System Solutions Overview
Rakon’s subsystems and modules are the ideal solutions for the retrofit or upgrade of radar, Electronic Warfare (EW) and other systems.
Rakon is specialized in the design and manufacturing of custom subsystems, from customer requirements through production up to after sales support. Our design team has extensive experience in RF & microwave (frequency band spans from baseband up to 18 GHz), digital module and subsystem design, for various environmental conditions, including ground-based, naval and airborne systems.
Subsystems use high speed digital processing, enabling significantly improved overall system performance. For the Air Traffic Control and Defense surveillance radars, Rakon offers standard and custom pulse compression subsystems, of which all the pulse compression parameters are fully programmable.
Our plug & play frequency synthesizers are versatile, FPGA-based modules with low noise, and are capable of going up to the Ku-band. Rakon also supplies additional modules which can be combined with the synthesizers and oscillators, such as the frequency multipliers which provide high frequency outputs with ultra-low phase noise.
Rakon combines its high performance frequency synthesizers, low noise oscillators (OCXO and OCSO) and multipliers in order to offer complete solutions such as Local Oscillator (LO) and Coherent Oscillator (COHO). Other subsystems can be offered on a custom design basis to fit specific requirements, for instance frequency transposition module, filter bank, multi-frequency generation module, phase detector, IF amplifier and other radar and EW subsystems.
The Master Reference Oscillator (MRO) is an equipment that can be applied to NewSpac applications where require high stability and reliable signal. It is a part of the Frequency Generation Unit (FGU) series suitable for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and satellite constellations with a lifetime guarantee of up to 12 years.
► System Solutions | Capabilities | Subsystems | Synthesizer | Frequency Multipliers | Master Reference Oscillator
Capabilities
► SPECIFICATION DEFINITION: Rakon offers solutions to retrofit or upgrade existing radar and Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, allowing improvements in overall system performance and extending the life of the equipment. Rakon has a strong heritage in radar subsystems, which started in the early 70s with the delivery of the first SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) pulse compressors. Rakon now offers digital expanders and compressors, fully digital pulse compression subsystems, frequency synthesizers and complete modules (e.g. Local Oscillators, Coherent Oscillators). The company combines synthesiser and low noise oscillator technology through its strong capabilities in the domains outlined below.
► CAPABILITIES IN SUBSYSTEMS: Rakon capabilities include all the retrofit project phases, from the specification definition and subsystem design through to final product delivery.
Capability | Image | Features |
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Specification definition . |
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• Feasibility study of specific system requirements and customer support on specification definitions. |
Subsystem design . |
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• Electronic design: from baseband up to 18 GHz, including digital (FPGA, communication interfaces), analogue (high speed ADC/DAC, high efficiency power supply management) and RF (filtering, low noise amplification, up/down conversion, PLL) functions. Expertise in design of complex mixed-signal multilayer circuits. |
Testing and validation . |
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• Specification validation. |
Delivery of the final product and industrialisation . |
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• Engineering design following IPC standards. |
Further information . |
For more information, please contact Rakon's Hi-Reliability Business Unit at hirel@rakon.com. |
Subsystems
► PROFILE: CIF0x series may be used as a replacement of existing SAW based pulse expander and/or compressor to overcome device obsolescence or enhance RADAR performance. CIF0x class compressor behaviour and performance are reproducible from one unit to the other. No matching is needed. CIF0x series products can also be customised to match linear or non-linear chirps to generate compressed pulse. A pulse compression filter is customised according to the characteristics requested by the customer (Chirp duration, bandwidth, compressed pulse width, chirp slope etc.). The expander and compressor modules are provided with FPGA firmware loaded, including waveforms and pulse compression filters.
♦ CIF07 is a digital dual channel expander with IF analog I/O.
♦ CIF06 includes a digital expander and a digital compressor with IF analog I/O in a single unit.
♦ CIF05 is a digital dual channel compressor with IF analog I/O, and performance matched filtering of a radar return signal.
♦ CIF04 is a stand-alone digital single channel compressor with IF analog I/O, and performance matched filtering of a radar return signal.
♦ CIE03 is a digital dual pulse compression module, well suited for RADAR performance enhancement.
CIE03 is also provided with FPGA firmware configured according to customer requirements. Analog inputs and outputs make it an ideal replacement for SAW based pulse compression subsystems. Each of the two available channels may be configured as chirp expander or chirp compressor. All the pulse compression parameters are programmable (centre frequency, bandwidth, time dispersion, modulation law, weighting function, etc.).
► APPLICATIONS: Retrofit or upgrade of civil air traffic control and military surveillance radars.
Model | Image | Package Without Connectors | Compressor Channel | Input and Output (I/O) | High B x T Compression Gain | Features |
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CIF07 New |
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175 x 152 x 27.1 mm |
Two expander IF channels with IF analog I/Os |
IF analog I/O |
- T up to 1000 µs (B < 7 MHzl) |
BITE function. High precision clock. |
CIF06 . |
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175 x 152 x 27.1 mm |
One expander channel and one compressor channel with IF analog I/Os |
IF analog I/O |
- T up to 950 µs (B < 3 MHz, single channel) |
BITE function. High precision clock. |
CIF0405 . |
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175 x 152 x 27.1 mm |
CI F04: One compressor channel |
IF analog I/O |
T up to 950 µs (B < 3 MHz, single channel) |
BITE function. High precision clock. |
CIE03 . |
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120 x 75 x 10 mm |
2 concurrent channels: Expander or compressor for each channel |
2 IF analog inputs |
- T up to 950 µs (B < 3 MHz, single channel) |
BITE function. high precision clock, self sufficient or externally locked. |
Synthesizer
► PROFILE: The DS (Digital Synthesizer) series is a versatile FPGA-based low noise frequency synthesizer which can go up to the Ku-band. It can be combined with our low noise oscillators (OCSO or OCXO) to generate Local Oscillator (LO) signals for up- and down- conversion of RF signals. The waveform generator is highly flexible and programmable (standard interface: USB or SPI; BPX upon request) with several modes possible (CW, chirp, list, pulse, burst). This synthesizer synchronizes with the other synthesizers. It can be provided with internal or external clock reference.
► APPLICATIONS: Instrumentation, RADARs and Electronic Warfare Systems.
Model | Image | Package | Frequency Range | SFDR | Phase Noise Floor | Frequency |
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DS H01 New |
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174 x 131 x 54 mm |
Up to 4.0 GHz |
70 dBc typ. |
@ 320 MHz: -154 dBc/Hz |
Freq. step: 7 µHz |
Further Information . |
For more information, please contact Rakon Hi-Reliability Business Unit at hirel@rakon.com. |
Frequency Multipliers
► PROFILE: The MO G01 is an ultra-low noise frequency multiplier-by-10 module in a stand-alone 70 x 70 x 16 mm package size. It is a narrowband system dedicated to an input frequency of 320 MHz. Sub-harmonics filtering is adapted to the given input frequency.
This 320 MHz input / 3.2 GHz output frequency multiplier module is designed for lab environment applications, such as instrumentation and ground-based military equipment.
► APPLICATIONS: Defense and Instrumentation.
Model | Image | Package | Input Frequency | Output Frequency | Close-In Phase Noise | Phase Noise Floor |
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MO G01 New |
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70 x 70 x 16 mm |
320 MHz |
3.2 GHz |
Input Phase Noise |
Input Phase Noise |
Further Information . |
For more information, please contact Rakon Hi-Reliability Business Unit at hirel@rakon.com. |