projects
Altera FPGA solution
SKA1
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐
Internal Power N ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control N ‐ ‐ No cost provided for
local cooling.
Concept assumes
provision of cooling
ambient air is a
service provided by
the correlator room.
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ ‐ Correlator room
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
Read across
from existing
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component
cost
Uniboard design
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs N €300k
Projection from
current
Uniboard
projects
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not Include
power supply
efficiency and
cooling
Y
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Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 21 Cost coverage Uniboard Correlator for SKA1
9 Casper Correlator
The costing presented in this section is for the phase 1 Casper correlator concept which has been
extracted from the concept descriptions WP2‐040.080.010‐TD‐001. SKA Memo 130 has been taken
as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1 Dish ROACHn 2548 €4.8k €12.2M €10.5M
Data Switch 2752 port 1 €4.2M €4.2M €3.6M
Control Switch 2638 port 1 €0.1M €0.64M €0.55M
M&C Servers 82 €7.8k €0.63M €0.54M
Racks 56 €1.9k €0.11M €0.09M
SKA1
Sparse AA
480 beams
ROACHn 7680 €4.8k €37M €31.9M
Data Switch 77 port 480 €0.12M €57M €49M
Control Switch 26 port 480 €0.001M €0.48M €0.4M
M&C Servers 80 €7.8k €0.624M €0.5M
Racks 240 €1.9k €0.46M €0.4M
Total €98M
Table 22 CASPER Phase 1 Correlator component costs
The component costs are purely limited to the processing boards and do not include racks, 48VDC
power supplies, backplane, cabinets, cables, cable management, breaker panels, M&C network and
processing loads.
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The quantities detailed in Table 20 have taken the 2009 Uniboard quantities and scaled them by a
factor of 4 to allow for two future generations of FPGA and Uniboard before 2015.
No figures for NRE are provided.
9.1 Procurement Method
The equipment procurement model is Commercial Off The Shelf, COTS. The CASPER ROACH FPGA
processing unit is assumed to comply with model.
9.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €98M Projection
based on read
across from
MeerKat project
Safe Operation Y TBC ‐ ‐ COTS items are CE
marked and should
therefore be fit for
safe operation.
ROACH unit safe
operation TBC
Internal M&C N ‐ ‐ COTS server and OS
provides most but
not all of the
internal M&C.
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets +
ROACH
documentation
TBC
PSUs integral to
servers and ROACH
unit
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0
Included in
component
Manufacturer’s
data sheets and
ROACH
documentation
Built into COTS
equipment and
ROACH unit
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cost
EMC (shielding and resilience) Y ‐ ‐ Correlator room
provides shielding.
Servers FCC
compliant
ROACH box EMC
qualified
Integrated diagnostics Y TBC €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’s
data sheets
ROACH
documentation
Diagnostics for
servers, switches,
NICs inbuilt.
However this may
not be sufficient
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs Y €2.3M
Read across
from MeerKat
Does not include
ROACH
:development is part
of the CASPER
community
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
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room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs y €2.8M
Projection from
Meerkat
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not Include
power supply
efficiency and
cooling
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 23 Cost coverage CASPER Correlator for SKA1
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10 Minimum Power ASIC Correlator
The ASIC based Processing for Minimum Power Consumption concept is documented in
WP2‐040.090.010‐TD‐001.
This document has a focus on the optimisation of power consumption through analysis of ASIC
architecture. It makes no attempt to provide costs.
11 SKADS based Correlator
The costing presented in this section is for the phase 2 AA Correlator System concept which has
been extracted from the concept descriptions WP2‐040.040.010‐TD‐001.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA2
Dense AA
Correlator boards
(8 per shelf)
1680 €8k €13.4M €11.6M
I/P boards
(16 per shelf)
3360 €9k €30M €25.9M
Backplane 210 €2k €0.42M €0.36M
Shelf Mechanics 210 €1k €0.21M €0.18M
Rack Mechanics
(3 shelves per rack)
70 €1k €0.07M €0.06M
Total €38M
Table 24 AA Correlator Phase 2 component costs
The component costs do not include, cables, cable management, breaker panels, M&C network and
M&C processing nodes.
