A Wideband Upgrade for the Australia Telescope Compact Array

The maximum signal bandwidth on the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is to expand from 128MHz to 2GHz. Central to this development is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based digital filterbank correlator featuring high dynamic range and flexible configuration. Associated analog to digital conversion requirements will push the limits of high-speed sampling and quantisation techniques. These new technologies are direct candidates for signal processing on the proposed Square Kilometer Array (SKA). The correlator includes extra ports to incorporate two SKA demonstrator antenna stations into the ATCA, providing both a more powerful instrument and a mature test bed for the demonstrators. OVERVIEW The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) [1] is a connected element aperture synthesis radiotelescope comprising of six 22 meter diameter antennas. The operating frequency range is from 1.2 to 105 GHz. Four signals can be processed simultaneously, each with a maximum bandwidth of 128MHz, where the frequency resolution is 4MHz. A 5-year project has recently been launched to replace the entire backend system of the ATCA. This upgrade will increase the maximum bandwidth on each of the four signals to 2GHz. Central to this development is a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based digital filterbank FX correlator featuring high dynamic range and flexibl