Pentek Introduces Slimmed Down and Featured Up 200MS/sec Rugged Portable RF/IF Signal Recorder

Portable system for rugged environments such as ground vehicles, ships and aircraft
Sustained recording rates up to 3.2 GB/s
Up to 8 channels of combined recording or playback with 15.3 TB SSD storage to NTFS RAID

SystemFlow GUI control panel for fast, intuitive operation

UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ?April 27, 2015?Pentek, Inc., today announced a new recorder for the popular family of Talon^® RF/IF signal recording and playback systems: the Model RTR 2726A rugged portable recorder, suitable for wideband signal recording and playback in signal intelligence and RF testing applications. The RTR 2726A implements a new packaging scheme that boasts a smaller, lighter chassis. Enhanced capability permits up to eight recording and playback channels configurable with the right combination for a specific mission or application. An optional DC power supply enables use in ground or airborne vehicles without inverters.

At the heart of the RTR 2726A are Pentek Cobalt^® Series Virtex-6 software radio boards featuring A/D and D/A converters, DDCs (Digital Downconverters), DUCs (Digital Upconverters) and complementary FPGA IP cores. This architecture allows the system engineer to take full advantage of the latest technology in a turnkey system.

Ruggedized Construction

The RTR 2726A features a portable, lightweight housing measuring only 16.0” W x 6.9” D x 13.0” H, weighing just less than 30 pounds. This extremely rugged workstation is reinforced with shock absorbing rubber corners and an impact-resistant protective glass for its high resolution 17″ LCD monitor.

The hot-swappable Solid State Drive (SSD) array is available in 1.9 to 15.3 TB configurations and supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, or 6. The SSDs are meticulously qualified by Pentek for optimum use in rugged and portable applications. The hot swappable solid-state drives exhibit high immunity to shock and vibration for full operation in ground vehicles, ships and aircraft. The increased storage capacity doubles the possible recording time over previous models.

Available I/O includes VGA video, six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and dual Gigabit Ethernet connections.

Application Examples

The RTR 2726A has many strategic uses in the intelligence and RF testing communities. The rugged packaging and small size makes it possible to quickly and easily deploy the recorder. The incredible dynamic range of the recorder captures high resolution signal details making it an important signal analysis asset on any mission.

Deployed in an aircraft, signals may be captured and analyzed during flight. Real-time analysis during active missions enables adjustments to be made to the mission plan to gather more appropriate intelligence.
Adding the GPS time and position stamping option allows exact location information (longitude, latitude, and altitude) to be overlaid during mobile recording operations permitting post-mission analysis to determine exactly where a signal was captured.
Phase coherent multichannel acquisition and external date inputs are combined with sample level time stamping to allow radar signals to be precisely recorded and perfectly reconstructed.
Real world signals can be collected in harsh environments and then played back in lab environments for the test and development of new technology.
Operating with the DC power option, recorders can be deployed in ground and air vehicles that may have only DC power, eliminating the weight and cost of power inverters.

Ease of Operation

All Talon RTR portable recorders are built on a Windows 7 Professional workstation with an Intel Core i7 processor and provide both a GUI (graphical user interface) and API (Application Programmer’s Interface) to control the system. Systems are fully supported with Pentek’s SystemFlow^® software for system control and turn-key operation. The software provides a GUI with point-and-click configuration management and can store custom configurations for single-click setup. The software also includes a virtual oscilloscope and signal analyzer to monitor signals before, during and after data collection.

The data format used for storage follows the NTFS standard, allowing users to remove drives from the instrument and read the data using standard Windows-based systems, eliminating the need for file format conversion.

Available Models, Evaluation Package and Pricing

SSD storage options range from 1.9 to 15.3 TB capacities. The RTR 2726A has an 18 to 36 VDC power supply option for vehicle powered applications. Optional GPS time and position stamping is available.

Pentek’s SystemFlow Simulator software package simulates the SystemFlow recording software found on all Talon recording systems. The free trial package is available for download at: http://pentek.com/systemflow/systemflow.cfm?HID2=HP#SystemFlow_Simulator.

Customers can select the recording I/O performance that best matches their recording system requirements. The Talon RTR 2726A starts at $49,995 USD. Delivery is 6-8 weeks ARO.

About Pentek

Pentek develops, manufactures and markets innovative DSP systems and recorders to original equipment manufacturers, distributors and value-added resellers. Pentek offers powerful VME, VPX, PMC, XMC, FMC, cPCI, PCI, PCIe and AMC boards for data acquisition, software radio and digital signal processing featuring Xilinx FPGAs. Pentek equips all products with high-performance I/O including A/Ds, D/As, DUCs, DDCs, Serial FPDP, LVDS, RF converters and more. Pentek offers FPGA tools, BSPs and other software to expedite development.