RF and Spectrum Signal Recording
Conduant is the back end for long-duration analysis: deep storage at full rate. It records the digitized I/Q or wideband stream off your analyzer or digitizer for as long as the test runs, so a signal that is short, unexpected, or sudden is still in the record when you go looking for it.
- 320 Gbps per chassis, and add a chassis when you need more
- 160 Gbps (20 GB/s) on a single stream, not slow lanes added together
- Minutes or hours of continuous capture, with no dropped samples
- Past the subseconds or seconds an analyzer is limited to by onboard memory
- Storage of 256 TB or more, depending on configuration, behind any vendor's instrument
US-based engineers available.
The analyzer fills before the test completes
A signal analyzer captures at full bandwidth for as long as its onboard memory lasts, which is often seconds or less. The moment the buffer fills, acquisition stops to offload, and whatever happened during that gap is gone. For a signal you need to watch for minutes or hours, the instrument is not the limit. The place you put the data is.
Onboard memory is a fixed ceiling
An analyzer is limited to a set number of samples. At full bandwidth that ceiling arrives in seconds or less, and no setting moves it.
The signal you are hunting is the one you miss
While the instrument writes its buffer out, it is not acquiring. A signal that is short, unexpected, or appears suddenly is exactly the kind that hides in those gaps.
Post-processing needs the whole capture
Analysis that runs after the fact needs an unbroken record, and a file stitched from buffer dumps is not one.
StreamStor® Cobra Recording System
One platform covers this. The Cobra takes the digitized stream straight off the instrument's optical output and writes it continuously at 160 Gbps (20 GB/s) on a single stream, and 320 Gbps in one chassis. No host and no file system sits between the instrument and storage to introduce a gap.
Read the rate carefully, including ours. A recorder advertising a large number is often adding several slow interfaces together. These are stated separately on purpose:
- 320 Gbps
per chassis, and chassis stack - 160 Gbps
on one stream, one connection - 40 Gbps
per input board
Record and playback
160 Gbps (20 GB/s) per stream, 320 Gbps per chassis
Capacity
256 TB or more, depending on configuration
Channels
up to 24 optical lanes, 48 fibers
Interfaces
ODI, Aurora, Serial FPDP, Interlaken, Ethernet UDP (10G)
- ✓320 Gbps in a single chassis, and another chassis adds another 320
- ✓Data arrives over the interface the program already uses: ODI for Keysight instrumentation, Aurora for AMD FPGAs, Serial FPDP, Interlaken, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet as a UDP transport
- ✓Playback reads any segment of the capture back out at full rate for analysis and regression
- ✓The SDK is C, C++, C# and .NET, and LabVIEW and MATLAB work through the C interface. The system runs commanded over a network link or cabled PCI Express
Why a dedicated recorder holds a rate a server cannot is covered on the high-speed data recording page. Reading a capture back out to drive a test sits on the signal playback page. Full configurations sit with the Cobra specifications, and capacity options with the storage and drive modules.
What the recorder captures in practice
The recorder is front-end agnostic. Two examples of what sits in front of it, one a named instrument and one a customer's own board. It works the same way behind any analyzer, digitizer, or FPGA with a supported optical output.
Keysight N9042B UXA analyzer
The N9042B does high-frequency real-time analysis. Put a recorder behind it and the same work runs for hours instead of seconds, which is what electronic warfare and cellular signal monitoring need. Cobra captures the ODI output at 80 Gbps (10 GB/s), in configurations that scale from 25 minutes to over 5 hours of continuous recording.
See the N9042B recording setup →Your own board over Aurora
There is often no instrument at all. An FPGA board sits directly on the sensor, a radar front end for instance, collecting data as it comes off the array. The board implements an Aurora interface out to the recorder, and the capture happens the same way it does behind an analyzer. No vendor's instrument is required anywhere in the path.
Not sure whether yours will stream into it?
Tell us the instrument or board and the rate it puts out. An engineer will tell you straight whether it fits, including when it does not.
The engineer who designed it answers the question
The people who design the systems are the people who answer questions about them, which puts the knowledge base right at the customer interface and settles issues faster than routing them inward from a queue. Conduant has been building recording systems in Longmont, Colorado since 1996, with hundreds of installations behind it, and design, build and support all happen in the same building.
- ✓Tested at rate before it ships. Assembled, run at the rate it was ordered for, and verified in Longmont before it ships.
- ✓Front-end agnostic. Sits behind whichever analyzer, receiver, digitizer, or FPGA board the program specced, from any vendor.
- ✓Nothing to write. Capture runs out of the box, with no acquisition software to build.
- ✓No layer in between. A support question reaches the design team directly, so the first person who reads it already knows the product.
- ✓Custom builds in 60 days, or 30 with parts in stock. When the standard configuration does not fit, Conduant builds to the requirement.
- ✓Made and supported in the United States. Systems are engineered, assembled, and serviced in Longmont, Colorado, by US-based engineers.
Common questions
What is an RF signal recorder?
An RF signal recorder captures the digitized I/Q or wideband output of an analyzer, receiver, digitizer, or FPGA board at full rate, holds it without dropped samples for the length of the test, and replays it at full rate. It sits behind the front end and does no digitizing of its own.
Is 320 Gbps per chassis the same as adding several interfaces together?
No, and the distinction matters when comparing recorders. A published rate is sometimes the sum of several slower interfaces, which does not help if your data arrives on one of them. Conduant sustains 160 Gbps on a single stream over a single connection, 320 Gbps in one chassis, and 40 Gbps per input board. Adding a chassis adds another 320 Gbps.
Does it work with any digitizer?
Yes. The recorder is front-end agnostic. Any analyzer, digitizer, or FPGA board with a supported optical output streams into it over ODI, Aurora, Serial FPDP, Interlaken, or 10 Gigabit Ethernet. It runs behind named instruments such as the Keysight N9042B, and equally behind a customer's own FPGA board sitting on a sensor.
Can it record raw I/Q data?
Yes. The recorder writes the digitized I/Q stream exactly as the front end produces it, at full rate and with no decimation, so the capture is bit-for-bit what came off the output.
How long can it record compared to onboard memory?
An analyzer is typically limited to subseconds or seconds at full bandwidth by its onboard memory. Streaming to a Cobra recorder extends that to minutes or hours of continuous capture, which is what it takes to catch a signal that is short, unexpected, or appears suddenly. Behind an N9042B at 80 Gbps (10 GB/s), configurations scale from 25 minutes to over 5 hours.
Tell us your front end and your rate
Give a Conduant engineer the analyzer, digitizer, or board you run and the data rate it puts out. You get a straight answer on the fit.
US-based engineers available.