The Messenger
Upgrade Strategies for the ALMA Digital System
No. 184 (September 2021), 20–24
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) comprises 66 antennas working as a powerful interferometer. High-speed digitisation, signal transmission over several tens of kilometres from the receivers to the correlator, and complex data processing all require state-of-the-art technologies. The ALMA2030 Development Roadmap calls for an increase in the bandwidth by at least a factor of two, implying a major upgrade of the entire signal path. We present here the results of a detailed study looking at how to upgrade the ALMA digital system, including digitisation, data pre-processing, and data transmission to cope with bandwidths more than four times the current ones. At the same time, this system will contribute to increasing the nominal correlation efficiency from 88% to 99%, and prepare ALMA for longer baselines of up to 100 kilometres.
Cite this article:
Quertier, B., Gauffre, S., Randriamantena, A., Studniarek, M., De Breuck, C., Mroczkowski, T., Tan, G., Kemper, C., Phillips, N.; Upgrade Strategies for the ALMA Digital System. The Messenger 184 (September 2021): 20–24. https://doi.org/10.18727/0722-6691/5240