Adversaries are savvy. To counteract and surpass adversarial capabilities, government defense organizations are investing in direct RF technologies to maintain electronic warfare spectrum dominance.  Essential functions of EW systems are acquiring RF signals of interest and then performing the required signal processing tasks to deliver an effective response. This demands new technologies and architectures that boost performance levels in both operations.

Several emerging FPGA architectures combine advanced RF data converters and the latest processing engines within a single package. Using advanced silicon processes and packaging technologies, offerings include multi-function monolithic designs and multi-chip modules. These new, highly integrated devices represent transformative technology for EW applications, yielding significant performance advantages over the traditional collection of single-function discrete components typical of previous architectures. This article looks at the underlying technology of these new signal acquisition and signal processing resources and the resulting benefits.

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