PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: Epiq’s Matchstiq X40 software-defined radio (SDR) platform for military AI/ML applications

This week’s product, the Epiq Solutions Matchstiq X40, is a software-defined radio (SDR) and signal-processing platform designed for small form factor applications with size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements, such as autonomous system payloads. This SDR platform combines a high-performance NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16GB module with access to as much as 18 GHz of RF frequencies for military applications such as spectrum awareness, manpack and dismount, direction-finding, and more.

The standalone SDR platform is designed to run artificial intelligence /machine learning (AI/ML)-enabled applications locally, eliminating the need for extensive server farms. High-performance RF signal processing capability is enabled by power-efficient NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX modules capable of as much as 100 trillion operations per second and an AMD Zynq Ultrascale+ field programmable gate array (FPGA).

RF Spectrum Data Challenges

RF spectrum data applications generate a fire hose of data. Processing these large streams of digital data becomes even more challenging when thinking about SWaP-constrained deployment scenarios.

Distributed processing “at the edge” refers to a system that has all of the data processing happening in the same integrated platform where the data is being collected. For an RF system, this translates to a system where the antenna, SDR, and CPU/GPU for executing an AI/ML application would all be self-contained in a single system. An example system configuration for AI/ML edge processing could be a payload bay of a small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) where an SDR is creating raw digitized data from the RF spectrum and is processing that digitized RF in a neural net running on a local CPU or GPU to perform signal classification, channel estimation, direction finding, RF anomaly detection, and more.

NVIDIA Advantage

The Matchstiq X40 SDR platform provides such capability with its high-rate data transport and computational signal processing that leverages the latest NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX 16GB modules. These are groundbreaking devices in terms of their processing capability: at a power consumption that scales between 10W and 20W, the Orin NX can achieve up to 70 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of processing to support the most demanding neural net models.

Matchstiq X40 Configurations:

The SDR platform has two configurations:

The high-frequency configuration has four receivers and one transmitter—each capable of accessing RF frequencies from 1MHz to 18GHz with instantaneous bandwidth up to 450 MHz per channel.
The low-frequency configuration benefits from reduced SWaP-C and offers four receivers and two transmitters - all capable of accessing RF frequencies from 1 MHz to 6 GHz with an instantaneous bandwidth of 200 MHz per channel.

Additional Features

Small Size: 9.75" x 4.25" x 1.5"
Low Weight: 2.6 lbs (1 kg)
RF Coverage: Up to 18 GHz 
Instantaneous Bandwidth: Up to 450 MHz 
Integrated Signal Processing: NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX and AMD Ultrascale+ FPGA
Epiq’s standard libsidekiq software API is supported on the Matchstiq X40 and the G20/G40. This API provides a consistent interface across the company’s SDR portfolio to simplify configuration, control, and streaming with each flexible RF transceiver.
Environmental options:
- Storage: -40 °C to 85 °C
- Operation: -40 °C to 70 °C

Epiq also offers a sister platform called the Matchstiq G Series. The Matchstiq X40 and Marchstiq G Series – G20 and G40 – are commercially available starting this year, providing a range of capabilities. For more information, visit the Matchstiq X40 product page, company’s website, or follow the links below.

Resources:

To download Matchstiq X40 datasheet, click here.
To read an Epiq blog on AI/ML Integration in RF Spectrum Analysis, click here.
To learn about NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX, click here.
To learn about the Matchstiq G20 and G40 Series, click here.
To contact Epiq, click here.