really cool SDR.... www.hypres.com

[Frank Gentges]

Mike,

Wow, what at trip to see the latest technology....

On Mar 15, 2009, at 11:26 PM, Michael O'Dell wrote:

> this last Friday (the 13th!) i visited Hypres in
> beautiful Elmsford NY.
>
> they make superconducting electronics, as in
> integrated circuits that run at 4 degrees Kelvin.
> that's liquid helium temperature. modern cryocoolers
> no longer require boiling Dewars of LHe

It is damn cold

> but it's still
> utterly astounding. niobium is the magic metal for
> making Josephson Junctions.
>
> they do something they call "Digital RF"
> because that's exactly what it is.
>
> they have an integrated receiver front-end that
> runs at 40 Gigasamples per second,

Now that is fast and a lot of data to suck up somewhere

> followed by
> a pair of digital filters that can do all kinds
> of tricks. normally the filters slice off 100 MHz
> of spectrum and generate I/Q signals which are then
> interfaced to an FPGA for further chomping.

Impressive.  I want to know more.

> And
> the dynamic range? how does 140dB strike you?

That should be over 24 bits but I am losing count...

>
>
> most interestingly, they can put the "antennas"
> on the chips, too, by using SQUIDS. these are used
> in MRI machines to pick up the magnetic resonance signatures
> of the hydrogen atoms which are flipping back and forth.
> that's a field strength measured in femto-Tesla.

Squids could be a serious form of antenna.  I looked at these for VLF  
and LF.  Now we are up to L band.

>
>
> anyway, look at the "What's New" section for the press
> release on SPAWAR Pacific's delight with their prototype
> Link-16 Multi-Net Receiver. it directly digitizes the
> entire 960-1214MHz Link-16 band and then it's all just
> bits from there.

Once in bits, its all Simply a Matter of Programming.....

>
>
> pretty amazing stuff.  i have a couple of chips in
> museum magnifier cases. i'll bring them to Tacos
> the next time i can get free.

How about a talk at one of our meetings?  I think this is some really  
serious stuff that will justify a tiny criorefrigerator inside a piece  
of RF gear to get down to 4 degrees K.  Brrrrrr

>
>
> 	-mo

Nice trip into the future.

Frank K0BRA

>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tacos mailing list
> Tacos at amrad.org
> http://www.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos