August 6, 2014 – Analog Devices ( www.analog.com , NASDAQ: ADI), a global leader in high-performance semiconductors for signal processing applications, has launched the industry's first high-speed prototyping kit for software-defined radio (SDR). Equipped with two AD9361 RF transceivers supporting 2T2R and a Xilinx® Zynq®-7000 All Programmable SoC, this kit enables accelerated prototype development by easily implementing 4T4R MIMO applications.
The AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ high-speed prototyping kit provides a hardware/software solution that resolves the problems RF and analog designers face regarding SDR transceiver synchronization when implementing systems using MIMO architecture. How to synchronize multiple RF transceivers in high-channel-density applications can be found in the following webinar (web + seminar):
http://www.analog.com/en/content/wc_developing_multiple_input_multiple_output/webcast.html

The AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ kit, featuring connectivity with the FPGA Evaluation Kit, reduces development time and risk by providing two award-winning Analog Devices AD9361 2T2R RF transceivers along with various supporting circuits, schematics, simulation, and design tools (MathWorks, HDL Code, drivers for Zync-7000, and online support via ADI's EngineerZone). As Analog Devices' fifth high-speed SDR prototyping kit released last year, the AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ is expected to help customers target the global SDR market, which is projected to grow to $28 billion by 2020—doubling its current size. The scope of SDR MIMO applications ranges from the defense industry and RF instrumentation to telecommunications infrastructure, including active antennas, transmit beamforming, receive angle of incidence systems, and open-source SDR development projects.

The AD9361 RF transceiver operates in the frequency range of 70 MHz to 6 GHz. The AD9361 is a complete wireless design product that combines multiple functions into a single chip, including an RF front-end, mixed-signal baseband, frequency synchronizer, two A/D converters, and a direct conversion receiver. The AD9361 supports programmable channel bandwidths from less than 200 kHz to 56 MHz and provides a very wide dynamic range with the highest level of noise performance and linearity.

MathWorks’ SimRF™ provides a simulation engine for RF system design, including the AD9361 and AD9364 models. These models enable the seamless transition of software simulation results into actual hardware. Additionally, the FIR Filter Design MATLAB® application can be used to select and design digital filters for the AD9361, fabricate custom filters, and verify filter performance with minimal trial and error. The results can be transferred to SimRF models or hardware. ADI provides a comprehensive set of RF design tools, including ADIsimRF™, ADIsimPLL™, and ADIsimCLK™.