Aeroflex Wins $40.5 Million US Marine Corps Contract for Radio Test Systems, Announces New Configurable Automated Test Set Platform
15 September 2009
The US Department of Defense announced late last month that Aeroflex has won a five-year, $40.5 million contract with the US 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 the 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 the joint tactical radio system (JTRS). The 7200 supports the testing of existing and planned JTRS radio families. Its baseline configuration comes standard with:
- 90MHz instantaneous digitization and signal generation bandwidth
- Better than -108dBc/Hz phase noise capability
- 2.6GHz frequency coverage
- Automated test execution optimization providing minimized 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 US 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.
Price and availability
For information concerning price and availability, contact your local sales office by visiting Aeroflex's website.
