Software radio receiver for surveillance and wireless applications

“Today’s crowded and expensive RF spectrum is packed with a diverse variety of voice video, and data channels,” said Rodger Hosking, vice-president of Pentek.

“High-density digital receivers are essential to efficiently acquire and effectively monitor these signals for quality of service, surveillance and security applications. Emerging applications such as 5G wireless push the requirements even further.”

The Model 71865 functions include two A/D acquisition IP modules for simplifying data capture and transfer. Each acquisition IP module contains a controller for all data clocking, triggering and synchronisation functions.

From each of the two acquisition modules, A/D sample data flows into identical IP modules consisting of banks of wideband and narrowband DDCs. Finally, data is delivered to four DMA controllers linked to the PCIe Gen.3 x8 interface for transfer to a signal processor.

The four wideband DDCs can be set for decimation values between 8 and 128 in steps of 4, providing usable output bandwidths from 1.25MHz to 20MHz. The wideband DDCs can be effective in locating signals of interest.

Each of the six narrowband DDC banks can be configured to operate in three different modes, where each mode provides a different quantity of DDC channels and range of decimations. Output bandwidths range from 20kHz to 1.25MHz. All DDCs can be independently tuned from 0Hz to 200MHz with 32bits of resolution.

Three banks of resampling filters accept input samples from each narrowband DDC at one sample rate and deliver output samples at another rate. Resampling filters are often used for better symbol recovery of signals using modern digital modulation schemes. Programmable ratios ensure flexibility to cover a wide range of wireless standards.

Pentek’s Navigator BSP provides a full suite of high-level C-callable libraries that support all features of the Model 71865 and demonstrate all of its functional modes with examples.

The software package is provided with complete source code allowing the user to modify and integrate this functionality into the end application. Navigator BSP also includes a useful Signal Viewer utility that allows developers to view digitised signals from the output samples of any DDC in time and frequency domain.

SPARK development systems are ready for operation with software and hardware installed. In many applications, the SPARK development system can become the final deployed application platform.

Designed for air-cooled, conduction-cooled and rugged operating environments, the Model 71865 XMC starts at $10,995 with 8-10 weeks ARO. The Navigator BSP for Windows or Linux operating systems starts at $2,500.

The XMC mezzanine form factor allows the 71865 to be installed on a wide range of XMC carrier boards for open architecture standard form factor systems including PCIe, 3U and 6U VPX, 3U and 6U cPCI and AMC. Pentek offers fully integrated configurations of these products.