TED4SKA

Astronomy and technology have progressed in intimate connection. Scientific requirements have pressed for increasingly challenging and innovative technological solutions. The main challenge of Radio Astronomy for this decade will be to build the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), the largest and most sensitive radio-interferometer, which aims to answer fundamental questions in Astrophysics, Fundamental Physics, and Astrobiology.

SKAO will become the largest public data generator in the world, and its data centres, the so-called SKA Regional Centres (SRCs) pose unique challenges and hence constitute excellents testbeds for developments that can be transferred to other disciplines. Data centres in general are a cornerstone in the digital society and hence play a key role in the digital transformation. They also have a significant environmental impact (consuming the 1% of the global electricity demand).

TED4SKA contributes to the ecological and digital transition, as well as to a circular economy for the scientific research system, by the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to decrease the power consumption at the SRCs and by developing technologies for supporting Open Science at them. TED4SKA team is accomplishing these objectives by leveraging its privileged position as coordinator of the Spanish participation in SKA, leader of the development of the Spanish SRC prototype and with PIs of successful international proposals with MeerKAT SKA precursor.

TED4SKA members are both users with deep scientific understanding of SKA precursor telescopes data and developers that manage a cloud-based SKA data centre prototype. Hence they have the skills and tools required to apply and test new technologies, which are to be applied to the Global SRC Network. This allows them to identify and develop solutions with a direct impact for the ecological and digital transition, as well as for a circular economy for the research system within the framework of data centre developments, focusing on two main areas:

a) Minimisation of the environmental footprint of SKA Regional Centres by application of Artificial Intelligence, in order  to decrease power consumption in these data centres

b) Development of Open Science  supporting technologies at the SRCs.

Additionally, we aim to raise awareness on “green thinking” within society at large, and thus  dissemination activities play a relevant role in this proposal, as well as within the Spanish industry. These will contribute to identifying new market niches focused on green technologies for Big Data processing.

TED4SKA reinforces the strategic position of IAA in the SKA project as a key community leader promoting SKAO as a role model for Open Science applied to the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Making Big data science Open at data centres is an unresolved challenge needed to support several SDGs and accelerate transfer of scientific knowledge to society. In TED4SKA we combine this objective with minimising the carbon footprint of data centres, which makes this project unique among all SRCs.