No figures for NRE are provided.
11.1 Procurement Method
The equipment procurement model is bespoke design for processing boards and shelf metal work.
The type of processing node is not identified in the concept
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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11.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost Y €38M Professional
opinion
Dense AA correlator
only
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C N ‐ ‐ .
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control N ‐ ‐
EMC (shielding and resilience) Y ‐ ‐ Correlator room
provides shielding.
Design to be EMC
tested for FCC
compliancy
Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
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developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs y €1.0M
Professional
opinion
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not Include
power supply
efficiency and
cooling
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 25 Cost coverage Dense AA Correlator for SKA2
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12 Central Beamformer
The costing presented in this section is for the SKA Central Beamformer concept which has been
extracted from the concept description WP2‐040.110.010‐TD‐001 Rev A. The concept covers
beamforming across the central 5km diameter which is applicable for both phase1 and phase 2 of
the SKA for single pixel feed and Sparse AA receptor technologies. Consideration is given to
beamforming PAF and Dense AA which are applicable to phase 2. SKA Memo 130 has been taken as
its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs for Phase 1 are detailed in the tables below:
Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA Dish
Single Pixel
Feed
250 ant
1 GHz per
polarisation,
12 pol’d
beams
Beamformer FPGA (Stratix‐
V 5SGSD6 est $5k9 ea); 256
ants, 75 MHz/band‐slice, 12
pol’d beams/FPGA
14 €3500 €49k €42.2k
COTS switch N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Front connectivity N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
48U Pony Crate N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Total €42k
Table 26 Central Beamformer SPF component costs
9 This is a guess based on rough previous generation pricing. Hardcopy devices could be much less, depending on volume, and with a modest NRE.
WP2‐040.030.020‐TD‐001 Revision : 1
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
Sparse AA
50 stations
380
MHz/pol
(60 pol’d
beams per
beam=
480x60
=28,800
beams)
Band/Slice Beamformer
Board (Stratix‐V 5SGSD6
est. $5k ea); 50 ants, 75
MHz/band‐slice, 60 pol’d
beams/FPGA.
2400 €3500 €8.4M €7.2M
COTS switch N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Front connectivity N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
48U Pony Crate N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Per rack network switch,
breaker panel, power
cables
N/A: beamformer chips reside on the correlator
board.
Total €7.2M
Table 27 Central Beamformer SparseAA component costs
For SKA Phase 2, the minimum Central Beamformer implementation shown in [25] indicates a cost
and power that is ~1/32nd the cost of the X‐part of the correlator. If many more beams are
generated, perhaps full primary‐beam coverage, then the Central Beamformer could be ~1/2 the
cost of the X‐part of the correlator (refer to section 6.1 of [25]). Further Central Beamformer
requirements definition (likely requiring iteration of Non‐Visibility Computing cost and power) is
required before better estimates can be generated.
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12.1 Procurement Method
The Central Beamformer , for Phase 1, will likely use correlator board infrastructure, provided that the number of beams is as assumed in the previous section. Therefore there is only incremental cost in designing beamformer chips on correlator boards.
12.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost y €7.3M
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐ M&C components
and network
included based on
EVLA capability
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Projection from
EVLA correlator
48VDC supplies with
battery backup
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0 Either part of
component cost
(heatsinks) or
correlator room
(plenum
cooling)
Concept assumes all
fans and provision
of cooling air flow is
a service provided
by the correlator
room
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ Manufacturer’s
data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
Integrated diagnostics Y €0 Read across
from EVLA
GSA X board cost
breakdown includes
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Included in
component
cost
correlator M&C component
costs
Test, Verification, Validation Y €0.5M
Read across
from EVLA
correlator
Only partial ASIC
RTL development
and test. Other
figures available in
concept description
in terms of duration
but not effort or
cost
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ Part of X‐Correlator
boards.
