RF transceiver card handles high bandwidth, multi-channel apps

The Sidekiq X4 high bandwidth multi-channel RF transceiver card is based on the RadioVerse ADRV9009 wideband RF transceiver design from Analog Devices, Inc. and provides up to 800 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth with its four-phase coherent (or independently tunable) RF receivers. Sidekiq X4 is compliant with the VITA 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) form factor, with support for fully integrated 3U VPX and Thunderbolt 3 deployment options.

Sidekiq X4 provides the following key features:

VITA 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) with high pin count (HPC) interface
Four RF receivers (phase coherent or independently tunable)
Four RF transmitters (phase coherent or two-phase coherent pairs)
Continuous RF range between 1 MHz and 6 GHz
Configurable RF channel bandwidth up to 200 MHz per channel, for support of up to 800 MHz instantaneous bandwidth (IBW)
Exceptional dynamic range with 16-bit A/D and 14-bit D/A converters

Development and field deployments are supported through a reference platform utilizing a COTS PCIe FPGA carrier card (with Xilinx Kintex UltraScale XCKU060 FPGA) integrated into a Thunderbolt 3 chassis. For ruggedized deployments, Sidekiq X4 can be integrated into COTS 3U or 6U VPX carrier cards. Both conduction and convection cooled VPX options are supported.

The Sidekiq X4 Platform Development Kit (PDK) provides a complete development environment to allow them to develop and integrate their own software applications and FPGA processing blocks on top of the standard Sidekiq X4 reference design and software API. RF solutions and applications enabled by Sidekiq X4 include Spectrum Monitoring, Satellite Communications, 5G Cellular Systems, EW/EA Systems, Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM), Wideband RF Record and Playback, and 802.11AC/AX Systems, among others.

Sidekiq X4 is the latest member of the Sidekiq family of software defined radio (SDR) transceiver cards, available in a variety of industry standard form factors including FMC and MiniPCIe.

Epiq Solutions, 165 Commerce Dr, Schaumburg, IL 60173, epiqsolutions.com/sidekiq-x4