A 96-antenna radioheliograph

Here we briefly present some design approaches for a multifrequency 96-antenna radioheliograph. The configuration of the array antenna, transmission lines and digital receivers is the main focus of this work. The radioheliograph is a T-shaped centrally condensed radiointerferometer operating in the frequency range 4–8 GHz.The justification for the choice of such a configuration is discussed. The signals from antennas are transmitted to a workroom by analog optical links. The dynamic range and phase errors of the microwave-over-optical signal are considered. The signals after downconverting are processed by digital receivers for delay tracking and fringe stopping. The required step of delay tracking and data rates are considered. Two 3-bit data streams（I and Q） are transmitted to a correlator with the transceivers embedded in Field Programmed Gate Array chips and with PCI Express cables.