Pentek releases L-band RF tuner to enhance SATCOM applications

     The latest addition to Pentek's Jade family of XMC FPGA modules is an L-band RF tuner based on Xilinx's Kintex UltraScale FPGA with two 400-MHz analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Jade, model 71891, is designed to connect directly to L-band signals from SATCOM or communication systems. According to Pentek, the Jade series' architecture upgrade to Kintex FPGas delivers higher performance, 20 percent lower power consumption and 35 percent lower cost compared to the previous generation.

     The SSMC connector on the front panel of the module accepts L-band signals between 925 and 2175 MHz, typically from an L-band antenna or a low noise block (LNB). Through its programmable low noise amplifier, the module's Maxim MAX2121 tuner IC uses a wideband I/Q analog downconverter and a 123-MHz low-pass anti-aliasing filter to directly convert these L-band signals to IF or baseband. The two analog tuner outputs are digitized by two Texas Instruments ADS5474 400-MHz, 14-bit ADCs to capture the full 123-MHz bandwidth.

     For optimal performance, the MAX2121's analog output can be used in mid-band mode instead of analog baseband I+Q mode. In this case, each ADC digitizing the IF signal and then sending it to the digital downconverter (DDC) to produce a perfectly balanced, complex I+Q digital baseband sampling that improves demodulation performance. Another benefit of using IF analog output mode is that there are now two separate ADC and DDC channels that can be used to digitize and downconvert signals with two different center frequencies and bandwidths.

     The Model 71891 has two acquisition IP modules for easy acquisition and movement of data. Each module can receive data from one of two ADCs or test signal generators. Each acquisition IP module contains a powerful DDC IP core with attenuation values from 2 to 64k, covering a wide range of signal bandwidths. Due to the flexible input routing within the capture IP module, many different configurations can be implemented, including one ADC driving two DDCS or each of the two ADCs driving its own DDC.

     Based on Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGas, the Jade architecture now delivers more than 50% higher DSP performance compared to previous series, while also reducing cost, power and weight. Fpgas have access to all data and control paths, enabling factory-installed functions including data reuse, channel selection, data unpacking, gating, triggering, and memory control.

     To facilitate application development, Pentek's Navigator Design Suite includes the Navigator FDK (FPGA Design Suite) for customizing IP and the Navigator BSP (Board Support Package) for creating host software applications. The Navigator FDK includes the entire FPGA design of the board in the form of a block diagram, which is graphically editable in Xilinx's Vivado tool suite, and provides complete source code and documentation. Developers can integrate their own IP with factory-installed functionality or replace it with their own IP using the Navigator suite. The Navigator FDK library is fully AXI-4 compliant and provides a well-defined interface for developing IP or integrating IP from other sources.

     Pentek's Navigator BSP provides a complete set of high-level, callable C libraries that support all of the functionality of type 71891, and demonstrates all of its functional patterns through examples. The package provides the complete source code, allowing users to modify and integrate these features into the end application. The Navigator BSP also includes a very useful Signal viewer utility that allows developers to view the digitized signal of any DDC output sample in both the time and frequency domains.

     The Jade Model 71891 XMC is designed for commercial, rugged or conductor-cooled operating environments. It is also available in a variety of packages, including 3U and 6U VPX (model 54891 and 57891/58891), 3U and 6U cPCI (model 72891/73891/74891), AMC (model 56891), and PCIe (model 78891). Additional FPGA, ADC, and LVDS FPGA I/O options are available.