UK-based innovative electronic systems designer RFEL has introduced a
new Wideband DDC to its range of award-winning FPGA based signal processing
solutions.
RFEL’s flexible Wideband Digital Down-Converter (Wideband DDC) IP core
is designed to accept wideband digitised data at sample rates of up to 3.6GS/s,
supporting first or second Nyquist bandwidths of up to 1.8GHz.
Using RFEL’s new Wideband DDC, signals with bandwidths as high as 180MHz
can be down-converted to complex baseband (I/Q) from anywhere within the chosen
input Nyquist band, within the limits imposed by the signal bandwidth. Tuneable
over the entire 1.8GHz range, the down-conversion frequency has an accuracy of
better than 1Hz, enabling, for instance, the total removal of intermediate
frequency (IF) components. The extracted signal bandwidth is precisely
selectable in the range 800Hz to 180MHz, and is provided through user control
of the output sample rate, which may be programmed in the range 1kS/s to
225MS/s with an accuracy of better than 1S/s.
High performance filtering provides a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR)
of at least 80dB, with a passband peak-to-peak ripple of less than 0.1dB.
The Wideband DDC core is suitable for Software Defined Radio (SDR),
Electronic Warfare (EW), signal surveillance and generic digital receiver
applications thanks to user control of the down-conversion frequency and output
sample rate.
The wideband DDC complements RFEL’s range of ‘channeliser’ designs that
provide flexible down-conversion for single and multiple channel applications.
Alex Kuhrt, RFEL’s CEO adds that the ability to down-convert a signal
from a bandwidth as high as 1.8GHz makes the Wideband DDC an obvious choice for
communications, electronic warfare and surveillance applications. RFEL has used
the latest Xilinx and Altera FPGA technology, so that solutions can be made
compact, lightweight and low power. The use of a flexible architecture makes
the product easily configurable to the customer’s specific needs.
The Wideband DDC has been launched at the ongoing MILCOM (6-8 October
2014) show at the Baltimore Convention Center, where RFEL is presenting their
range of signal and video processing solutions in Booth 468.