Pentek Inc. announced the successful production, testing and delivery of its first RFSoC boards to the market. The Quartz™ Model 5950 Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC 3U VPX Board and the Model 6001 Zynq UltraScale+ QuartzXM eXpress Module both support wideband RF analog I/O signals with eight 4 GHz A/Ds, eight 6.4 GHz D/As and multi-core ARM processors. For 3U VPX systems, the Quartz Model 5950 uses Pentek’s Navigator Design Suite to speed software and IP development. For small or high-density deployed systems, the same IP and software can be easily transferred to the Model 6001 QuartzXM eXpress Module to support a wide range of custom form factor, SWaP-sensitive applications.

“This technology has revolutionized how engineers are developing radar and other Mil-Aero applications, and delivering these first working solutions to the market is big news,” said Rodger Hosking, vice president and co-founder, Pentek. He added, “Our modular Quartz board architecture with its unique, deployable QuartzXM eXpress Module, leverages the powerful resources of the RFSoC chip and offers the industry’s fastest path for system development. Adding Pentek’s Navigator tools and example IP for DRFM, radar, high-performance data acquisition, and streaming gigabit I/O delivers a successful application that’s ready to deploy.”

“We are pleased to see the RFSoC device used in the market via Pentek’s Quartz board-level solutions. Measuring only 2.5 in. x 4 in., the QuartzXM Model 6001 includes all of the circuitry needed to maximize the performance of this device. The Model 6001 can be housed on the Pentek 3U VPX Model 5950 or it can be deployed on a custom carrier. This flexibility offered has been well received as users can deploy this new technology in the field in a very small footprint, which is critical to Mil-Aero market needs,” said David Gamba, Xilinx senior director for the Aerospace and Defense Vertical Market.

The Quartz Architecture Difference

The Pentek Quartz architecture embodies a streamlined approach to FPGA boards, simplifying the design to reduce power and cost, while still providing some of the highest performance FPGA resources available today. Designed to work with Pentek’s Navigator™ Design Suite tools, the combination of Quartz and Navigator offers users an efficient path to developing and deploying FPGA software and IP for data and signal processing.

The Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC chip integrates eight RF-class A/D and D/A converters into the Zynq FPGA fabric and quad ARM Cortex-A53 and dual ARM Cortex-R5 processors, creating a multichannel data conversion and processing solution on a single chip. Complementing the RFSoC’s on-chip resources, the Quartz board architecture adds:

  • Up to 18 GBytes of DDR4 SDRAM
  • Sophisticated clocking for single-board and multi-board synchronization
  • High signal integrity connectors for RF inputs and outputs
  • x8 PCIe Gen 3 link
  • Dual 100 GigE optical interfaces or customer installed protocols
  • 12 LVDS general purpose I/O pairs for specialized interfaces
  • QuartzXM eXpress Module design for flexible deployment
  • Factory-installed application IP for DRFM, high speed data acquisition and radar
  • Navigator Design Suite (BSP and FDK) for streamlined IP development

Live Signal Acquisition Video

To access a live signal acquisition video of Pentek's Quartz Model 5950 3U VPX board and Model 6001 QuartzXM eXpress module utilizing Pentek's Navigator Signal Viewer, please visit: www.pentek.com/go/rfsoclive.

Pricing and Availability

Designed for air-cooled, conduction-cooled and rugged operating environments, the combination of the Model 5950 and 6001 start at $28,495 USD.  The Navigator BSP starts at $2,500 USD and the Navigator FDK starts at $3,500 USD, both including free lifetime support.