Curtiss-Wright Announces First Virtex®-7 6U VPX Module with Industry’s Highest Performance ADC/DAC module for Wideband

ASHBURN, VA – January 25, 2013 – Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS), a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls, has introduced the CHAMP-WB (“WideBand”), the Industry’s first Xilinx® Virtex®-7 OpenVPX™ COTS DSP Engine designed for sense-and-response applications that require high bandwidth and minimal latency.  In addition, Curtiss-Wright is also introducing its first module for the CHAMP-WB, the TADF-4300, featuring Tektronix Component Solutions’ 12.5 GS/s Analog-to-Digital (ADC) and /Digital-to-Analog (DAC) technologies.  Combined, these two modules form the CHAMP-WB-DRFM and provide the highest bandwidth/highest resolution platform for wideband Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) processing available in the embedded defense and aerospace market, delivering an unprecedented 12.5 GS/s 8-bit ADC and 12.5 GS/s 10-bit DAC performance from a single 6U slot.

This new rugged 6U card set is the first product resulting from Curtiss-Wright’s recently announced technology and marketing partnership with Tektronix Component Solutions, and features the jointly-developed TADF-4300 module. The CHAMP-WB-DRFM card set is optimized for EW applications and provides the industry’s lowest latency, highest performance ADC/DAC performance and highest available I/O bandwidth. Based on Tektronix’s silicon germanium (SiGe) based data converters, the TADF-4300, when coupled with the CHAMP-WB’s on-board Virtex®7 FPGA and high-speed wideband interfaces, enables designers to develop powerful embedded DRFM solutions with 3x the performance of existing CMOS-based offerings.

As a standalone card, the CHAMP-WB is designed to support any application that needs large amounts of I/O bandwidth coupled with significant FPGA processing and minimal delay. Its modular design supports both standard Virtex®7 -compatible FMC (VITA 57) mezzanine cards as well as providing for higher throughput modules such as the TADF-4300.  These cards support commercial applications such as direct RF digitization, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and coherent optical applications, as well as enabling deployed defense and aerospace, sense & response applications that require wideband capability and low latency, such as DRFM, EW, Signal Intelligence (SIGINT), and Electronic Counter Measures (ECM).

In addition to operating as a 12.5 GS/s ADC/DAC unit the TADF-4300 module can also operate in a dual-channel 6.25 GS/s ADC-only or DAC-only mode.  The module contains built-in clock generation and calibration logic for maintaining optimal performance in different environments and over temperature.

“Our new CHAMP-WB-DRFM card set represents a game-changer for high performance EW processing using open standards-based COTS technology,” said Lynn Bamford, senior vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions. “This rugged DSP engine brings unprecedented levels of functionality and capability to EW applications by combining our partner Tektronix’s industry-leading ADC/DAC performance with our expertise in high performance, rugged, embedded computing.”

“The establishment of our data converters business was in direct response to requests from instrumentation customers to access the underlying high-performance ADC and DAC technologies,” said Tom Buzak, president, Tektronix Component Solutions. “While we continue to offer custom solutions incorporating our data converters, the combination of our technology with Curtiss-Wright’s expertise in ruggedized embedded computing systems delivers next-generation performance to a host of commercial and defense applications requiring standard form factors.”

Unprecedented DSP Performance

The CHAMP-WB couples the dense processing resources of a single large Virtex®7 FPGA with two high-bandwidth enhanced FMC mezzanine sites on a rugged 6U OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) form factor module. The board’s data plane connects directly to the FPGA with support for Gen2 Serial RapidIO® (SRIO) data plane fabric. Alternate fabrics can also be supported with different FPGA cores. A Gen3 PCI Express® (PCIe) switch connected to the board’s expansion plane enables a single host card, such as Curtiss-Wright’s VPX6-1957 or CHAMP-AV8 to control multiple CHAMP-WB cards without utilizing data-plane bandwidth.

Memory support on the CHAMP-WB includes two (2) 64-bit 4 GB DDR3L memory banks that provide up to 8 GB of on-card data capture or pattern generation capability.

The CHAMP-WB features two (2) high-bandwidth FMC sites that have been enhanced with an auxiliary connector to provide additional I/O capability. Twenty back-plane SERDES links, which can operate up to 10.3 Gbps, and 16 LVDS pairs provide additional I/O capability.

The TADF-4300 module supports sampling in the 2^nd nyquist zone, to analyze signals up to 8 GHz and provides sub-30 ns latency for the ADC and sub 10ns for the DAC.  Spurious Free Dynamic Range varies over frequency, and is >58 dB up to 3 GHz and decreases to 45 dB from 3 GHz to 6 GHz signal input frequency. ENOB varies linearly from 7.2 at low frequency, 6.5 at 3 GHz and 6.2 at 6 GHz.

