EVLA and SKA computing costs for wide field imaging

Perley and Clark (2003) have recently derived a cost equation for synthesis arrays that includes the computing costs to counteract the non-coplanar baselines aberration. One conclusion from their work is that the cost equation should include a cubic term in the number of antennas. Consequently the minimum cost antenna diameter for fixed collecting area is increased over that derived while ignoring the costs of non-coplanar baselines. To determine how much the diameter is increased, the actual scaling coefficient must be known. In this document, I use AIPS++ to estimate the scaling coefficient of this cubic term.