White Paper: Defense
Strategies for Deploying Xilinx’s Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC
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Xilinx’s new RFSoC brings a powerful and unique solution for addressing some of the most demanding requirements of high bandwidth and high channel count systems. This paper provides a look at how RFSoC compares to the current trends in A/D and D/A converters and the strategies for getting the most performance out of this new family of FPGAs.
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Overview
This white paper by Mercury Systems explores strategies for deploying Xilinx’s Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC (Radio Frequency System on Chip), a cutting-edge technology integrating RF-class analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters directly into a powerful FPGA fabric with embedded multi-core ARM processors. The RFSoC represents a significant advancement in addressing high bandwidth, high channel count system requirements, offering considerable benefits in size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) compared to traditional discrete component solutions.
Key advantages of RFSoC include the integration of up to 8 channels of 5 GSPS 14-bit A/D converters and 8 channels of 10 GSPS 14-bit D/A converters alongside UltraScale+ FPGAs and multi-core ARM processors on a single chip. This integration removes the need for multiple discrete converter ICs and their associated high-pin-count interfaces, reducing board complexity and power consumption by eliminating high-speed serial interfaces (like JESD204) commonly used in discrete designs. The direct parallel converter interface in RFSoC significantly lowers data latency, a critical factor in real-time applications such as phased array radar, electronic warfare systems, and tight control loop environments.
Mercury highlights the challenges in PCB design, power management, and signal integrity when working with high-speed converters, and introduces its QuartzXM eXpress Module to simplify these issues. The QuartzXM is a compact, fully designed module hosting the RFSoC chip and support circuitry, enabling flexible deployment on various carrier boards across standard form factors like 3U VPX and PCIe. This modularity facilitates rapid development, testing, and migration to custom solutions.
Software and IP design complexities are addressed using Mercury’s Navigator FPGA Design Kit (FDK) and Board Support Package (BSP), which offer a comprehensive library of IP blocks and matched software interfaces. This one-to-one BSP-to-IP modularity streamlines system integration, enabling users to customize FPGA functions while keeping software control synchronized. Navigator supports compound features such as high-throughput data acquisition, waveform generation, multi-channel synchronization, and low-latency streaming via dual 100 GigE interfaces.
Furthermore, Mercury aligns its product design with emerging standards such as SOSA, enabling easy upgrades to open standards and future-proofing applications. The RFSoC’s combination of reduced SWaP, integrated converters with low latency, and strong software/IP support positions it as a transformative solution for next-generation high-performance radar, communications, and electronic warfare systems.