Platform hosts military radio development

A new development platform contains all hardware and tools required for software-defined radio development compliant with the Software Communication Architecture for all future US military radios.

Pentek has released a development platform containing all hardware and tools required for software-defined radio development compliant with the Software Communication Architecture (SCA) mandated for all future US military radios.

The Pentek SCA 2510 hardware platform consists of a Pentek 7640 software radio transceiver PCI card installed in a PC workstation.

The computer is loaded with the Linux operating system, development tools and the SCARI++ SCA core framework from Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada.

The hardware and software are fully integrated to ease development.

The PCI card comes preconfigured with drivers and libraries so developers can immediately begin their software-defined radio projects.

"Creating a reconfigurable radio that's adaptable to many radio standards - without the need to replace hardware - is what JTRS is all about", says Pentek Vice President Rodger Hosking.

"The SCA2510 development system with fully integrated SCA tools and core framework already in place helps JTRS hardware and software engineers reach that goal".

"We married a high-performance PCI transceiver card and an extensive set of supporting software libraries to the industry's most comprehensive suite of SCA development tools".

"The end result is a powerful, cost-effective PC-based system that extends the reach of JTRS software radio development to companies that might not have been able to afford it before".

"SCA technology is a key enabler to facilitate communications interoperability among military, police and rescue-relief teams", says Claude Belisle, acting Vice-President of Satellite Communications and Radio Propagation Research at CRC.

"We are pleased to be working with industry leaders such as Pentek in the development of SDR products".

The Model 7640 dual channel transceiver PCI board digitises HF or IF input signals using a pair of 14bit, 105MHz A/D convertors and generates output signals with two 16bit, 500MHz D/A convertors.

The 7640 is also equipped with a Virtex-II Pro VP50 FPGA that serves as a control and status engine with data and programming interfaces to each of the many onboard resources, including a four-channel digital downconvertor, a digital upconvertor and an extremely versatile clocking and synchronisation system.

The FPGA is supported with a total of 512Mbyte DDR SDRAM for built-in buffering functions, including data capture and delay.

A 64bit 66MHz PCI interface includes a high-performance nine-channel DMA controller to boost PCIbus transfer speeds.

The SCA2510 software development environment is based on the SCARI++ SCA Core Framework, Component Development Library and Software Defined Radio (SDR) Development Toolset.

This toolset is integrated with Pentek's SCA-compatible board support package for a complete development solution ready for radio and waveform designers.

Pentek offers the GateFlow FPGA Design Kit, a package that includes design information, software files and utilities for extending the base functionality of the Virtex-II Pro FPGA on the Model 7640.

compared with proprietary development platforms, the use of a PC-based hardware platform, Linux operating system and CRC's SCA software greatly reduces the cost of entry for potential developers.

The PC workstation and Pentek 7640 PCI rival the performance of larger multi-board system alternatives while reducing hardware costs.

Nevertheless, since the Model 7640 architecture is identical to the 7140 PMC/XMC module, all development efforts can easily be scaled to large, multi-channel VME and cPCI systems ranging from commercial through conduction-cooled environments.

Support for the development platform also helps reduce the cost of entry by offering complete training and maintenance.

Pentek provides first-line support for the hardware platform and hardware-software integration issues.

CRC will train customers on the SCA and development tools and will provide ongoing upgrades and tool maintenance.

Pentek's SCA 2510 development platform starts at $85,000 for all hardware and software tools for the first development seat.

Discounts are available for additional seats.

Product availability is approximately 12 weeks ARO.

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