 Given the stringent dynamic range requirements for detecting
reionization in the face of foregrounds that are five orders of
magnitude brighter, the PAPER
project is taking a carefully staged engineering approach, optimizing
each component in the array to mitigate, at the outset, any
potentially debilitating problems in subsequent data calibration and
analysis.This staged approach addresses the
observational challenges that arise from
very-wide-field, high-dynamic-range imaging over wide bandwidths
in the presence of transient terrestrial interference.PAPER began as a collaboration between Don Backer of the UC Berkeley Radio Astronomy Laboratory and Richard Bradley of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.