Customer Background
An advanced communications research organization was developing a flexible SDR platform for multi-band waveform experimentation and protocol validation. The team required a framework that could seamlessly interface with a host PC, support GNU Radio–based development, and enable rapid testing of new modulation schemes, synchronization techniques, and wideband RF signal chains.
Their goal was to minimize hardware complexity while maximizing software flexibility and experimentation speed.
Challenges & Requirements
The customer needed a high-performance, flexible SDR platform capable of simultaneous multi-channel RF capture and transmission, with seamless high-speed data exchange between the RF hardware and a host PC. The framework had to support wideband signal acquisition and generation, enable direct capture and replay of RF data for analysis, and integrate tightly with a GNU Radio–based software environment for rapid DSP development. Low-latency PCIe connectivity, simplified RF system design, and an easy-to-use control framework for configuring frequencies and signal chains were essential to accelerate SDR prototyping and experimentation.
iWave Scope of Work:
- iG-G60-SDR-8T8R Platform Delivery: A ZU48DR RFSoC–based SDR platform optimized for wideband signal processing and multi-channel experimentation.
- High-Speed Host Interface: Enabled PCIe Gen3 x8 connectivity to support high-throughput data exchange between GNU Radio running on the host PC and the RFSoC hardware.
- GNU Radio Integration: Delivered a GNU Radio–enabled software stack supporting real-time DSP, signal visualization, and waveform prototyping.
- Signal Capture & Replay Capability: Enabled recording of ADC data directly to the host PC’s SSD and retransmission to the RFSoC DACs for signal reconstruction and validation.
- Control & Configuration Framework: Provided host-side drivers and interfaces for configuring frequencies, channels, and signal chains with minimal complexity.
Solution Highlights
- ZU48DR RFSoC–based SDR platform with integrated RF ADCs and DACs significantly reducing board complexity, component count, and power consumption
- Wide instantaneous bandwidth enabled by high sampling rates supporting ADC sampling up to 5Gsps and DAC sampling up to 10Gsps for wideband RF acquisition and generation
- Low-latency signal processing through direct RF sampling into the FPGA fabric, eliminating external RF stages and intermediate data paths
- Up to 8 RF channels with 14-bit resolution for high dynamic range
- Multi-Tile Synchronization (MTS) with SYSREF support for deterministic phase alignment
- PCIe Gen3 x8 host interface delivering up to 64 Gbps theoretical bandwidth
- Full-height, half-length PCIe form factor for easy host PC integration
- GNU Radio–based DSP ecosystem supporting filtering, modulation, coding, synchronization, and equalization
- Support for popular GNU Radio modules including Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and custom waveform toolkits
- Python and C++ programmability for rapid prototyping and high-performance DSP development
