0123 Mw Mercury Direct Rf Promo 63d026dc4c3b4

Mercury Drops First Signal-Processing Board with Intel’s Latest Direct RF Technology

Jan. 24, 2023

Direct RF technology means fewer antennas and great reductions in system complexity for signal processing at the tactical edge.

David Maliniak

Related To: Microwaves & RF

The Overview

Mercury Systems launched its DRF3182 Direct RF Processing Module, the first standard product purpose-built for the aerospace and defense industry that leverages Intel’s new Stratix 10 AX SoC field-programmable gate array (FPGA).

Who Needs It & Why?

Designed for radar and electronic-warfare (EW) applications, the DRF3182 with Direct RF technology can enhance a wide range of applications including software-defined radio and communications. Considering today’s rapidly evolving threat environment, advanced processing capabilities need to be deployed at the tactical edge. Mercury’s collaboration with Intel ensures that modern EW and radar systems can provide a decision advantage to U.S. and allied forces and make the world a safer, more secure place.

Unlike traditional systems that use costly analog frequency-conversion hardware, direct RF technology allows for the direct processing of broadband signals. This streamlined architecture reduces the total system size and cost while increasing flexibility.

Under the Hood

Mercury’s DRF3182 Direct RF Processing Module features:

Four 10-bit ADC channels and four 10-bit DAC channels at 51.2 Gsamples/s
Intel Stratix 10 AX-Series SoC FPGA
Ku-band range from 2 to 18 GHz
Six 100GigE data-plane interfaces for an aggregate throughput rate of 75 Gb/s
3U OpenVPX form factor

The DRF3182 Direct RF Processing Module is now available for commercial order.

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our contributor's packet, in which you'll find an article template and lots more useful information on how to properly prepare content for us, and send to me along with a signed release form.

About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.