Observatory Sciences delivers control systems software for the SKA telescopes

Impact
Observatory Science Ltd (OSL) is one of seven UK companies, in addition to three STFC national labs and three UK universities, working on software development for the SKA Observatory, worth ~£35m to UK Industry and Higher Education Institutes.

OSL is contributing in two key areas: the specialised Monitoring, Control and Calibration Subsystem (MCCS) software for the SKA-Low telescope, and Tango control system components for both SKA-Low and SKA-Mid.
 
The MCCS software for SKA-Low is responsible for creating and monitoring observations, performing calibration, and providing local monitoring and control of all the hardware components. This includes managing the allocation of resources for an observation, and the aggregation of health status. It is a large, distributed control system which will have at least 100 Tango device servers running across multiple hardware elements for each of the SKA-Low antenna stations.
 
OSL has deep experience of working on control systems software for national and international science facilities, having worked with the European Southern Observatory, another large international astronomy facility, on their Very Large Telescope software for over seven years.
 
Working with SKAO has enabled the OSL team to expand, growing by around 33% since the contract award in 2021. They have also upskilled team members in key technical areas, particularly in the use of the Tango control software, where an OSL team member is now one of SKAO’s subject matter experts in this domain.
 
“We’re proud to say OSL continues to make a significant contribution to the SKAO in two key areas: the specialised MCCS software for SKA-Low, as well as Tango control system components for both the Low and Mid telescopes. With the first results already emerging from a small subset of the data, it’s really rewarding to be part of this fantastic endeavour,” says Alan Greer, Observatory Sciences Ltd (OSL) Director.

The Milky Way above SKA-Low antennas that look like metal Christmas trees.
Observatory sciences are providing the monitoring and control systems of the SKA-Mid and SKA-Low (pictured above) telescopes. (Credit: CSIRO/DISR/Alex Cherney and Tom Fowler)