A Complete System Offering

The CHAMP-WB, the newest addition to Curtiss-Wright’s HPEC (High Performance Embedded Computing) product family, and the TADF-4300 module complement Curtiss-Wright’s wide range of Intel® and Power® Architecture-based VME and VPX SBCs, DSP engines and GP-GPU engines, such as the VPX6-1957, and CHAMP-AV8, as well as Curtiss-Wright’s broad range of signal processing I/O FMC mezzanine products including  the FMC-516/518.  Combining these products with Curtiss-Wright’s switch and backplane products enables system designers to quickly and easily develop interoperable highly scalable, high performance systems. 

CHAMP-WB Performance Features:

• OpenVPX™ (VITA 65) profile MOD6-PAY-4FIQ2U2T-12.2.1-1: VITA 48 1” pitch format
  • VPX REDI (VITA 48 option)
• User-programmable Xilinx® Virtex®-7 FPGA (X690T or X980T)
• 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM in two banks
• Four (4) 4-lane serial data plane links to the backplane
  • Up to 10.3 Gbps data rates
• Gen2 SRIO
• One (1) 4-lane Gen3 PCIe connection to onboard Gen3 PCIe switch
• 16 LVDS pairs to the backplane
• Two (2) enhanced FMC (VITA 57) mezzanine sites with 128 differential signal pairs
  • Site #1 supports JESD204B FMCs with up to 8 serial links
  • Site #2 has optional support for up to 160 LVDS pairs with X690T FPGA
• Two (2) 8-lane expansion plane fabric ports to the backplane
  • Configurable NTB support
• Thermal sensors for monitoring board temperatures
• Sensors for monitoring board power consumption
• Support for ChipScope™ Pro and JTAG processor debug interfaces
• Backplane clock/sync paths to mezzanines sites
• VITA67.2 backplane option
• Ruggedization levels supported range from Air-cooled Level 0 (commercial) to Conduction-cooled Level 200 (future)

TADF-4300 Performance Features:

• Features Tektronix ADC/DAC technologies to support high resolution, high bandwidth signal acquisition and generation
• Double-wide enhanced FMC module
• 12.5 GS/s 8-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter
• 12.5 GS/s 10-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter
• Onboard, programmable sample clock
• Onboard calibration
• External reference clock input to support multi-channel synchronization
• Streaming interface to host FPGA for continuous full-rate acquisition applications
• Air-cooled and Conduction-cooled

Software Support

Software support for the CHAMP-WB includes Curtiss-Wright’s industry leading FXTools BSP and FPGA design kit, which features highly-optimized IP Blocks, development environment, reference designs, scriptable simulation test benches and software libraries. Operating environment support includes VxWorks® and Linux® variants.

Sales & Editorial Contacts

For editorial information regarding Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions products or services, contact John Wranovics, public relations director, Curtiss-Wright Controls, Tel: (925) 640-6402; email. [email protected]. Please view the press conference webinar.

Sales inquiries: Please forward all Sales and reader service inquiries to Jerri-Lynne Charbonneau, Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions, Tel: (613) 254-5112; Fax: (613) 599-7777; e-mail: [email protected].

Price and Availability

Please contact the factory for information about pricing. Please learn more about the CHAMP-WB-DRFM.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions

Curtiss-Wright Controls Defense Solutions (CWCDS) is a long established technology leader in the development of rugged electronic modules and systems for defense applications. CWCDS serves as a technology and integration partner to its customers, providing a full range of advanced, highly engineered solutions from modular open systems approaches to fully custom optimized solutions. Our unmatched capabilities and product breadth span from industry standard based COTS modules to complete electronic subsystems. The company’s modules and systems are currently deployed in a wide range of demanding defense & aerospace applications including C4ISR systems, unmanned subsystems, mission computing, fire control, turret stabilization, and recording & storage solutions. Additionally, the company’s broad engineering capabilities combine systems, software, electrical, and mechanical design expertise with comprehensive program management and a broad range of life-cycle support services.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc.

Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the Motion Control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets. For more information, visit www.cwcontrols.com.

About Tektronix Component Solutions

Tektronix Component Solutions is a proven microelectronics services provider offering a complete range of custom design, prototyping, manufacturing, and test services to equipment manufacturers. With more than 40 years of experience serving the measurement, military, medical, and communications markets, Tektronix Component Solutions works as an extension of our customers’ product teams to cost-effectively

resolve the most demanding component challenges. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix Component Solutions can be found on the web at component-solutions.tektronix.com.

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