Posted by Courtney E. Howard

CHELMSFORD, Mass., 9 May 2011. Mercury Computer Systems Inc., a provider of commercially developed ISR subsystems, will provide a prime contractor with Ensemble and Echotek Series products for use in a high-speed satellite communications system tasked with transferring more ISR data from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to ground forces. Mercury’s ability to deliver high processing in an open architecture and scalable small form factor will help meet size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements for this mobile application, says a representative.

“This selection exemplifies the important role Mercury plays as a trusted partner to leading prime contractors as they work to deliver high-performance systems--especially systems that provide potentially lifesaving information to our warfighters,” says Didier Thibaud, senior vice president and general manager of Mercury Computer Systems’ Advanced Computing Solutions business unit.

Mercury’s integrated solution includes an OpenVPX processing module that supports a general-purpose processor and FPGAs. The company will also supply a high-speed, FPGA-based digital receiver in a small, XMC form factor that will enable the customer to develop wideband, open-architecture, scalable data link solutions, which will ensure critical information from airborne platforms is transmitted to ground forces faster than using traditional data links.