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NAT-SDR-FLEX-M
NAT-SDR-FLEX-M
19” 1U rack-mount non-redundant system
  • 1x NATIVE-C1
  • 1x NAT-MCH for system management and switching
  • 1x NAT-PM-AC600
  • 2x NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8 incl. mini-coax-to-SMA adapter cable
  • 1x PrAMC (Intel® Xeon® E3-1500 v5)
  • 1x spare AMC slot for further system extension

NAT-SDR-FLEX-M

19” 1U rack-mount non-redundant system

  • 1x NATIVE-C1
  • 1x NAT-MCH for system management and switching
  • 1x NAT-PM-AC600
  • 2x NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8 incl. mini-coax-to-SMA adapter cable
  • 1x PrAMC (Intel® Xeon® E3-1500 v5)
  • 1x spare AMC slot for further system extension

Description

The NATwireless technology is the solution for the growing demand of easily customizable wireless equipment. The combination of versatile configurable software and flexible adaptable hardware is crucial to meet the market’s rapidly evolving requirements, characterized by:

  • Hardware modularity at unit (board) level
  • Hardware scalability at system level
  • Re-usable software core elements for different use cases

 

Hardware

The NAT-SDR-FLEX-M is N.A.T.’s medium sized SDR system solution. It is based on the NATIVE-C1, which offers the performance benefit of µTCA in a space-saving horizontal-mounted 1U height. The chassis is equipped with high-performance Cooling Units with a total of 80 CFM airflow through the chassis for a better thermal profile.

Populated with two NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8 boards, each offering 4x Analog Devices ADRV9009 dual RF transmitters, receivers, and observation receivers, and one Processor AMC, featuring an Intel Xeon E3-1500 v5 CPU, one spare slot is left for further system extensions. Due to its space optimized design, the NAT-SDR-FLEX-M does not support redundancy regarding power supply and  management/switching.

The NAT-SDR-FLEX-M provides the so-called ‘Standalone Mode’ for local operation of the system. With the NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8’s onboard ZynqUP SoC as only processing resource, baseband processing is supported to a certain degree.

In ‘Non-Standalone Mode’, the complete data stream is handled by the Processing AMC (or another external CPU). Thus, high-speed PCIe streaming and transceiving of I/Q samples is possible. In this use case, the NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8 is acting as PCIe device towards the host, so very low latency and high data rate I/Q transfer is applicable.

 

Software Support and FPGA Reference Design

For an easy-to-use experience, the NAT-SDR-FLEX-M is accompanied by a comprehensive software package that implements both the control plane, to control FPGA and RF interfaces,  and the data plane, i.e. for continuous low latency streaming of I/Q samples.

The default firmware package contains all modules for starting development of both onboard and target applications:

  • Linux board support package (BSP) and device drivers for controlling FPGA IP cores and on-board devices
  • A.T. libraries for continous streaming of I/Q samples, compliant with GNU Radio and MATLab®
  • Sample applications for MATLab®, GNU Radio, and Python
  • Applications for control and management
  • Software documentation

The default firmware package additionally contains a real time PCIe I/Q streaming driver for external signal processing units and an FPGA sample project (project template) as reference design for Xilinx® Vivado® Design Suite with board-specific modules that can be used as a base frame for developing the target application. It contains modules for:

  • Wide band receiever and transmitter
  • Phased arrays
  • Radio direction finding and tracking
  • Frequency scanner and signal intelligence
  • Radio astronomy and satellite modems
  • Advanced wireless research
  • Cellular prototyping and proof-of-concept

 

Technical Papers

To allow customers a fast entry into application specific development with the NAT-SDR-FLEX-M, N.A.T. has compiled application-specific technical papers that are based on best practice approaches. These documents explicitly describe set-ups, software and hardware setting as well as sample applications including verification procedures. Currently available are technical papers for

  • Multi-Unit RF-Phase Synchronization
  • Fast Frequency Hopping

Application Development with NAT-SDR-FLEX and MATLab® and GNU Radio

Key Features

  • 1x NATIVE-C1
  • 1x NAT-MCH for system management and switching
  • 1x NAT-PM-AC600
  • 2x NAT-AMC-ZYNQUP-SDR8 incl. mini-coax-to-SMA adapter cable
  • 1x PrAMC (Intel® Xeon® E3-1500 v5)
  • 1x spare AMC slot for further system extension

Related Products

Solutions / Applications

Due to its flexibility and scalability, the NAT-SDR-FLEX-M is suitable for use with a broad range of wireless communication appliances such as

  • Wide band receiver and transmitter
  • Phased arrays
  • Radio direction finding and tracking
  • Frequency scanner and signal intelligence
  • Radio astronomy and satellite modems
  • Advanced wireless research
  • Cellular prototyping and proof-of-concept