Cambridge Pixel looks to support next generation of radars

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Cambridge Pixel, a developer of radar display, tracking and recording sub-systems, has introduced the HPx-410 radar input card with a x4 PCI Express interface that will support the new generation of high-resolution, high-throughput multi-channel radars.

With the wider x4 PCIe interface, the HPx-410 is able to provide significantly enhanced data rates to permit one or two radars with high-resolution videos to be sampled at up to 125 MHz with sustained transfer rates of up to 500 MB/sec.

The HPx-410 PCIe card is designed for use with new generation primary and IFF radars. The card accepts radar video, trigger and azimuth signals in the form of ACP/ARP or parallel data. On-board processing handles initial data capture, processing and correlation before transfer to the host PC for processing and display.

The HPx-410 card features two fully independent radar input channels allowing the card to be used by integrators in three discrete ways: for dual sampling of one radar at different sampling rates, for dual redundancy, or for dual-stream capture of two separate radars.

A wide variety of signal types and input voltages are supported, allowing connection to a diverse range of commercial and military radar types including those from Furuno, Hensoldt, JRC, Koden, Raytheon, Sperry, Terma, as well as specialist military radars.

The card is software compatible with other HPx cards, which allows for a smooth transition or upgrade path. It is supported by Cambridge Pixel’s SPx Server for radar tracking, RadarWatch for maritime security, ASD-100 for air defense and RadarView for radar video monitoring. A board-support package option is available for Windows or Linux for developers preferring to build their own server or display clients.

Commenting David Johnson, CEO, Cambridge Pixel, said: “The HPx-410 expands the HPx radar input range to now offer six different card options, covering all requirements for radar acquisition. The HPx-410 sits at the top-end of the family and addresses requirements for high sample rates and data throughput allowing us to expand the range of radars we support to include the new generation of high-resolution multi-channel radars.”

Cambridge Pixel’s HPx-410 is part of a family of radar acquisition and processing components that provide system integrators with a toolkit to build server and client display systems. The company’s SPx suite of software libraries and applications provides highly flexible, ready-to-run software products or ‘modules-of-expertise’ for radar scan conversion, visualisation, radar video distribution, target tracking, sensor fusion, plot extraction and clutter processing.

Cambridge Pixel’s radar technology is used in naval, air traffic control, vessel traffic, commercial shipping, security, surveillance and airborne radar applications.