PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: Annapolis Micro Systems WILDSTAR SAF1 Direct RF Small Form Factor Module

This week’s product, the Annapolis Micro Systems WILDSTAR SAF1 Direct RF Small Form Factor Module with the Intel Agilex Direct RF Series FPGA, may be deployed as a single standalone unit for edge applications close to the sensor and in other tight envelope man-packable environments, or dual-mounted on a 3U OpenVPX baseboard for processing-intensive applications such as electronic warfare (EW) and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

Designed for reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements the module’s tight integration of many capabilities into a single chip enables a small, dense solution that is barely wider than the silicon itself. The SAF1 board is just 24mm x 40mm by 102mm. It is ideal for edge applications close to the sensor and in other tight envelope man-packable environments.

Intel Agilex and Direct RF Sampling

The module integrates an Intel Agilex Direct RF-Series FPGA (field programmable gate array) which offers direct RF sampling. Direct RF sampling is transformative for signal acquisition and processing as direct RF data converters operate directly at the antenna frequency, reducing latency and eliminating the need for intermediate frequency stages. Also, direct RF instantaneously tunes across a very wide frequency span. It features RF bandwidth of 36 GHz and an instantaneous RF bandwidth of 32 GHz.

With the Annapolis module you can directly digitize and process wideband signals, simplifying system architecture and enabling new EW, SIGINT, and spectrum processing capabilities.

This new module has four channels each of 64 GSps, 10-bit analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion feed data to high-performance processing. The SAF1 is designed to optionally mate with modular RF and digital I/O cards for front-end and back-end personalization.

General Features

One Intel Agilex Direct RF-Series AGRW014 FPGA (Other configurations also available – contact factory for part number options)
- 1,437 Logic Elements
- 9,020 18×19 Multipliers
- 190 Mb Embedded Memory
- Quad Core ARM
- 58G PAM-4, 32G NRZ XCVR
ADC & DAC I/O
- ADC: Channels: 4; Sample Rate: 64GSps; Resolution: 10 bit
- DAC: Channels: 4; Sample Rate: 64GSps; Resolution: 10 bit
Mechanical and Environmental
- Available with 85°C ambient air temperature or card edge support and -55°C power-on
- Available with -65°C to 105°C storage temperature
Application Development
- Full Board Support Package for Fast and Easy Application Development: including 40/100GbE IP and Linux support
- VHDL flow supports High-Level Synthesis (HLS)

For more information, visit the WILDSTAR SAF1 page here, or visit the company’s website, or follow the links below.

Resources:

For information on the same Agilex Direct RF capability in a 3U VPX form factor The WILDSTAR 3AE1, click here.
To learn about Annapolis Development Tools, click here.
To rvieew other OpenVPX and SOSA aligned boards, click here.