Mercury Systems announced the new SpectrumSeries™ RFM3101 ultra-wideband microwave transceiver at the 54th Annual AOC International Symposium and Convention in Washington, D.C.
Designed to meet OpenVPX™ standards, Mercury’s new product integrates OpenRFM™-compliant receiver and transmitter building blocks with versatile local oscillator (LO) circuitry to deliver exceptional phase noise and high dynamic range. The rugged RFM3101 transceiver, Mercury’s first OpenRFM product in a compact 3U form factor, provides affordable, full spectrum coverage for today’s advanced electronic protection and electronic attack applications.
Available in both air-cooled and conduction-cooled variants, the new microwave transceiver offers direct digitization up to 6 GHz and operates with guaranteed performance over a frequency range spanning 6 to 18 GHz with 1 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth.
Mercury’s SpectrumSeries microwave transceiver delivers state-of-the-art EW capabilities to military forces today, and its OpenRFM architecture guarantees cost-effective and rapidly-deployed performance enhancements in the future. OpenRFM is a modular open systems architecture tailored to the requirements of the analog domain. By introducing standard electromechanical, control plane, thermal interfaces and software, it streamlines the design and integration of digital and analog capabilities in the same device. Fully compatible with OpenVPX standards, OpenRFM is ideally suited for electronic warfare (EW) applications.
In contrast to products built with microwave technology utilizing custom form factors, Mercury’s simultaneous implementation of both OpenVPX and OpenRFM standards enables a modular, low risk, plug-and-play upgrade path to maintain best-of-breed spectral efficiency. By replacing only the performance-limiting components and not entire modules or systems, defense contractors can lower the total system cost of ownership over the lifetime of a military program. At the same time, U.S. military forces around the globe will receive earlier access to the latest microelectronics advances required to counter adversaries competing for dominance over the electromagnetic spectrum.
SpectrumSeries products are also fully compatible with the company’s EnsembleSeries™ of digitization and processing modules. Both SpectrumSeries and EnsembleSeries products are designed and supported by a highly skilled engineering team in Huntsville, Alabama. The company’s domestic Advanced Microelectronics Centers provide affordable, long-term supply continuity in secure and trusted manufacturing environments.
Charlie Hudnall, vice president and general manager of Mercury’s Embedded Sensor Processing group, said, “The rapid changes occurring in today’s unpredictable threat environment demand the most agile microelectronics. We have an obligation to equip our warfighters with the most sophisticated solutions as they encounter and engage adversaries on the electromagnetic battlefield. The U.S. warfighter and defense prime contractors can count on Mercury to continue pioneering forward-looking EW capabilities using open architectures, without sacrificing affordability, performance or scalability.”
Mercury is demonstrating the new SpectrumSeries RFM3101 product at the AOC conference in Washington, D.C.