CommAgility LTE systems chosen by Lockheed Martin for satcom project

Feb. 13, 2018

CommAgility has been selected by Lockheed Martin to supply integrated software and hardware for an innovative satellite communications (satcom) project.

CommAgility is supplying a customized version of its SmallCellPHY software, which is a complete LTE physical layer for small cells, compliant with 3GPP Release 10. The LTE software will run on CommAgility's AMC-D24A4-RFx processing/RF module, and the company is also supplying its AMC-4C6678-SRIO module for the project.

Joseph Baldasano, LM Fellow and Satcom Project Chief Engineer at Lockheed Martin, said: "CommAgility has been able to deliver a valuable combination of LTE expertise and support, together with excellent hardware and software products, that makes them a key component of our satcom project."

Edward Young, Vice President and General Manager at CommAgility, said: "CommAgility has deep LTE expertise coupled with a wide range of LTE software IP, and is the ideal provider for customers who wish to take the LTE standard in new and innovative application areas such as satellite communications or other specialized networks. We are honoured to be working with Lockheed Martin in this important project."

The AMC-D24A4-RFx is an extremely high performance processing module based on Texas Instruments' (TI's) TCI6638 KeyStone II DSP/ARM System on Chip (SoC). The module also includes two Texas Instruments TMS320C6678 SoC DSPs, a Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA, and up to four integrated, flexible, wideband RF transceiver channels. The AMC-4C6678-SRIO is a high performance DSP card, powered by TI SoC TMS320C6678 DSPs.

SmallCellPHY software is a complete LTE physical layer for small cells, currently compliant to 3GPP Release 10 and with a roadmap to Release 13 in 2018. It is tailored to TI's SoCs to maximize performance, and optimized for low memory, processing power, and power consumption.