Handheld SDR Is Smallest Kid On The Block

Nov 7, 2011 9:55 AM, MD&D News Staff

Deemed the world’s smallest commercially available software defined radio (SDR) by the company, the Matchstiq from Epiq Solutions measures 2.2 by 4.6 by 0.9 in. and tunes between 300 MHz and 3.8 GHz. It packs a broadband RF transceiver with a baseband processing engine running Linux and an Atlas-I-LPe computer module developed by iVeia combining a Xilinx Spartan-6 LX45 FPGA with a 1-GHz Texas Instruments ARM Cortex-A8 processor running the 2.6.35 Linux kernel. This arrangement supports a plethora of signal processing tasks executing on the platform while keeping power consumption down to 3 W during receive-only apps. Paired with Epiq’s library of signal processing applications or other software suites like GNU Radio, Matchstiq offers an array of capabilities including use as a point-to-point data modem, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) survey tool, or portable spectrum analyzer. A development kit is also available. Shipping in December, single unit price is $4500. For more info, visit www.epiqsolutions.com/matchstiq.