GMV UK - Developing capabilities in a key critical technology for SKAO and the UK in mission-critical timing
Image credit: SKAO
The SKA Observatory (SKAO) is building the two largest radio telescope arrays in the world, located in South Africa and Australia, made possible through an international collaboration, headquartered in the UK. The SKA-Mid telescope (197 dishes) and the SKA-Low telescope (131,072 log-periodic dipole antennas) are under construction in the Karoo region, South Africa and in Western Australia on Wajarri Yamaji Country, respectively. Precision timing is critical in enabling the project to synchronise the radio signals received by each dish and antenna to enable the large number of smaller receptors to behave as a virtual larger receptor, and in doing so, obtain very high-resolution observations.
What did the SKAO need?
The SKAO Timescale is the beating heart of the SKA telescopes. For each telescope, the individual dishes or antennas work together as a huge array, detecting signals from space to study the universe in unprecedented detail. An average of 8 terabits per second of data will be transferred over hundreds of kilometres from the telescopes to supercomputing facilities. For the system to work, signals from each antenna must be aligned with 5 nanosecond precision. Timescale is a central system based on atomic clocks that will timestamp each signal, continuously comparing the atomic clocks with each other and via satellite with UTC, the international standard, to identify any inaccuracies.
In February 2024 GMV in the UK won a contract to supply, install, commission and calibrate the Synchronisation and Timing (SAT) Timescale for both SKAO’s Mid and Low telescopes. This is expected to operate over the Observatory’s 50-year lifetime.
Why were GMV best placed to help?
GMV in the UK develops technology and services in Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT), delivering high precision and high integrity systems into mission critical applications. It has two UK offices located in Nottingham and in Harwell. The company has been collaborating with the international time metrology community for over 20 years and has a pedigree in securing business in PNT with the European Space Agency.
Ricardo Píriz, Head of the Time and Frequency Division within GMV said:
“We maintain our own atomic timescale, which is aligned to UTC within a few nanoseconds, and is used operationally to monitor the accuracy of the time disseminated by GPS and Galileo, among other purposes. The SKAO Timescale project is a game changer for GMV and an excellent opportunity for us to take our expertise in time and frequency generation and distribution to the next level.”
GMV were already positioning themselves for securing emerging business with timing solutions, joining the White Rabbit Collaboration with CERN in 2024. The company has invested in timing infrastructure, laboratory facilities and in an engineering team specialising in timing, frequency and synchronisation.
“Winning the SKAO Timescale project was critical to growing our UK business in Time and Frequency. We were aware of the UK government’s concerns about the vulnerability of existing timing systems such as the over reliance on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and the dependencies across UK critical national infrastructure. Satellite signals are susceptible to natural and man-made interferences, including malicious attacks, you cannot assume satellite signals will be continuously available to support critical functions. It is a real problem that needs a range of solutions. At GMV, we identified a business opportunity to invest and apply our expertise in developing innovative solutions in Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) to address a gap in the UK market.”
Mark Dumville, GMV UK
Linzi Stirrup, SKAO Project Manager for Synchronisation and Timing, said:
“The unique SKAO Timescale system, which incorporates both hardware and software, is key to the successful operation of the telescopes and therefore has very stringent requirements. Our GMV colleagues bring strong experience to the project and are working together with the SKAO in a very collaborative fashion to ensure that the design is as robust as it possibly can be.”
What’s it like working with SKAO and partners?
“We are thrilled to work together with the SKAO to deliver an excellent clock system for the SKA telescopes,” says Ricardo. The team have developed a strong, collaborative partnership with SKAO’s Synchronisation and Timing staff.
Mark says, “Our team are excited and motivated to be working with the SKAO on Timescale. We have developed a really good engineering level working relationship with the international Observatory, working in partnership to deliver a prestigious project with real-world impact.”
What was the impact on GMV?
Working with the SKAO has allowed GMV in the UK to expand their activities in the emerging timing sector. The SKAO contract, together with other timing contracts from the European Space Agency, has generated further success with the UK Space Agency on their Two Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) project.
The UK government recently published a Framework for Greater PNT Resilience, which presents measures for the UK to reduce its reliance on GNSS for time provision, and GMV in the UK can now demonstrate their ability to deploy large timescale systems and distribute time in operational environments. In addition to SKAO Timescale, GMV led a consortium which was awarded a £2M contract from Innovate UK to develop a sovereign White Rabbit switch featuring a Quantum holdover clock which will further help protect the UK’s critical infrastructure and networks
Mark says, “The recent wins put GMV in a strong position to capture the emerging market in timescale, time distribution and time transfer services addressing timing and synchronisation needs in new applications ranging from basic scientific research to advanced defence solutions and everything in between.”
There have also been improvements to GMV’s internal manufacturing processes in the UK, including scaling up facilities for manufacturing, integration assembly and testing components for the SKAO, as well as internal processes ensuring improved quality and product assurance processes.
GMV UK have also expanded their timing team since the start of the SKAO Timescale project, including new software engineers and project managers, and the project has enabled UK-based engineers to develop timing skills and expertise in a critical technology for the UK.
“The GMV Timing division is now viewed as an important growth vector within the GMV business. This growth is being championed by GMV UK and given the UK government’s vision to reduce the national dependency on GNSS based timing, we expect there will be a continuous need to grow the team, the skills and the expertise to manage the business we are winning. It is an exciting time to be involved in developing timing solutions.”
Mark Dumville, GMV UK
