NOAA awards RT Logic contract for multi-mission L&S band receivers project

RT Logic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc., announced September 22 a contract award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for their Multi-Mission L & S Band Receiver (ML & SBR) project.

Under the ML & SBR effort, RT Logic will deliver thirty six Telemetrix 400XR (T400XR) Radio Frequency (RF) Modulator/Receiver systems to NOAA as they replace older, unsupportable receivers in their Command and Data Acquisition (CDA) stations at Wallops Island, VA and at Fairbanks, AK. The T400XR Receivers will support downlink signal processing from the POES (Polar Operational Environmental Satellite), DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellites Program), Jason-2, and METOP satellites.

RT Logic received the ML & SBR order in June, 2008 with first delivery of the T400XR units planned for December of 2008. Each T400XR-based ML & SBR is a 2U (3.5") rack mountable unit that has two dual-band RF (L- and S-Band) downconverters and a Digital Signal Processing card, RT Logic's Digital Transmitter/Receiver (DTR-D) module. The downconverters operate from 1.69 to 2.4 GHz and the DTR-D Digital Signal Processor supports PM, PM/PSK, PM with Subcarrier, B/QPSK demodulation schemes, and Pre-Detection Diversity Combining. An RF test signal modulator is included as well. The ML & SBR units are monitored and controlled by Integral System's Epoch Integrated Product Suite software used in the NOAA CDA stations.

The T400XR is RT Logic's premier RF/IF narrowband, receiver & modulator product. It employs digital receiver & modulator technology to meet multi-mission narrowband requirements. The T400XR has a configurable software-defined receiver/modulator and supports most of the popular demodulation and modulation schemes such as BPSK, QPSK, SQPSK, UQPSK, SOQPSK and SQPN (Spread Spectrum) signals. Data rates ranging to 50 Mbps are supported under certain demodulation schemes. The demodulation processing is supplemented by bit synchronization, a variety of forward error correction (FEC) methods and PCM code conversion. The modulation capability of the T400XR allows for PCM simulation, command processing, built in Bit Error Rate Testing (BERT) or ranging as required. The T400XR can be configured to operate at an intermediate frequency (70 MHz) or have modular frequency converters integrated into the T400XR's Compact PCI (cPCI) enclosure allowing operation at UHF, L-, S-, X-, C- and Ku-Bands.

"Our Telemetrix receiver architecture's inherent flexibility allows us to replace the existing NOAA receivers with a direct drop-in replacement that also requires no software modifications to the legacy Epoch command and control subsystem," said Bill Asiano, RT Logic's ML & SBR Program Manager. "This approach provides NOAA with a low risk replacement solution while minimizing impacts to their existing CDA operations."