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐
Test Equipment N ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
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Annual power costs Y €0.2M pa10
All Phase 2
Projection from
EVLA correlator
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Includes power
plant efficiency and
cooling
Excludes F part of
correlator
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 28 Cost coverage Central Beamformer
10 One thirty second of the X correlator power
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13 Uniboard based Station Beamformer
The costing presented in this section is for the phase 1 UNIBOARD station beamformer concept
which has been extracted from the concept description WP2‐040.070.010‐TD‐001. SKA Memo 130
has been taken as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The items considered for component costs are detailed in the tables below
Correlator Item Quantity11 Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1
Sparse AA
480 beams
Uniboard 52 €10k €0.5M €0.4M
Total
50
stations
€22M
Table 29 Uniboard Station Beamformer component costs
The component costs are purely limited to the processing boards and do not include racks, 48VDC
power supplies, backplane, cabinets, cables, cable management, breaker panels, M&C network and
processing loads.
The quantities detailed in Table 20 have taken the 2009 Uniboard quantities and scaled them by a
factor of 4 to allow for two future generations of FPGA and Uniboard before 2015.
No figures for NRE are provided.
13.1 Procurement Method
The Uniboard Station Beamformer is a bespoke design requiring the documentation and drawing set associated with design activities for the processing circuit boards, backplane and shelf metalwork.
11 Quantity per station
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13.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost 50 stations Y €22M Read across
from current
Uniboard
projects
Altera FPGA solution
SKA1
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐
Internal Power N ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control N ‐ ‐ No cost provided for
local cooling.
Concept assumes
provision of cooling
ambient air is a
service provided by
the beamformer
equipment housing.
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ ‐ Beamformer
equipment housing
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
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Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Read across
from existing
Uniboard design
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume
Beamformer
housing provides
required
environment
Extended
temperature range
components
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
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Annual power costs
50 Stations
y €780k
Projection from
current
Uniboard
projects
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not Include
power supply
efficiency and
cooling
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 30 Cost coverage Uniboard Station Beamformer
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14 Station Beamformer (ASIC)
The costing how‐to strategy [1] provides a comprehensive list of items to be included in the overall
costing. However, due to the relative uncertainty in the architecture of the station processing, it is
difficult to provide an accurate estimate of the cost, but based on a tile‐system with a staggered
interleaved approach of time‐domain and frequency domain beamforming as explained in ref [32].
Using the baseline system description of Memo 125 and Memo 130, the cost estimates below are
for an SKA‐1 with 50 stations each containing 11200 antennas and producing 480 beams.
14.1 Procurement Method
The procurement model for the Station Processing is a hybrid between standard Off‐the‐Shelf
Components, COTS and custom hardware. Whilst making for a relatively complex supply chain, this
provides the cheapest (in terms of power and cost) solution.
14.2 Hybrid ASIC and FPGA Beamformer
1 Tile processing board can handle: 64 (x2‐pol) antennas i.e 1.28 Tbit/s
1 Tile processing board contains: 32‐ASIC(s) each with ≈500 GOP/s and 80 Gbit/s B/W
1 Tile processor outputs: 32 Gbit/s (selectable digitially)
There is 1 station processing board per tile processing board for a total of ≈ 200 station boards and
≈800 CX‐4 cables entering the bunker
Each rack contains 10‐shelves which each contain 8 CX‐4 cables
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Station
Beamformer
Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1
Sparse AA
