*3.2.2. 8xA-SAFT with Golay encoding architecture*

As we see in sections 2.1.2 and 2.2, and in order to combine 8xA-SAFT with Golay codes, we will double the number of channels in reception to maintain the number of original firings. Thus, in this case the system is composed of one channel in emission and 32 channels in reception as Figure 12 suggests. A multiplexer connects the transmission channel to elements for sequentially activate one of them, in steps of 8 elements, to transmit an A or B code for odd or even shots respectively. A second multiplexer will be on charge of connecting the 32 reception channels to the receiving aperture ensuring that every coded signal is stored in a local memory. Therefore, two signals per coarray element are overlapped, each one belonging to an A or B code respectively. Additionally, an offset is added to the coarray structure in order to centre its elements, and the boundary coarray elements are removed from it as we illustrated in section 2.2.2.

Now the software imaging system requires a bigger memory and an additional decoding stage, where the complete set of signals is deconvolved, generating a 2*N* − 8 data set. Later on, as usual, the data will be beamformed using the graphics processing unit.
