Send back signals from the antennas as analog or
digital?  As sub-bands?
Limited dynamic range of analog fiber-optic
transmission.
Digitization of the strongly varying signal:
1. Apply AGC before the digitizer, calibrate later, or
2. No AGC, keep gain constant, but allow enough bits.
There’s a lot to be said for 1-bit digitization.
(Loss of S/N isn’t an issue.)  Can we get away
with it?