Front‐End ASIC in tile
processor
3000 €8 €0.023M €0.02M
Tile Processing board 200 €769 €0.15M €0.18M
Station Processing Board
(including backplane)
200 €769 €0.15M €0.13M
CX4‐Cables 1000 €8 €0.01M €0.01M
Station Processing Rack 10 €1k €0.01M €0.01M
Infrastructure/Cooling 1
Total €0.3M
Table 31 Component cost breakdown of single station processing
Station
Beamformer
Item Quantity Power
Consumption
each
Total
Power
Consumption
Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1
Sparse AA
Front‐End ASIC in tile
processor
3000 80W 240kW €0.2M
Tile Processing board 200 20W
(additional
to ASIC)
15kW €0.01M
Station Processing Board
(including backplane)
200 100W 20kW €0.02M
CX4‐Cables 1000 0W €0.0M
Station Processing Rack 10 100kW €0.09M
Infrastructure/Cooling 1 100kW €0.09M
Total €0.2M
Table 32 Power consumption of single station processing
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14.3 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Subsystem Hardware Costs incl of:
Component Cost Y €15M Professional
Opinion
Refer below for
breakdown cost
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y Included in
component
cost
Internal Power N ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
university licenses
Localised or Internal Temp Control N ‐‐ ‐
EMC (shielding and resilience) Y Included in
component
cost
Integrated diagnostics Y Included in
component
cost
Test, Verification, Validation N
Internal Integration N
Spares Y
Repair and rework N
Quality control N
NRE development costs N
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N
Simulators N
Test Equipment N
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Lightening protection Y Included in
component
cost
Environmental protection Y Included in
component
cost
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N
Annual power costs
50 stations
€10M As projected
from simple
power
calculation
Upgrades N
Labour N
Table 33 Cost Coverage of Station Processing for SKA‐1
15 Non Imaging Processing
The costing how‐to strategy [1] provides a comprehensive list of items to be included in the overall
costing. The costs presented are from the concept description for Pulsar Search [16]. It is assumed
that Pulsar Survey costs dominate the Non‐Imaging costs in comparison with Pulsar Timing.
Another GPU based Non Imaging processing description [15] includes costing information for
equipment components but this has not been projected to an SKA implementation and as such is
not presented in this issue of the costing document.
Using the baseline system description of Memo 125 and Memo 130, the cost estimates below are
for an SKA‐1 with 50 stations each containing 11200 antennas and producing 480 beams.
Assumptions made for the processing assume only the central 1km core is used (rather than the 5km
diameter core assumed in the Central Beamformer Concept). The concept functionality includes:
polyphase filter bank into 16 subbands,
FFT on 256k vectors,
coherent beamforming
coherent dedispersion,
inverse FFT,
computation of Stokes SI parameter (total power),
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folding into phase bins,
pulsar detection.
Station
Beamformer
Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1
Server Case 2048 €300 €0.6M €0.5M
Power Supply 1500W 2048 €300 €0.6M €0.5M
Hard Disk 3 TB 8192 €180 €1.5M €1.3M
Main Board 2048 €400 €0.8M €0.7M
Multicore CPU 4096 €1,400 €5.7M €4.9M
Main Memory 12 G Byte 6144 €180 €1.1M €0.9M
Dual GPU Card Water
Cooled
4096 €800 €3.3M €2.8M
Water Cooling Accessories 1024 €300 €0.3M €0.3M
FPGA 2048 €2,100 €4.3M €3.7M
CFX Memory 2 G Byte
SODIMM
8192 €25 €0.2M €4.2M
CFX:Optical Transcievers 8192 €150 €1.2M €1.0M
CFX‐Board 2048 €200 €0.4M €0.3M
PD:ASIC 16,384 €300 €4.9M €4.2M
PD: Memory 4GByte
SODIMM
65,538 €40 €2.6M €2.2M
PD Optical Transcievers 16,384 €150 €2.5M €2.2M
PD‐Board 8192 €300 €2.5M €2.2M
Total €28M
Table 34 Component cost breakdown of single station processing
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15.1 Procurement Method
The procurement model for the Non‐Imaging processing is a hybrid between standard Off‐the‐Shelf
Components, COTS and custom hardware. Whilst making for a relatively complex supply chain, this
provides the cheapest (in terms of power and cost) solution.
15.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Subsystem Hardware Costs incl of:
Component Cost Y €28M Based on
projecting
manufacturer’
s current
figures to
2015
Estimates for servers,
GPUs, FPGAs
ASIC cost professional
opinion
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C N ‐ ‐ COTS server and OS
provides most but not
all of the internal
M&C.
