Partial Notes of the USSKA Consortium Meeting by JMC 
03 Oct 2003
Pasadena

TDP information only (so far)

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NAIC will be the managing organization
Cornell is the lead institution
Jim Cordes is the PI
co-PIs will be: 
	R. Brown, P. Goldsmith and Y. Terzian (Cornell)
   and  one person from each institution receiving a subcontract
there will be a Project Manager at Cornell who reports to JMC,
and interacts with subcontractee institutions;  the latter also
reports to JMC.

The US SKA Consortium is the governing board, in effect,
as described in Bob Brown's suggested management plan document,
now under revision

Proposal is due 1 Dec 2003
Requested duration = 5yr 
Why 5 yr? 
	- it takes us to the decadal survey
	- it takes us through international milestones
		in 2005, 2007 with continuity through 
		prototyping efforts relevant for the decadal survey
		and for construction funding  
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Discussion about funding the International Project Office:
NSF not convinced of the need.
We feel strongly that we must in order to support the SKA
	as an internation project.
Costs average to $200k/year over the 5 years.
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Discussion about technical issues:
	- not clear what the optimal dish size or optics are with
	  respect to all costs;  therefore such issues are part of
	  the TDP work plan.
	- need to prototype a 6m antenna and probably rely on
	  symmetric 12m prototyping by JPL for extrapolation to that size
	- Weinreb stated that off-axis designs were driven by low frequencies,
	  so if we raise the lowest frequency for the LNSD concept, we might
  	  be able to use symmetric antennas.  
	- Walker summarized some of the data rate issues in post processing,
	  aluding to the Perley/Clark memo.  Optimal dish size will also
	  depend on data rate feasibility.   For the SKA, we need to work
	  closely with those working on same issues for EVLA, LOFAR, ATA.
	- suggestion that we have a post-processing group  
          and/or a 'systems' group that considers linked technical
	  areas (e.g. configuration, correlator, post processing,
	  RFI management, etc.); some related discussion on how to
	  present needed work areas in the proposal (need completeness
	  as well as organized, coherent approach).

Other short talks relevant to the TDP:
	G. Cortes:  feeds and optics for several designs; discussion
		of available software tools
	B. Burke:  a wheel/track alidade concept
	E. Wilcots:  U. Wisconson resources, including engineering, 
		interests in the science case, data management,
		and outreach 
	J. Tarter: outreach possibilities.  Issue: who do we target?
		do we go broad or focus on one or two areas
		Need to target NSF
	D. Bock: use of the ATA for SKA development (as per Welch/Bock
		memo on JMC web page)

Action items:
	1. All: 	
	See document circulated by JMC on 30 Sept 
	("USSKA Consortium Technology Development Project: Outline for
		the Proposal to the NSF")
	Table 4 gives TDP Activity List tagged by institutions and
		with an initital prioritization
	Table 5 gives work areas with individuals & institutions
		tagged.  Some individuals tagged (with *) as 'leaders'
		of the proposal writing.   
	=> volunteer if you were missed;
	Leaders send outlines to JMC of sections as drafts by 8 Oct 2003

	2. JMC: send out revised timeline for proposal preparation
	and updated activity list.  (Include new schedule for telecons)