An evaluation of the effectiveness of observation camera placement within the MeerKAT radio telescope project

A recent development within the MeerKAT sub-project of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope network was the placement of a network of three observation cameras in pursuit of two specific visibility objectives. In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of the locations of the MeerKAT observation camera network according to a novel multi-objective geographic information systems-based facility location framework. We find that the configuration chosen and implemented by the MeerKAT decision-makers is of very high quality, although we are able to uncover slightly superior alternative placement configurations. A significant amount of time and effort could, however, have been saved in the process of choosing the appropriate camera sites, had our solutions been available to the decision-makers.