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Test & Measurement

Aeroflex wins $40.5 million U.S. Marine Corps contract for radio test systems; Announces new Configurable Automated Test Set platform

15th September 2009

Electronic Specifier

ES Admin

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The U.S. Department of Defense announced late last month that Aeroflex won a five-year, $40.5 million contract with the U.S. Marine Corps to supply Ground Radio Maintenance Automatic Test Systems (GRMATS). For this contract Aeroflex will supply its newly developed test platform, the 7200 Configurable Automated Test Set (CATS). The 7200 is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) platform for testing software-defined radios, including military tactical radios and other high technology devices.

“With its modular, standards-based design, the 7200 CATS makes radio testing future-proof,” said Jeff Gillum, Vice President and General Manager, Aeroflex Wichita. “We can test any radio standard today and within the same bench-top box, change test capabilities for any radio or module technology planned for future deployment.”

7200 CATS leads market with ultra-wide instantaneous bandwidth coupled with powerful real-time processing covering all communications bands

Unique in its class, the 7200 is the market’s most advanced tester for use on the most advanced devices. It combines industry-standard hardware modules and multi-gigabit/second data busses with a component-based plug-and-play software architecture. The 7200 is based on the Aeroflex Common Platform architecture, which was designed to be compatible with the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) used by JTRS (Joint Tactical Radio System). The 7200 supports the testing of existing and planned JTRS radio families. Its baseline configuration comes standard with:

· 90MHz instantaneous digitisation and signal generation bandwidth.
· Better than -108dBc/Hz phase noise capability.
· 2.6 GHz frequency coverage.
· Automated test execution optimisation providing minimised test times.
· Robust packaging to meet MIL-PRF-28800F Class 3.
· Impressive real-time computation power.
· Numerous extensions and optional capabilities are available.

Per the announced U.S. Marine Corps contract, the test platform will be adopted for testing new digital and legacy radio systems. In addition to testing software-defined radios and modules such as JTRS, the 7200 CATS can test radar, avionics, and many other devices.

Easy testing is another hallmark of the 7200. The compact chassis combines the functionality of many instruments into a single tester. The intuitive user interface is designed for ease of operation by minimally-trained personnel. Guided scripts will lead a novice user through complex test sequences. In addition, test and maintenance personnel can create their own test scripts.