IF relay XMC modifies up to 34 signals

24th March 2015

Pentek Inc

Siobhan O'Gorman

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Datasheet

An adaptive IF relay XMC with a Virtex-6 FPGA has been introduced by Pentek. The 71624, which expands the company’s Cobalt line, accepts two IF analogue input channels, modifies up to 34 signals, and then delivers them to two analogue IF outputs. Any signal within each IF band can be independently enabled or disabled, and changed in both frequency and amplitude as it passes through the module.

The device supports many useful functions for both commercial and military communications systems, including signal drop/add/replace, frequency shifting and hopping, amplitude equalisation and bandwidth consolidation. Targeted applications include signal monitoring, signal jamming, channel security, countermeasures, beamforming and radar applications.

The IF relay XMC features 34 DDCs, each independently tunable across a 100MHz input IF range, handling signal bandwidths from 20 up to 312kHz. The DDCs deliver 34 baseband signals to the host computer, which determines how each signal is dropped, replaced or changed in amplitude and frequency. The modified signals are then combined and delivered as an analogue IF output.

The 71624 comes preconfigured with a suite of time-tested Pentek IP functions for DDC, DUC, DMA transfers and digital summation. Captured signals may be relayed with gain and frequency modifications directly through the module, or the host system may substitute a modified signal on any channel instead. The device features an on-board programmable sample clock synthesiser that is phase-lockable to an external frequency reference input. Multiple units can be synchronised for high-channel count systems.

The IF relay XMC is designed for commercial, rugged or conduction cooled operating environments. The 71624 is also available in several form factors, including 3U and 6U VPX (52624/53624 & 57624/58624), 3U and 6U cPCI (72624/73624/74624), AMC (56624) and PCIe (78624).

With a Pentek SPARK 8266 PC development system or 8267 VPX development system, designers can start working on their application immediately. Created to save engineers and system integrators the time and expense associated with building and testing a system, the systems ensure optimum performance of Pentek boards and working examples.

The Pentek ReadyFlow Board Support Package is available for Windows and Linux OSs. ReadyFlow is provided as a C-callable library, the complete suite of initialisation, control and status functions, as well as a rich set of precompiled, ready-to-run-examples, accelerate application development.

“The flexibility of the 71624 allows each signal to be manipulated in its own way,” said Rodger Hosking, Vice President, Pentek. “Because the host computer is in the control loop, it supports adaptive applications such as signal scanning and tracking, as well as cognitive radio functions like jamming, denial of service and other countermeasures.”

The 71624 IF relay XMC is available now and priced from $16,095.