Detection of the redshifted 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from the cosmic dawn and the epoch of reionization (EoR) is one of the final frontiers of modern observational cosmology. The inherently faint signal makes it susceptible to contamination by several sources like astrophysical foregrounds and instrumental systematics. Nevertheless, developments achieved in the recent developments will combine to make signal detection possible with the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA), both statistically and via tomography.This review describes an indigenously developed end-to-end pipeline that simulates sensitive interferometric observations. It mainly focuses on the requirements for Hi detection in interferometers. In its present form, it canmimic the effects of realistic point source foregrounds and systematics—calibration error and position error on 21-cm observations. The performance of the pipeline is demonstrated for test cases with 0.01% calibration errorand position error. Its performance is consistent across telescope, foreground and signal models. The focus of the simulation pipeline during the initial stages was for EoR science. But since this is a general interferometric simulation pipeline, it will be helpful to the entire SKA user community, irrespective of the science goals.

A key science project for SKA-Low is the interferometer imaging of spatio-temporal fluctuations in the hydrogen ionization fraction and spin temperature as a diagnostic of cosmic dawn (CD) and epoch of reionization (EoR) in the redshift range $6 \lesssim z \lesssim 28$. However, detection of the global CD/EoR signal, which provides the differential HI 21-cm brightness temperature with respect to the background radiation temperature, is outside the current purview of SKA-Low observing in interferometer mode. This global CD/EoR signal can provide the critical zero-spacing measurement vital for establishing the base level of fluctuations measured by SKA-Low interferometers. We present here, a concept to detect the global CD/EoR signal as a supplement to the CD/EoR key science of SKA-Low. This would be enabled by adding a compact array of outrigger antennas interspersed between the core stations of SKA-Low. The autocorrelations of the outrigger antennas would form the measurement set for the global CD/EoR. The visibilities measured between outriggers and SKA stations would be `blind' to the global CD/EoR signal and would provide a Global Sky Model and calibration of the bandpass and mode-coupling in the primary beam of the outriggers. The global signal measurement capabilitywill strengthen the SKA-Low CD/EoR program.