Military Embedded Systems

Module wins the SDR development battle

Product

February 04, 2011

Alice Moss

Military Embedded Systems

Chris A. Ciufo

General Micro Systems, Inc.

Module wins the SDR development battle

SDR development isn't a task for the faint of heart. The good news, though, is that Pentek's Model 71690 L-Band RF tuner/digital digitizer module is streamlining the L-band SDR development platform proposition.

SDR development isn’t a task for the faint of heart. The good news, though, is that Pentek’s Model 71690 L-Band RF tuner/digital digitizer module is streamlining the L-band SDR development platform proposition. The only things Model 71690 needs are a host system (this can be something as simple as a personal computer) and an antenna. Thereafter, the XMC module can churn away, facilitating decoding, demodulation, decryption, and receipt of any digital L-band comms. This task, which sounds a lot easier now, is accomplished as the XMC processes signals straight from a low-noise block connection provided by the antenna.

Cutting-edge Virtex-6 FPGAs power the module, thus any of five variants can be used: LX365T, LX240T, LX130T, SX475T, or SX315T. Meanwhile, fast random access apps benefit from the up to 32 MB QDRII+ SRAM, and apps requiring deep memory can use the up to 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM provided. Not only that, the tuning reference for the RF subsystem can simply consist of either an optional onboard crystal oscillator or an external reference signal. Additionally, Virtex-6 FPGA software IP renders both custom and turnkey functions.

 

Featured Companies

Pentek, now part of Mercury

1 Park Way
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458