The Avnet-designed XRF16™ Xilinx RFSoC Gen 3 system-on-module (SoM) is now available for RF applications demanding small footprint, high speed serial connectivity and real-time processing. Avnet is releasing the XRF16 module and Avalon™ software suite together to enable production-ready system development using the Xilinx Zynq® UltraScale+™ RFSoC Gen 3. The module is capable of RF direct conversion of signals with analog bandwidth up to 6 GHz. The release of the XRF16 Gen3 SoM doubles the channel density of the recently released XRF8 Gen3 SoM to address increasingly complex and demanding applications.

The Avnet XRF16 module can digitize 16 ADC channels at 2.5 giga-samples per second (GSPS) and generate complex (I/Q) waveforms through 16 DAC channels at 9.85 GSPS. High speed serial connectivity is available for 10/25/100 Gigabit Ethernet and Xilinx Aurora protocol. Baseband processing and network interface are handled by the Xilinx UltraScale+ RFSoC integrated quad Arm® Cortex®-A53 processing subsystem and programmable logic. Standard peripherals such as USB, Gigabit Ethernet and serial UART are included.

The XRF16 module allows users to begin prototype and application development immediately and then move to production quickly with the same hardware, which significantly reduces time to market. It is well-suited to support design work for radar, software-defined radio, beamforming, signal detection and jamming and medical imaging applications.

“Developers require the latest, most advanced technology to deliver on their initiatives and projects,” said Jim Beneke, vice president of products and emerging technologies, Avnet. “Together with Xilinx, we created a production-ready module solution that frees developers to focus on the differentiating features of their products. This is our latest offering designed to accelerate time to market allowing developers to more quickly deliver real business value.”

“Combining high speed digital and precision RF signals in a small form factor poses unique routing and isolation challenges,” said Mike Dunne, director of precision RF, Samtec. “The XRF16 module and companion carrier card leverage best-in-class RF and signal integrity design techniques to provide high speed connectivity across the platform. System architects and designers can develop next-gen RF applications with confidence the XRF16 delivers the system performance needed.”

"The Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen-3 family includes new features, improves both DAC and ADC sample rates and extends the RF analog bandwidth of the 16T16R integrated multi-gigasample RF data converters for enhanced performance in demanding RF applications," said David Brubaker, Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC product line manager, Xilinx. "Optimized for performance, size and power, the Avnet XRF16-Gen3 brings a drop-in solution to customers seeking fast-track integration of RFSoC Gen-3 technology into their products."

The Avnet XRF16 module is available for $24,995(USD). A companion carrier card is also available for $4,995 (USD).