Software radio transceiver for communication systems

By Control Engineering Staff July 11, 2006
Model 7142 PMC module from Pentek Inc. provides software radio transceiver functions for IF or RF communications systems and features dual Virtex-4 FPGAs, four A/D converters, and more memory than its predecessor.

Upper Saddle River, NJ— Model 7142 PMC module from Pentek Inc. provides software radio transceiver functions for IF or RF communications systems. It offers dual Virtex-4 FPGAs, four A/D converters, and 50% more memory than previous models. It is available in a variety of form factors, including PCI, 3U and 6U cPCI, and a PMC conduction-cooled version.

Successor to Model 7140 features a built-in clock/sync bus to support multi-module synchronization and provide dual on-board oscillators for independent input and output clock rates. Digitized RF signals from the four 14-bit 125 MHz A/D converters pass into a Virtex-4 SC55 FPGA for signal processing or routing to other module resources. Virtex-4 SC55 functions include transient capture, advanced triggering modes, and waveform playback, and control and programming interfaces to other on-board resources.

Design kit for the SC55 lets users add their own IP to this FPGA, which targets intensive signal processing algorithms. SC55 features 512 DSP slices, making it suitable for demodulation/modulation, decoding/encoding, decryption/encryption, digital delay, and channelization of the signal between reception and transmission. An optional version replaces the SC55 with an LX100 FPGA for applications requiring a maximum number of logic slices. Model 7142 is supported by Pentek’s ReadyFlow Board Support Libraries of C-callable device functions. Support libraries, device drivers, software development tools, and third-party offerings are available for a variety of operating systems.

—Control Engineering Daily News Desk

Jeanine Katzel , senior editor