Tekmicro Supplies Signal Processing System for NASA Glenn Research Center

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System as part of NASA’s Constellation Program (click image to zoom by 1.4x)

Chelmsford, MA – October 26, 2009 – TEK Microsystems, Inc. announced it has shipped follow up system orders to NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Glenn is developing a VXS-based satellite communications test set for ground based validation of satellite equipment. The test set will be used for the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System compatibility testing as part of NASA’s Constellation Program. Successful development will result in additional orders of totaling over $1M.

NASA’s Constellation Program is building the next generation of space vehicles that will take astronauts to low Earth orbit, the moon, and eventually to Mars.

Tekmicro’s Titan-V5 VXS and Callisto VXS boards are now being used in the program. Titan-V5 VXS was selected because of its first-in-the-industry levels of high performance, low latency, and signal integrity. The Titan-V5 combines four channels of 1 GSPS 12-bit ADCs, four channels of 1.2 GSPS 14-bit DACs and three Virtex-5 FPGAs to provide the highest bandwidth channel count per slot available for VXS products on the market today.

By providing a massive FPGA processing resource at the heart of the VXS communications fabric, Callisto achieves an optimal balance between processing power and IO bandwidth; maximizing the value that can be extracted from the use of FPGAs for signal processing.

“The Titan-V5 utilizes best-in-class devices for digitization and signal generation, and, it redefines low latency by providing almost instantaneous acquisition-to-response times when compared with older architectures using multiple boards or modules,” comments Andy Reddig, CEO/CTO of Tekmicro. “Our ability to implement the newly announced ADS5400 from Texas Instruments gave our engineering team technology with nearly 2x the speed of competitive offerings. The culmination of these advanced technologies gives Titan-V5 a competitive edge for signal processing solutions.”

In addition to Callisto and Titan-V5, Tekmicro offers the broadest range of Xilinx Virtex-5 based streaming I/O and FPGA processing solutions for both analog and digital I/O in the industry today in both commercial and rugged options.

About TEK Microsystems, Incorporated

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Tekmicro designs, manufactures and delivers a wide range of advanced high-performance boards and systems for embedded real-time data acquisition, data conversion, storage and recording. Tekmicro provides both commercial and rugged grade products that are used in real-time systems designed for a wide range of defense, intelligence and industrial applications such as C4ISR, SIGINT, EW and Radar.