Related Products:
- VPF1 - Dual PowerPC, dual User Programmable Virtex-II Pro FPGA VXS DSP Board
Application Note
This application note describes an integrated solution combining a high-performance digital receiver from DRS Signal Solutions and a high-performance data processing solution from VMETRO. This combination of Digital Tuner and VXS DSP engine demonstrates a low-risk approach to the development of Signals Intelligence and Electronic Warfare systems that are deployed in air and rugged conduction-cooled environments. This combination reduces integration risk by providing a reliable, high-performance system with a high throughput data interface between the tuner and signal processing hardware.
The SI-9146 and VPF1 provides a processing solution capable of processing either two coherent or two independent RF tuners covering a range from 20-3000MHz with an instantaneous IF bandwidth of 30 MHz for each of the RF channels. Additional channels can be scaled with additional module pairs (SI 9146 and VPF1) added to a VXS chassis.
Modern Transport Technology
Digital tuners are devices that down-convert RF signals from an antenna input to an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband and deliver the result in digital format. The benefit of having the ADC integrated directly to the tuner is improved signal integrity due to accurate matching of the two stages as well as improved ease of use and reliability due to elimination of cabling between the tuner and digitizer.
Digital data representing the quantized IF signal is presented to a signal processor via a digital interface. Early generations of digital tuners supported “wide” parallel data interfaces (16, 32-bits or wider) which required bulky ribbon cables or heavy, expensive, and potentially unreliable backplane overlays.
The advent of multi-gigabit serial data interfaces such as those in modern field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) provide a more reliable interface that allows the digitized data to be routed either via front-panel fiber-optic or copper interfaces or over a high-performance backplane. Modern FPGAs also support serial protocols such as Xilinx’s Aurora, serial Front Panel Data Port (sFPDP), or serial RapidIO (sRIO), providing transport mechanisms for moving data to other FPGAs, to data recording systems, and to multi-processing signal processors.
High Performance VHF/UHF Digital Receiver/Processor System
This application note demonstrates a solution that has been, and continues to be, delivered and fielded by VMETRO and DRS customers – the VMETRO VPF1 Signal and Data Processor integrated with the DRS SI-9146 VHF/UHF Digital Tuner. BAE Systems’ Series 3000 SIGINT systems, based on this architecture, have been delivered and continue to be delivered to numerous programs in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force for operational deployment.