Internal Power Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’
s data sheets
PSUs integral to
servers
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open source
or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’
s data sheets
Built into COTS
equipment or
included as in
component costs
EMC (shielding and resilience) NA ‐ Manufacturer’
s data sheets
Correlator room
provides shielding.
Servers FCC compliant
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Integrated diagnostics Y TBC €0
Included in
component
cost
Manufacturer’
s data sheets
Diagnostics for
servers, switches, HCA
& NICs inbuilt.
However this may not
be sufficient
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently developed
to calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently developed
to calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ Installation costs not
yet considered
Simulators N ‐
Test Equipment N ‐
Lightening protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs Y €2.3M pa Based on
current
figures to
2015 is likely
to improve by
2015
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
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Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
16 PAF Beamforming
The costing how‐to strategy [1] provides a comprehensive list of items to be included in the overall
costing. At the concept stage it is too early to provide costs on most of these items Software
Correlator
The cost of a PAF beamformer is sensitive to the cost of digital signal processing and data transport.
Both of these decrease with time. The more expensive design is that for the earlier generation SKA.
The design for Phase 1 transports RF data from the PAF on optical fibre, which limits the bandwidth
to at most one octave and at least two of these bands are needed to cover the total bandwidth of
the PAF. The optical RF data is demodulated, digitised and passed through a filterbank in units that
process 20 optical links each. Ribbon cable multimode optical links then send this data to the
beamformer. Optical links to the correlator have not been included in this cost. It is assumed that
the beamformer use FPGAs that are available in 2017. To a first approximation the cost of this
beamformer scales linearly with the number of PAF elements (Note a dual polarisation feed
comprises of two elements). Hence if it is decided to use a PAF with say 120 elements then the cost
is reduced to about €8M (2011 Euros)
For SKA Phase 2 it is assumed that 2011/12 FPGAs will be used and that the AIP have developed low
power ADCs/optical links that can be installed in the PAF assemble. This data is transported to a
single processing board that implements filterbanks and beamforming.
PAF
Beamformer
Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1 PAF
250 dishes
200
elements
RF over Fibre TX and RX 250
x200
€70 €3.5M € 3.0M
ADC Coarse filterbank
20 channel
250x10 €1.4k €3.5M €3.0M
ADC/filterbank
beamformer optical link
250 €2.8k €0.7M €0.6M
Beamformer 250 €13k €3.3M €2.8M
Power supplies, card cages
etc
250 €8k €2M €1.7M
Total €11M
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Table 35 PAF Beamformer cost estimates SKA 112
PAF
Beamformer
Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA2 PAF
2000 dishes
200
elements
ADC subsystem 2000 €3.3k €6.6M € 5.7M
Optical link
ADC ‐ beamformer
2000 €2.2k €4.4M €3.7M
Filterbank/beamformer 2000 €5.6k €11.2M €9.6M
Power supplies, card cages
etc
2000 €1.4k €2.8M €2.4M
Total
€25M
€21M
Table 36 PAF Beamformer cost estimates SKA2
16.1 Procurement Method
The PAF beamformer is mostly bespoke design including the processing circuit boards and Rear Transition Modules for optical interconnect. The use of the ATCA standard simplifies the effort required for card design as common outlines are used. The mechanical aspects of the implementation including shelf, cabinet and air cooling largely fit the COTS procurement profile.
16.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Subsystem Hardware Costs SKA2 for
2000 dishes
Y €11M SKA1 Read across
from ASKAP
PAFs aren’t currently
part of Phase 1
The number of dishes
fitted with PAFS is an
€21M SKA2
12 This assumes PAFs will be used at SKA1 which is not in the base-line but is none the less useful. information
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assumption
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐ M&C components and
network included
based on ASKAP
capability
Internal Power N SKA2 ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open source
or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control Y €0 Either part of
component
cost
(heatsinks) or
Concept assumes
ATCA rack including
fans.
