SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Aug. 30, 2017 — Epiq Solutions, an engineering firm specializing in the development of flexible RF transceiver modules and complete turnkey wireless sensing solutions, announces the release of its pioneering Sidekiq™ X2 multi-channel RF transceiver card. Based on Analog Devices’ AD9371 wideband transceiver RFIC, Sidekiq X2 provides customers with a simplified integration path to achieve unprecedented levels of RF flexibility and performance in their products, while shortening their time to market with a proven solution.
Sidekiq X2 provides the following key features:
– VITA 57 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) form factor with high pin count (HPC) interface, with a card size of 69mm x 84.1mm
– Continuous RF tuning range between 1 MHz and 6 GHz
– Two phase coherent RF receivers (common LO) + third independently tunable RF receiver
– Two phase coherent RF transmitters (common LO)
– Configurable RF channel bandwidth up to 100 MHz per channel
– Seven band Rx pre-select filters covering 400 MHz to 6 GHz (sub-octave) on all RF receivers
– Exceptional dynamic range with 16-bit A/D and 14-bit D/A converters
– Thunderbolt™ 3 and 3U/6U VPX deployment options with COTS carriers
Sidekiq X2 is compliant with the VITA 57.1 FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) form factor, the de facto standard for integration into FPGA-based systems. Development and field deployments are supported through a reference platform utilizing a COTS PCIe FPGA carrier card (with Xilinx Kintex® Ultrascale XCKU060 FPGA) integrated into a Thunderbolt 3 chassis. For ruggedized deployments, Sidekiq X2 can be integrated into COTS 3U or 6U VPX carrier cards. Both conduction and convection cooled options are supported. The Sidekiq X2 Platform Development Kit (PDK) provides customers with a complete development environment to allow them to develop and integrate their own software applications and FPGA processing blocks on top of the standard Sidekiq X2 reference design and software API. Typical applications include remote RF sensing, MIMO communications, and commercial wireless protocols including 2G/3G/4G/5G cellular and 802.11.
“Sidekiq X2 is a significant step forward in RF performance and flexibility, rivaling RF transceiver platforms many times its size and power consumption,” stated John Orlando, CEO at Epiq Solutions. “We are excited to continue delivering our customers the state of the art in terms of small form factor flexible RF transceiver solutions to shorten their product development cycle and time to market.”
“Analog Devices’ wideband transceiver products enable the most flexible, smallest size and lowest power radios on the market. By collaborating with Epiq Solutions we further simplify our customers’ design experience and time to market, as evidenced by the Sidekiq family and now the Sidekiq X2 software defined radio solutions,” said Nitin Sharma, general manager, Communications Business Unit-Transceiver Group, Analog Devices.
The Sidekiq X2 is in production now. For more information, please contact Epiq Solutions or visit www.epiqsolutions.com/sidekiq-x2/
About Epiq Solutions
Epiq Solutions is focused on developing state of the art software defined radio platforms and sensors that push the limits of small form factor, integration and low power consumption. These products are used by customers around the world in multiple business sectors, including commercial, research and security/defense applications. In addition to radio platform expertise, Epiq Solutions specializes in developing integrated RF sensing products and signal processing applications that run on these platforms. These applications leverage decades of experience in the commercial wireless industry, enabling unique capabilities that support 2G/3G/4G cellular as well as other commercial wireless communications standards. For more information regarding Epiq Solutions’ products and services, please visit www.epiqsolutions.com.