SDR development system with VITA 67 RF connections

The XPand1202 standards-based system also includes OpenVPX Ethernet and PCI Express switches, as well as an OpenVPX backplane with 3U VPX VITA 62-compatible power supply slots. Enabling the SI-9138 and SI-7138 to access sensitive analog signals directly through the backplane, the XPand1202’s VITA 67 RF connectors simplify module installation by removing the need to manually connect cables between payload modules after they are inserted. Eliminating the extra space needed for routing these cables between the front panels of the installed modules, it also reduces system SWaP.

Thanks to state-of-the-art dynamic range and phase noise performance, the SI-9138 RF receiver modules analyse the system’s incoming RF waveforms and digitize them with a 16-bit ADC sampling at 128 MHz. VITA 49 Radio Transport is used to time-tag and format the digitized waveforms, which are then transported on the backplane via a high-throughput x4 PCIe interface to the XPedite7470 SBC for processing.

Using both PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet, the installed modules communicate with each other over an OpenVPX backplane. For sending command and control messages between the payload modules, Gigabit Ethernet is routed in the backplane as a dual-star configuration from each payload module through two separate 3U VPX Ethernet switches, the XChange3012 and XChange3011. For sending high bandwidth data between the SI-9138 RF receiver modules and the VITA 48 REDI XPedite7470 SBC, PCIe is routed through the OpenVPX XChange3012 PCIe switch. While the XChange3011 provides a switched 1000BASE-T port to each payload module slot, the XChange3012 can provide a switched SerDes 1000BASE-X port to each payload module slot. Both of these networks could be accessed outside of the system through external Gigabit Ethernet ports from the switches.

Contact X-ES to start developing with your SDR application with the VITA 67 and OpenVPX-based XPand1202.