  Since 2004 we have been carrying out a pulsar survey of the Cygnus region
with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) at a frequency of 328 MHz.
The survey pioneered a novel interferometric observing mode, termed 8gr8
(eight-grate), whereby multiple simultaneous digital beams provide high
sensitivity over a large field of view. Since the Cygnus region is known to
contain OB associations, it is likely that pulsars are formed here. Simulations
have shown that this survey could detect 70 pulsars, which would increase our
understanding of the radio pulsar population in this region. We also aim to
expand the known population of intermittent and rotating radio transient
(RRAT)-like pulsars. In this paper we describe our methods of observation,
processing and data analysis, and we present the first results. Our observing
method exploits the way a regularly spaced, linear array of telescopes yields a
corresponding regularly spaced series of so-called ``grating'' beams on the
sky. By simultaneously forming a modest number (eight) of offset digital beams,
we can utilize the entire field of view of each WSRT dish, but retain the
coherently summed sensitivity of the entire array. For the processing we
performed a large number of trial combinations of period and dispersion measure
(DM) using a computer cluster. In the first processing cycle of the WSRT 8gr8
Cygnus Survey, we have discovered three radio pulsars, with spin periods of
1.657, 1.099 and 0.445 seconds. These pulsars have been observed on a regular
basis since their discovery, both in a special follow-up programme as well as
in the regular timing programme. The timing solutions are presented in this
paper. We also discuss this survey method in the context of the SKA and its
pathfinders.
