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compared spec
Sidekiq™ Mini PCIe
Sidekiq™ M.2
(30 mm x 51 mm x 5 mm)
(30 mm x 42 mm x 4 mm)
compared spec
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Sidekiq™ Mini PCIe
TUNING RANGE
70 MHz to 6 GHz
Bandwidth
Up to 50 MHz per channel
Power Consumption
2.1W (typical usage)
INTEGRATED FPGA
Xilinx Spartan 6 LX45T FPGA with x1 PCIe interface
FORM FACTOR
Mini PCIe card (30 mm x 51 mm x 5 mm)
I/O
PCIe Gen1.1 x1 (2.5 Gbps) + USB 2.0
RECEIVERS
Up to 2
TRANSMITTERS
1
Sidekiq™ M.2
TUNING RANGE
70 MHz to 6 GHz
BANDWIDTH
Up to 50 MHz per channel
POWER CONSUMPTION
Under 2W (typical usage)
INTEGRATED FPGA
Xilinx Artix 7 XC7A50T FPGA with x1 Gen2 PCIe interface
FORM FACTOR
M.2 card, Module Key B+M, Socket 2 (30 mm x 44 mm x 4 mm)
I/O
PCIe Gen2 x1 (5 Gbps) + USB 2.0
RECEIVERS
Up to 2
TRANSMITTERS
Up to 2
Resources
Datasheets
Epiq - datasheet - Sidekiq™ M.2 and Mini PCIe
The Sidekiq M.2 and Mini PCIe cards lighten the load when it comes to adding RF to mission critical applications. These embeddable SDR transceiver solutions are ready for integration into systems that support either M.2 or Mini PCIe card form factors and feature RF tuning ranges of 70 MHz to 6 GHz, programmable logic, and typical power consumption of 2.1 watts. Millions of host devices (laptops, tablet computers, embedded computers, etc.) can immediately be transformed into RF processing powerhouses with the addition of a Sidekiq M.2 or Mini PCIe
Application notes
Squeezing the Balloon: Effective SDR Power Budgeting to Maximize UxS Range & Cap
Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are the Swiss army knives of spectrum battlefield situational awareness. Their uses range from satellite communications (SATCOM) and signals intelligence (SIGINT), to direction finding (DF), radar, jamming and many more besides. Even small drones are upgrading capabilities from only visible spectrum cameras to much more advanced capabilities using SDRs.
UAS Trends
Recent conflicts have accelerated trends that were already underway in the Unmanned Aerial System(UAS) market. Figure 1 shows a variety of different attributes that illustrate changes in the military market. The first three relate to differences over time worldwide, with an increasing number of countries able to deploy drones, a predicted 40% increase in spending, and a rapidly growing number of patents being issued as interest in this sector is reflected in innovation (graphs a through c).
UxS Challenges, EPIQ Solutions
Expectations on UxS suppliers to innovate and evolve their platforms quickly, and to ramp to volume faster are getting higher and higher. The addition of spectral monitoring to even small platforms dramatically increases situational awareness, enabled by small and flexible Software Defined Radios (SDRs). For design teams, a frequent issue is the ‘make vs. buy’ decision for the SDR, and whether the project can afford the time or engineering bandwidth to make every piece in-house. As a leading supplier of Small Form Factor (SFF) and open architecture SDRs, Epiq obviously has strong opinions on this topic
UxS Payload Form Factors
Unmanned systems (UxS) come in many shapes and sizes, whether airborne, in the water, or land-based. Most count as SWaP-constrained systems, with care needed in design to properly budget for power, weight and available payload volumes. Other notes in this series have discussed the challenges of power budgeting for SDRs, and RF architectures that optimize SWaP. We often have less choice in the form factors we need to fit into, as these are usually set by the larger system, and the customer question will be “I have this form factor, what can you do in it?”.
Which RF Architecture Should I Choose
Software Defined Radios (SDRs) have become ubiquitous in applications that value their flexibility, reconfigurability, spectrum agility and upgradability. These include defense, public safety, wireless infrastructure, space, SATCOM, test and measurement to name a few. However, there are several common methods of implementing SDR architectures – how do you know which is best to meet a specific need?
Will it blend? Finding the Right Host Computer for an Embedded SDR
When developing an RF-based product, SDR selection is important. It rightfully gets a lot of attention – RF performance, number of receiver/transmitter channels, size, power consumption, and security are just a few of the considerations – but selecting the appropriate compute platform deserves equal (if not more) consideration to ensure the success of a product
Considerations in the Build vs Buy Decision-Making Process for SDRs
The flexibility and enhanced performance offered by software-defined radios (SDRs) in RF transceiver applications is driving an increased demand for their use across many industries such as defense, telecom, aerospace, and government.
Case studies
Open-source repositories
Blog
Doing More With Less: The Evolution of the World’s Smallest Software-Defined Radio (SDR)
Epiq Solutions’ Sidekiq Z2, the world's smallest SDR, proves it is possible to do more with less. Sidekiq Z2 has shortens time-to-market and simplifies product development so engineers can focus on their applications instead of RF design.
Enabling Phase Coherency In Compact RF Systems
While multiple antennas and RF channels allow users to extract significantly more information, this progression has introduced new requirements, including phase coherency.
Epiq in Orbit: How Our SWaP-Optimized SDR Transceivers are Helping Space Applications
Epiq Solutions’ Sidekiq Mini PCIe is helping companies create smaller, more capable, and more cost-effective satellites.
Managing Our Supply Chain in Challenging Times
Supply chain shortages are hitting electronics components particularly hard. Read this post for tips on how to manage in these challenging times.
Software Defined Radios – Which RF Architecture Should I Choose?
Choosing the right RF architecture is critical for SDR performance. From Superheterodyne to Direct Sampling, each offers unique trade-offs in size, power, and capability. Discover which architecture best fits your mission needs—register now to access the full article.
User Manuals
Sidekiq Software Development Manual
A Sidekiq system consists of a Sidekiq miniPCIe, m.2, or FMC card inserted into a Linux or Windows host platform supporting the Sidekiq form factor. Additionally, the Sidekiq Z2 consists of a Zynq 7010, which is a self contained embedded ARM processor running Linux and Xilinx FPGA in the mPCIe form factor. The Matchstiq Z3u is a fully housed software defined radio consisting of the Zynq Ultrascale+, running Linux and Xilinx FPGA, a wideband transceiver, and an integrated GPS.
Sidekiq FPGA Developers Manual
The Sidekiq PDK provides a complete FPGA reference design that enables a user to quickly and efficiently create custom applications targeting Sidekiq MiniPCIe with a Xilinx Spartan®-6 LX45T, Sidekiq M.2 with a Xilinx Artix®-7 XC7A50T, or Sidkiq M.2 Stretch with a Xilinx Artix®-7 XC7A50T FPGA. On Sidekiq MiniPCIe and Sidekiq M.2, both PCIe and USB data transport modes are supported with separate FPGA reference designs.
Epiq Solutions Sidekiq Mini Pcie Hardware User Manual
Sidekiq is a miniature software defined radio card in a MiniPCIe form factor, providing a flexible wideband RF transceiver that can be used by a host system. The features of the platform include the following: RF transceiver covering 70 MHz to 6 GHz, with independent Tx and Rx frequencies Supports RF channel bandwidths up to 50 MHz A/D and D/A quadrature sample rates from 200 Ksamples/sec up to 61.44 Msamples/sec, with 12-bit precision User programmable FPGA for signal processing applications (Xilinx Spartan 6 LX45-T, part # XC6SLX45T-3CSG324I)