PAF Beamforming
likely to be at dishes
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ Manufacturer’
s data sheets
Beamformer
equipment housing
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Read across
from ASKAP
PAF
beamformer
technology
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently developed
to calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently developed
to calculate this
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Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs not
yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs N ‐
‐
N
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Figure 1 FPGA Pulsar Processing Cost Estimates
17 Pulsar Signal Processing on UNIBOARD
The costing presented in this section is for the phase 1 UNIBOARD pulsar processing concept which
has been extracted from the concept descriptions WP2‐040.170.010‐TD‐001 [17]. SKA Memo 130
has been taken as its base line for the phase 1 functionality.
The FPGA pulsar processing concept[9] concludes one current UNIBOARD can process one beam for
any of the receptor technologies up to frequencies of 3GHz.
The number of beams is assumed to be 4000 in line with Pulsar survey with SKA phase 1 [4]. This is a
different assumption than currently used by the other concepts. The development of the system and
signal processing element requirements will provide convergence for the concepts in the
development phase.
The items considered for component costs for pulsar timing are detailed in the tables below
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Correlator Item Quantity Cost each Total Cost Cost estimate
base year
value 2007
SKA1 Pulsar
Timing
Uniboard 25 €10k €0.25M €0.22M
SKA1 Pulsar
Survey
4000
beams
Uniboard 4000 €10k €40M €34M
Total €34M
Table 37 Uniboard Pulsar timing component costs
The component costs are purely limited to the processing boards and do not include racks, 48VDC
power supplies, backplane, cabinets, cables, cable management, breaker panels, M&C network and
processing loads.
The quantities detailed in Table 20 have taken the 2009 Uniboard costs and assumed the same cost
in 2015. This is due to the performance limitation of memory performance rather than processing
capability.
No figures for NRE are provided.
17.1 Procurement Method
The Uniboard pulsar processing is a bespoke design requiring the documentation and drawing set associated with design activities for the processing circuit boards, backplane and shelf metalwork.
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17.2 Cost Estimates
Description of cost Cost
Component
included
Yes/ No / NA
Cost
Estimate
Base Year
Value 2007
Reference to
Substantiating
Evidence
Notes
Component Cost pulsar timing Y €0.22M Read across
from current
Uniboard
projects
Altera FPGA solution
SKA1
Component cost pulsar survey Y €34M Doesn’t include
acceleration
processing
Safe Operation N ‐ ‐
Internal M&C Y €0
Included in
component
cost
‐
Internal Power N ‐ ‐
Internal Software & Licences N ‐ ‐ Need to consider
whether open
source or supported
Localised or Internal Temp Control N ‐ ‐ No cost provided for
local cooling.
Concept assumes
provision of cooling
ambient air is a
service provided by
the correlator room.
EMC (shielding and resilience) N ‐ ‐ Correlator room
provides shielding.
Cards to be
environmentally
tested to FCC EMC
standard
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Integrated diagnostics Y €0
Included in
component
cost
Read across
from existing
Uniboard design
Test, Verification, Validation N ‐ ‐
Internal Integration N ‐ ‐ Not considered yet
Spares N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Repair and rework N ‐ ‐ ARM model not
sufficiently
developed to
calculate this
Quality control N ‐ ‐
NRE development costs N ‐ ‐
Labour (manufacture & field
installation)
N ‐ ‐ Installation costs
not yet considered
Simulators N ‐ ‐
Test Equipment N ‐ ‐
Lightning protection N/A ‐ ‐ Lightning protection
provided by the
Central Processing
facility
Environmental protection Y €0 Assume Correlator
room provides
required
environment
Hardware Sub‐system Operations
costs incl:
Maintenance N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Annual power costs Y €8k pulsar
timing
€1.4M
pulsar
Projection from
current
Uniboard
projects
Assumes equipment
running 100% of the
time at 1€ per Watt
Does not include
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survey
acceleration
processing
Does not Include
power supply
efficiency and
cooling
N Pulsar
survey
Upgrades N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Labour N ‐ ‐ Not yet considered
Table 38 Cost coverage UNIBOARD Pulsar processing for SKA1