SCIENCE

New OpenVPX Building Blocks Enhance Support for EW/SIGINT Applications

Mercury Computer Systems has announced new 3U and 6U OpenVPXmodules in support of customers developing Electronic Warfare/Signals Intelligence (EW/SIGINT) applications. The new modules combine multiple technologies used in systems to detect, deceive and defeat electronic transmissions from opposing forces in missions ranging from radar targeting suppression to counter-IED.

“Today’s electronic battlefield is defined by complex technical challenges,” said Didier Thibaud, senior vice president and general manager of Mercury Computer Systems’ Advanced Computing Solutions business unit. “Signals are elusive and move across a broader range of the spectrum, extending into extremely high frequencies. Mercury’s signal processing subsystems help EW/SIGINT developers address these challenges, enabling a High Probability of Intercept (HPOI) for signals of interest and then the ability to locate, monitor or confuse those signals.”

Mercury’s new subsystem enhancements are based on powerful building-block components in both 3U and 6U OpenVPX standard form factors. Like all of Mercury’s open architecture building blocks, these modules can be can be configured with other components, such as Radio Frequency (RF) tuners, into advanced Application Ready Subsystems (ARS) as part of larger EW/SIGINT systems. Each ARS is a customized design with unique, application-specific capabilities. Examples include a close integration between RF and IF processing, support for wide instantaneous bandwidth, or the ability to directly digitize entire frequency bands. The individual modules can also be adapted by engineering services to specific program needs.

Building Block Examples

Two new 3U OpenVPX modules support sophisticated EW/SIGINT functionality on platforms with limited Size, Weight and Power budgets. The Ensemble HCD3210 processing module combines a Virtex-6 FPGA with a Freescale dual-core 8640D general purpose processor. An industry standard XMC site enables I/O directly into the module, making it a single-slot solution for data acquisition and multi-stage processing. The Ensemble SFM3010, an advanced multi-plane switching module, supports a low-latency, deterministic SRIO fabric data plane, a GigE switching control plane and an IPMI-based system management plane, enabling very sophisticated applications in the small 3U form factor.

Larger 6U OpenVPX subsystems are enhanced with the new Echotek Series SCFE-V6-OVPX module, which supports three powerful Virtex-6 FPGAs, two industry standard VITA-57 FMC sites and a Linux-based control processor. The FMC sites can be configured with an extensive set of A/D and D/A converters, supporting a wide range of IF bandwidths and channel densities. Multiple 6U modules can be configured in scalable subsystems supporting multi-channel coherency, a critical capability for many EW/SIGINT applications.