Home > What's New > Upper Saddle River, NJ - March 29, 2005

Pentek Announces Ruggedized Version of Popular Multiband Digital Receiver PMC Module

16-Channel Multiband Digital Receiver with Dual 14-bit A/Ds On-board User-Configurable Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA Supports Highly-Optimized GateFlow FPGA Resources Flexible A/D Channel Switching and Receiver Bypass Mode Synchronization Capability for up to 80 boards Operating Temperature Range -20ºC to 65ºC Qualified for shock plus sine and random vibration

Demonstrating its commitment to offering ruggedized products for applications in extreme environments, Pentek announced a new version of its 7131 16-channel multiband digital receiver PMC (PCI mezzanine card) module. Like its namesake, the 7131-702 features two 14-bit 105 MHz A/Ds and four quad digital receivers. This board also couples the Virtex-II FPGA (field programmable gate array) technology with these channelized software radio functions, making over 2 million gates available for user customization. Most importantly, the module achieves Pentek's highest level of convection-cooled ruggedization, joining the 6821, 6822 and 7140 PMC and VME boards as part of Pentek's growing family of ruggedized board products.

The Model 7131-702 targets software radio applications including synchronous data communications, direction finding, wireless telecom, satellite communications, wireless LAN and high-frequency sonar. Ruggedization now makes it especially well-suited for stressful environments such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other combat applications. It has an operating temperature range of -20ºC to 65ºC and a storage range of -40ºC to 100ºC. It is qualified for 20 g shock, 2 g sine vibration, and 0.04 g²/Hz random vibration. A conformal coating is also available, which extends its operating range to 100% relative humidity and protects it from environmental contaminants.

?With its full complement of resources and extremely flexible architecture, the Model 7131 can tackle a wide variety of applications in communications, signal intelligence and data acquisition,? said Rodger Hosking, vice president of Pentek, Inc. ?These new ruggedization levels now extend the deployment space into harsh environments covering a significant range of important military and aerospace platforms,? he continued.

Flexible Configuration, Switching and Synchronization

The Model 7131-702 accepts two analog inputs on front-panel SMA connectors, either from baseband HF sources or IF outputs from communications receivers. Each of the two inputs is transformer coupled and digitized by a 14-bit A/D converter capable of operating at sample rates up to 105 MHz. The sample clock is derived either from an internal crystal oscillator or an external clock supplied through a front panel SMA connector.

This board also includes four quad multiband digital receiver chips driven by the samples from both A/Ds. Each device includes four receiver channels capable of independent center frequency tuning from DC to 40 MHz with output bandwidths ranging from 4 kHz to 2.5 MHz. A crossbar switch allows all sixteen receiver channels to independently select either of the two A/D inputs. The front panel clock/sync bus allows one 7131-702 to act as a master, driving the sample clock out to a front-panel cable using LVDS differential signaling. Multiple slaves can be then clocked synchronously with the master.

Customer Configurable FPGA

The Model 7131-702 is equipped with either XC2V1000 or XC2V3000 FPGA devices from the Xilinx Virtex-II family, offering logic densities of 1 or 3 million gates, respectively. The FPGA is factory-configured to perform standard modes of data packing, formatting and channel selection. An optional FPGA developer's kit is available for custom applications to take advantage of the 70% unused resources within the optional XC2V3000 FPGA. Also supported are Pentek's GateFlow IP cores, such as pulse compression algorithms and FFTs, so customers can take immediate advantage of FPGA technology.