HYPRES has received two new contracts totaling approximately $1.5 million from the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) for work related to the continued development of digital superconductivity electronics for military satellite communications (MILSATCOM).

Under a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II contract valued at $730,000, HYPRES will develop an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) capable of directly digitizing Ka/EHF-band RF signals. The ADC, based on HYPRES' proven digital superconductivity technology, will be designed to digitize a 20 GHz microwave signal with a maximum bandwidth of 1 GHz. The ADC is being developed as part of an Army effort to replace multiple analog mixers, filters and amplifiers with lower noise, programmable digital components.

In another SBIR Phase II contract valued at $730,000, HYPRES will implement a hybrid technology digital receiver comprised of digital superconductor electronics and commercial field-programmable gate arrays. As part of this effort, a high-speed digital interface will be designed to connect the company's multigigahertz receiver. Development of this interface is critical to making X-band and K-band MILSATCOM receivers capable of taking full advantage of the superior sensitivity, linearity, low jitter, and ultrafast clock rates provided by the digital superconductor components.

“The Ka/EHF-band ADC is key to reducing system acquisition and logistic support cost through the elimination of expensive analog components — which will result in significant life-cycle cost savings in future MILSATCOM systems,” said Oleg Mukhanov, Ph.D., HYPRES vice president and general manager.

The digital interface that HYPRES is developing will allow the performance gains realized through digital superconductivity to be used by the signal-processing stage of the MILSATCOM system.

For more information, visit www.hypres.com.