Analyses of x-ray (SXR) emission from tokamak plasmas provide valuable information about magnetohydrodynamics activities and transport phenomena. In this study, design and optimization of the SXR detector arrays were performed for the KSTAR (Korea superconducting tokamak advanced research) device. Geometrical arrangement of the array system was made by coverage mapping and tomographic reconstruction tests. The space-time tomography algorithm was developed for KSTAR-like plasmas using the fast maximum entropy method combined with singular value decomposition. Spatial setup of the components in each detector array was determined and optimized by geometrical calculation. A curved beryllium window and a developed cooling system will be mounted on the detector arrays. Due to the existence of the complex structures between outer vessel and passive stabilizers, each array is designed to be miniaturized. Hardware-optimization of the array system was cross-checked with the tomographic test results. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.