Brochure

Compact, efficient digital electronics are the brains behind
the latest high-performance radar and radio systems.
Exploiting the
digital revolution.
As the computing power of digital electron-
ics increases, while their size and weight
decrease for a given performance level, so
does the amount of analog circuitry being
replaced by DSPs and software. Mathemati-
cal functions do not add noise. And while
adding a new waveform in an analog radio
means changing the hardware, adding a
new waveform to a digital radio can usually
be accomplished with new software. (Hence
the term Software Defined Radio).
But before a system architect can exploit
the many benefits of software defined radio,
the first requirement is to convert the ana-
log signals to a digital data stream, which
is what GE sensor processing products do.
The key components of our products are
Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs) and
Digital to Analog Converters (DACs). These
devices convert analog signals to digital
data streams and vice versa.
Placing ADCs/DACs as close to the antenna
as possible provides the maximum benefit
in terms of software control and flexibility of
the radio, but also requires high frequency
wideband converters with very good signal-
to-noise ratio (SNR) and spurious-free
dynamic range (SFDR). Although suitable
components do not yet exist to allow many
UHF and higher frequency signals to be
digitized close to the antenna, it is possible to
achieve this with excellent SNR and SFDR for
many VHF and some UHF signals. Processing
signals in higher RF bands requires the use of
analog heterodyne circuits, which adds cost
and reduces the flexibility of the design.
Whatever the case, we have an extensive
selection of product choices available to
the system architect, plus the experience
and engineering capabilities to modify a
standard product to meet a special need or
create an entirely new product if need be.
In addition, because many of our board level
products include FPGAs, they inherently
offer the designer tremendous flexibility.