For purposes of these regulations unless the context indicates otherwise—

"the Act"

means the Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act, 2007 (Act No. 21 of 2007);

"CENELEC"

means the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation;

"CISPR"

means the International Special Committee on Radio Interference setting standards for controlling electromagnetic interference in electrical and electronic devices;

"electrical equipment"

means any electrical machinery, electrical systems, appliances or devices, including any wireless data communications used for the operation of these facilities, used for construction, distribution and transmission power systems, exploration, farming, household, manufacturing, maintenance, or mining purposes;

"electrical infrastructure"

means any infrastructure or facility, including any wireless data communications used for the operation of the electrical infrastructure, to be used in any way for electricity generation, electricity distribution, electricity transmission, or for a distribution or transmission power system, and electrical facilities and equipment used for these applications;

"electricity generation"

means the production of electricity by any means including inverters converting direct current into alternating current;

"Electricity Regulation Act"

means the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 4 of 2006);

"electromagnetic emissions"

means unintentional radio frequency emissions by electrical infrastructure, and electrical equipment, which characteristically occupies broad parts of the radio frequency spectrum and causes radio frequency interference;

"existing electrical equipment and infrastructure"

means electrical equipment and infrastructure that is in operation or in use or where construction on site has started, prior to the date on which these regulations are promulgated by publication in the Government Gazette;

"isotropic antenna"

means a theoretical point source or destination of electromagnetic waves which radiates the same intensity of radiation or has the same sensitivity of reception in all directions;

"IEC"

means the International Electrotechnical Commission that prepares and publishes international standards for electrical, electronic and related technologies;

"IEEE"

means the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the United States of America which makes, maintains and publishes standards;

"ITU"

means the International Telecommunication Union;

"Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Areas 1, 2 and 3"

means the Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area 1, 2 and 3 declared on 12 March 2014 in Government Gazette No. 37434, under Notice No. 198;

"management authority"

means the organ of state to which the Minister has assigned the management of the Karoo central astronomy advantage areas in terms of section 15 of the Act and includes any party with whom the management authority has entered into a co-management agreement for the co-management of the Karoo central astronomy advantage areas in terms of section 18 of the Act;

"protection corridors"

means parcels of land, each measuring a radius of 100m, and centred on each SKA_MID station located along a defined route along one of three spiral arms within the KCAAA 1 and which also applies to KCAAA 2 and KCAAA 3, depending on the frequency spectrum being used;

[Definition substituted by section 3 of Notice No. 4726, GG50527, dated 17 April 2024]

"Protection Levels Regulations 2012"

means the regulations on radio astronomy protection levels to be applied in astronomy advantage areas declared for the purposes of radio astronomy on 10 February 2012, in Government Gazette No. 35007, under Notice No. R.90;

"radio astronomy station"

means one or more receiving systems at a location, including accessory equipment, for receiving radio waves of cosmic origin for the purposes of radio astronomy;

"radio frequency interference"

means the detrimental effect of received radio signals or signals from electromagnetic emissions that exceed the radio astronomy observation protection levels prescribed in the Protection Levels Regulations, 2012;

"SABS"

means the South African Bureau of Standards established by section 3 of the Standards Act, 2008 (Act No. 8 of 2008);

"SANS"

means a South African National Standard developed by the SABS in terms of the Standards Act, 2008 (Act No. 8 of 2008), and includes international standards adopted by the SABS;

"saturation level"

means the total received power level of (minus) -100 dBm, or higher, within the transmission bandwidth of the radio communication producing the radio frequency interference level at which the saturation phenomenon occurs at a specified assessment point or points, or within a specified area;

"separation distance"

means the distance required between any electrical equipment or infrastructure and the nearest SKA Infrastructure Territory or the SKA Virtual Centre, taking into account any mitigation applied to reduce the radio frequency interference, which distance is required not to exceed the applicable protection levels prescribed in the Protection Levels Regulations, 2012;

"SKA"

means the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope consisting of an array of radio astronomy stations to be located in the Republic of South Africa and in participating African countries in accordance with the decision of the SKA Organisation;

"SKA Infrastructure Territory"

means the protection corridors within the Karoo Central Astronomy Advantage Area I as depicted and described in Annexure A to these Schedule D Regulations and the 20km radius circular area around the SKA Virtual Centre; and

"SKA Virtual Centre"

means the geographical point located at geographical coordinates 30.71292 degrees South and 21.44380 degrees East that relates to the SKA array of radio astronomy stations within the Karoo Astronomy Advantage Areas.