Wide Swath Research, LLC

Introducing the Radar System Analyzer, radar-focused test equipment with three primary modes of operation: 1. Extended Capture: capture multiple channels at high rates for extended periods of time - far exceeding the capability of traditional oscilloscopes 2. Arbitrary Playback: output multiple arbitrary waveforms, including simulated radar scenes - particularly helpful for testing receiver chains and downstream onboard processors 3. Delay Line: characterize / test your radar end-to-end by capturing the transmit signal, delaying it for a configurable amount of time and then playing it back to the receiver(s) - there's a lot of flexibility with this mode including delays that can vary in length on a pulse basis and support for multiple pulses in flight These operating modes can be configured/commanded with capture data presented to the user through our provided graphical user app or integrated as a part of a larger test setup and controlled via API. We're also very excited to announce that JPL will be using the WSR Radar System Analyzer as a part of their test and verification campaign for the upcoming Venus-bound VENSAR instrument. This week a beta unit is being integrated at JPL with the final, fully functioning units to be delivered in February 2025. The features above are just the start for the RSA, we have big plans. With over 25 years working with radars, this is the piece of test equipment we always wish existed and now it does! DM us here or email brandon.heavey [at] wideswathresearch.com to learn more.

With initial units of our Software Defined Radar (SDR) shipped, we're making significant progress on the SDR + GPU variant. In these photos you can see a side-by-side shot of a packaged device next to one without a lid (the Jetson class GPU is the black module on top of the lidless unit). The second photo shows a keyboard and monitor directly connected to the SDR's GPU running Ubuntu and displaying a waveform captured by one of the device's eight channels. The GPU variant has the same footprint as our standard 8 channel SDR (4.6" x 8.6"), but is slightly taller. Through initial benchmarking, we've demonstrated over 6GB/s for data flow from the internal RFSoC to the GPU. There are a lot of exciting capabilities opened up with an onboard GPU co-processor. This variant will be available to the public starting in early 2025. For details on the standard (non-GPU) version, take a look at our earlier post announcing it: https://lnkd.in/g8DbgVPD

Very excited to see Europa Clipper launch today! At WSR, we played a small role in this mission, performing verification and automation of the onboard REASON instrument. As a company, we've now worked on instruments either headed to or already making measurements on Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Earth... not too many more planets left on the punch card :). Congrats to everyone involved in this important mission.

The WSR Software Defined Radar (SDR). Ruggedized, small form factor and conduction cooled. Coming in at 4.6" x 8.1" x 1.2" @ 1 kg Features include: *AMD/Xilinx RFSoC-based architecture with 8 independent, high-speed transmit and receive channels *Reconfigurable sample clocks, capable of operating over 9GHz *Input analog bandwidth up to 6GHz *Reprogrammable single-ended and differential GPIO to interface with external subsystems *Onboard GPS disciplined oscillator (GPSDO) and internal measurement unit (IMU) *Onboard telemetry ADC to sample external temperature sensors *Onboard ARM processor running Linux *Onboard M.2 high speed SSD *QSFP, gigabit ethernet, USB, RS232, SATA *Operates from a single DC source from 18-36V *Base radar firmware includes: arbitrary waveform generator, timing generator and simple digital receiver *User API to interface with SDR will be available in early 2025 A couple of weeks back we posted on this page that the first unit just rolled off the assembly line and was shipped to a customer. We're continuing to improve the provided firmware and software applications and are excited to see how customers use these in their instruments! More details to come soon on a variant that includes an NVIDIA GPU.

We're proudly shipping the first unit of Wide Swath Research's first ever product, an 8-channel, FPGA-based, wide-band, small form factor, ruggedized software defined radio / radar. It's been a long time coming and there are definitely kinks to be worked out with it as our beta customer puts the unit through its paces, but full production of these SDRs along with a robust software interface is right around the corner. More details to come, but we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the occasion today!

In 2023 WSR delivered 6 systems which included designing, fab'ing and testing 10 custom PCBs, writing 1000s of line of FPGA and embedded software code, supporting a handful of clients with detailed trade studies or general consulting, advancing our internal product development and even having a system we were intimately involved with launch and successfully operate from space. I couldn't be prouder of the results. Here are some of the details: ************************ Deliveries ************************ *Delivery 1: digital receiver & data acquisition system for a potentially revolutionary new medical sensor. Leveraged COTS hardware with custom software and firmware. *Delivery 2: digital backend with real time signal processor for a 32 channel, w-band array (confidential application). Custom hardware, firmware, software and mechanical packaging. We also integrated the full system on site (including outside developed subsystems) and demonstrated the system to the customer at our facility. *Delivery 3: controller for phased array, x-band antenna system. Custom hardware, firmware and software. We delivered and demonstrated this system at the customer's facility. *Delivery 4: real time range processor for a Venus-bound interferometric synthetic aperture radar. Custom firmware and Matlab-based verification / bit true modeling. *Delivery 5: digital subsystem for a next generation seismic sensor. Custom hardware. *Delivery 6: proto-flight control and data handling unit for a ten channel, earth orbiting spectrometer. Custom hardware, firmware, software and mechanical test fixture. Delivered and demonstrated on site at customer's facility. ************************ Services ************************ In addition to everything above, WSR also provided consulting services to three outside customers, primarily in the FPGA firmware domain. All in support of enhancing existing or architecting new radar systems. ************************ WSR Product Development ************************ We also made great strides toward our upcoming product release, an RFSoC-based software defined radio/radar with GPU - currently estimated for release mid-2024. ************************ Small Team, Big Impact ************************ All of this was accomplished with an average staff size of 4 engineers while also juggling the move into our new facility. What an incredible year! Thank you to all our partners and customers. Looking forward to an even more productive 2024.