Receiver mezzanines see through electronic clutter

Mercury Computer Systems announced its new Echotek Series ECV4- 2 family of mixed-signal PMC and XMC (the next-generation PMC) modules at the Bus and Board Conference in Long Beach, California.

Mercury Computer Systems announced its new Echotek Series ECV4- 2 family of mixed-signal PMC and XMC (the next-generation PMC) modules at the Bus and Board Conference in Long Beach, California.

The ECV4-2, with input clock capability up to 1.5GHz, is the highest performing digital receiver in an XMC form factor in the industry.

Echotek Series products lead the mixed-signal industry in extracting clear signals from electronic clutter, forming a bridge between the realms of analogue signals and digital processing.

After an analogue signal is received by an antenna or other sensor, it must be digitised and manipulated into a form amenable to signal processing.

The challenge, and the key to successful applications, is to manage this transformation in real time while maintaining the integrity of the original signal.

"The ECV4-2 is unique in delivering powerful and flexible Virtex-4 based digital receiver capability in a space-efficient PMC/XMC form factor", said Gary J Turchetta, General Manager of the Echotek Product Group at Mercury.

"It also continues the Echotek tradition of delivering the finest signal integrity available anywhere, as measured by SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) or SFDR (spur-free dynamic range)".

Multi-module configurations can be created supporting synchronised receiver functions, optimised for beamforming and direction-finding as required by radar, sigint, elint, medical imaging and communications.

There are more than a dozen members of the Echotek Series ECV4-2 family, each providing unique I/O connectivity and functionality.

Every model is configured with a specific set of A/D or D/A convertors addressing a defined bandwidth and frequency for data conversion.

Both PMC and XMC modules are available in two- and four-channel versions, with A/D, D/A, and transceiver configurations.

Processing power is delivered by a Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA (field- programmable gate array).

This FPGA allows users to run customised algorithms such as digital down/up conversion (wideband or narrowband), fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), and filtering directly on the ECV4-2.

Modules are available in air-cooled or conduction-cooled versions.

"The Mercury ECV4-2 well illustrates how Virtex-4 compresses the power budget and footprint of a wideband digital receiver into the space of an XMC mezzanine card", said Per Holmberg, Director of Programmable Digital Solutions Marketing at Xilinx.

"Reconfigurable devices are revolutionising signal processing applications by providing significant performance density and lower power than alternatives".

The Echotek ECV4-2 is a member of the ECV4 product series, which includes the ECV4-RFT selected for EDN magazine's Hot 100 Products of 2006.

The ECV4-2 family of products is available within standard lead times.

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