Altera Corporation, a provider of field-programmable gate array (FPGA) solutions, has announced new collaborations with Mercury Systems (NASDAQ: MRCY) and VadaTech aimed at expanding the ecosystem for its Agilex 9 Direct RF Series FPGAs. The initiative is designed to support the development of next-generation defense platforms through commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions based on open architecture standards.
The partnerships focus on combining Altera’s Agilex 9 medium-band Direct RF FPGAs with industry-standard platforms, including SOSA-aligned OpenVPX systems. According to the companies, the approach is intended to help defense customers reduce integration complexity, accelerate deployment timelines, and enhance flexibility for software-defined radio frequency (RF) applications.
As defense systems increasingly require real-time processing of large volumes of RF data, demand is growing for hardware platforms capable of delivering higher performance while reducing size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP). Altera said its Agilex 9 Direct RF Series FPGAs address these requirements by integrating RF functionality, computing resources, and high-speed transceivers within a single programmable architecture.
The company noted that the medium-band Direct RF technology provides a balance of bandwidth, power efficiency, and processing performance suited for a range of defense applications, including adaptive radar systems, cognitive electronic warfare, and secure software-defined communications.
Through the expanded ecosystem, customers will have access to field-proven platforms designed to improve interoperability and adaptability while supporting evolving mission requirements. The use of open architectures is also expected to facilitate system integration and reduce development risks for defense contractors and government agencies.
Craig Goodwin, Senior Director of Mercury’s Mixed Signal line of business, said the integration of medium-band converters into a high-performance FPGA enables significant SWaP advantages for edge-based processing applications. He noted that Altera’s hardware and software development tools helped accelerate product evaluation and solution design.
According to Goodwin, Mercury selected the Agilex 9 medium-band Direct RF FPGA because of its data conversion capabilities and processing resources, which he said can provide up to a tenfold SWaP advantage compared with alternative FPGA solutions for certain RF applications.
VadaTech CEO Saeed Karamooz emphasized the benefits of standards-based VPX solutions, stating that Agilex 9 Direct RF Series FPGAs support seamless integration within larger defense system architectures while helping customers deploy advanced RF capabilities more quickly.
John Sotir, General Manager of Altera’s Military, Aerospace, and Government business unit, said modern defense platforms must process larger volumes of data across wider bandwidths while maintaining flexibility. He added that the collaborations with Mercury Systems and VadaTech reflect Altera’s ongoing efforts to advance Direct RF technology and support more agile, scalable, and software-defined defense systems.
