Digital Downconverter suits wideband radar and SDR applications.

Press Release Summary:




Preconfigured with programmable 1- or 2-channel digital downconverter loaded into onboard Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA, Model 71641 is capable of digitizing one 12-bit channel at 3.6 GHz or 2 channels at 1.8 GHz. Each DDC has independent 32-bit tuning frequency programmable from DC to ƒs, where ƒs is A/D sampling frequency. In single channel mode, DDC decimation can be programmed to 8x, 16x, or 32x. In dual channel mode, both channels share same decimation rate, programmable to 4x, 8x, or 16x.



Original Press Release:



Pentek Expands Product Line with Digital Downconverter for Wideband Radar and SDR Applications





  • 3.6 GHz data acquisition with 12-bit resolution


  • Single- and dual-channel operation with multi-board synchronization


  • Digital downconverter delivers up to 360 MHz baseband output bandwidths


  • 2 GB deep on-board memory and high-speed serial I/O


LONG BEACH, CA, Embedded Tech Trends–Pentek, Inc., today announced an enhancement to its fastest-ever data acquisition XMC module for the popular Cobalt® family. The Model 71641, capable of digitizing one 12-bit channel at 3.6 GHz, or two channels at 1.8 GHz, comes preconfigured with a programmable one- or two-channel digital downconverter (DDC) loaded into the onboard Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA. The new module is ideal for wideband radar and software defined radio (SDR) applications.



“The Model 71641 is designed to acquire very wide bandwidth radar and communications signals so they can be efficiently delivered and processed,” said Rodger Hosking, vice president of Pentek. “An extraordinary amount of Pentek engineering went into making this DDC IP core easy to use, even at these extreme data rates,” he added. The complex DDC IP core of the 71641 is preconfigured and characterized for a turn-key, out-of-the-box solution.



DDC IP Core

Within the Virtex-6 FPGA is a powerful Pentek designed DDC IP core. The core supports single and dual channel modes, accepting data samples from the analog to digital (A/D) converter at the full 3.6 GHz rate in single-channel mode or 1.8 GHz in two-channel operation.



Each DDC has an independent 32-bit tuning frequency programmable from DC to ƒs, where ƒs is the A/D sampling frequency. In single channel mode, DDC decimation can be programmed to 8x, 16x or 32x. In dual channel mode, both channels share the same decimation rate, programmable to 4x, 8x or 16x.



The decimating filter for each DDC accepts a unique set of user-supplied 16-bit coefficients. The 80% default filters deliver an output bandwidth of 0.8*ƒs/N, where N is the decimation setting. In single channel mode the maximum output bandwidth is 360 MHz. Rejection of adjacent-band components within the 80% output bandwidth is better than 100 dB. Each DDC delivers a complex output stream consisting of 24-bit I + 24-bit Q or 16-bit I + 16-bit Q samples at a rate of ƒs/N



Supporting Features and Products

Pentek’s ReadyFlow Board Support package for Windows, Linux or VxWorks operating systems includes C-callable libraries, drivers and example code for easy access to all of the Model 71641 features.



Pricing and Availability

The Model 71641 starts at $23,695 USD. Delivery is 8-10 weeks ARO. Pricing varies depending on the options chosen.



About Pentek

Pentek, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, designs, manufactures and markets innovative COTS and rugged DSP boards and system recorders for commercial, government and military systems, including radar, communications, medical and industrial control applications. Pentek offers powerful VME, VPX, VXS, PMC, XMC, cPCI, PCI, PCIe and AMC boards for data acquisition, software radio and digital signal processing featuring Xilinx FPGAs. Pentek’s high-speed real-time recording systems are pre-configured and can be used in the lab or deployed in the field. Pentek equips all boards and recorder products with high-performance I/O including gigabit serial interfaces, powerful software development tools and offers strong DSP software support.



Pentek, Cobalt and ReadyFlow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pentek, Inc. Brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.



For access to the release and data sheets, please visit: www.pentek.com/whatsnew/viewrelease.cfm?index=173



North American Sales Contact: Mario Schiavone, Pentek, Inc., One Park Way, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458-2311; Telephone 201-818-5900, ext. 770; Fax 201-818-5904; Email news@pentek.com; Website www.pentek.com.



International Sales Contacts: Galleon Embedded Computing in Germany at (49) 89 5908 2101, LVD Systems in Italy at (39) 011 966 1319, RECAB AB in Sweden at (46) 8 6830300, Advanced Embedded Systems in the UK, Spain and Portugal at (44) 0 1202 885 675, Sela Electronic Systems in Israel at (972) 3 6479969,MISH International in Japan at (81) 42-538-7650, Beijing Betaone Sysjob Ltd. in China at (86) 10 82784106 and Acetronix Co. Ltd. in Korea at (82) 24202343, ext. 106, Dynamic C4 Pte. Ltd. In Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia at (65) 6405 4506. For a list of Pentek representatives and distributors, please visit www.pentek.com/contact/replist.pdf .

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