Large Instrument Development for Radio Astronomy
J. R. Fisher, R. F. Bradley, W. F. Brisken, W. D. Cotton, D. T., Emerson, A. R. Kerr, R. J. Lacasse, M. A. Morgan, P. J. Napier, R. D. Norrod,, J. M. Payne, M. W. Pospieszalski, A. Symmes, A. R. Thompson, J. C. Webber

TL;DR
This paper discusses the challenges and considerations in developing large radio astronomy instruments, emphasizing the importance of specialized design, avoiding shared resources, and maintaining dedicated R&D to manage complexity and costs.
Contribution
It provides a comprehensive analysis of the planning, development, and technological challenges in large radio astronomy instrument projects, advocating for specialized instruments and sustained R&D.
Findings
Complexity increases costs and development time.
Shared resources often underperform and are counterproductive.
Long-term R&D is essential for technological progress.
Abstract
This white paper offers cautionary observations about the planning and development of new, large radio astronomy instruments. Complexity is a strong cost driver so every effort should be made to assign differing science requirements to different instruments and probably different sites. The appeal of shared resources is generally not realized in practice and can often be counterproductive. Instrument optimization is much more difficult with longer lists of requirements, and the development process is longer and less efficient. More complex instruments are necessarily further behind the technology state of the art because of longer development times. Including technology R&D in the construction phase of projects is a growing trend that leads to higher risks, cost overruns, schedule delays, and project de-scoping. There are no technology breakthroughs just over the horizon that will…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsRadio Astronomy Observations and Technology · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research · Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing
