Military Embedded Systems

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK: CAES TORNADO Direct-to-Digital Data Converter

Sponsored Story

February 19, 2024

This week’s product, the CAES TORNADO Direct-to-Digital Data Converter, is designed to meet bandwidth and form factor requirements for radar, electronic warfare (EW), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and C4ISR applications.

TORNADO has 8x transmit and 8x receive channels supporting up to 64 GSPS with 32 GHz bandwidth, paired with a 9th Generation Intel Agilex FPGA in a 3U, conductive-cooled, VPX configuration aligned to the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) Technical Standard.

The CAES TORNADO converter combines CAES’s engineering and 3U board with Intel’s flexible and scalable RF-Series FPGA.

Intel Advantage

Designed to address the growing demand for flexibility and programmability in radar, communications, EW, and SIGINT systems, the Intel Agilex 9 FPGA Direct RF-Series is a highly integrated solution that combines an FPGA and an RF transceiver in a single package. The integrated RF transceivers provide high-speed connectivity and support a broad range of frequencies. The FPGA fabric also enables dynamic reconfiguration, which enables the device to support a variety of missions.

The integrated 64 GSPS RF transceivers (ADC & DAC) provide high-speed connectivity and supports a broad range of frequencies. With Intel’s Agilex 9 Direct RF-Series, system designers can reduce development time and costs while also improving system performance and flexibility

“Intel Agilex 9 Direct RF FPGAs offer a revolutionary step toward delivering and supporting capabilities critical for EW processing, enabling partners like CAES to develop boards for rapid deployment within the [defense industrial base] to advance EW systems. The CAES TORNADO converter is an example of a collaborative effort to bring to market this state-of-the-art technology,” says John Sotir, Senior Director, Military, Aerospace and Government Business Unit, Intel Programmable Solutions Group (PSG).

Additional Features

  • Hardened BFLOAT16 and up to 25 TFLOPS
  • Intel’s 2nd Gen Hyperflex Architecture
  • 3U OpenVPX, VITA 48.8 (AFT) spacing
  • 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet
  • Up To 16x 10Mhz – 32 GHz Baluns
  • Conduction-cooled
  • Sensor micro-daughter card
  • Gen 4 PCIe 2x4
  • 4-16 GB DDR4 FPGA (x2)
  • 4 GB DDR4 HPS
  • 1 GbE HPS
  • HPS micro-SD

CAES Advanced Solutions Advantages

  • Full board support package (BSP)
  • Advanced algorithm development – digital signal processing (DSP)/artificial intelligence algorithms
  • Drivers to enterprise software solutions
  • Design customization
  • Ruggedization
  • Industry leading manufacturing & test

The CAES TORNADO converter will be ready for delivery in 2024. CAES provides industry-leading manufacturing and testing, design customization and advanced algorithm development. For more information, visit the company’s website, or follow the links below.

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CAES

2121 Crystal Dr
Arlington, Virginia 22202