White Paper

WHITE PAPER Rappid: A modular, application-ready spectrum processing platform mrcy.com 4 mrcy.com 4 ACCELERATING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Traditional spectrum processing system design is a complex and lengthy process. Rappid shortens design time by allowing the developer to bypass steps such as custom board design, designing the data/command interconnections and porting custom IP. Furthermore, Rappid has support software and firmware in the form of device drivers, OpenFPGA, remote reprogrammability and function libraries (middleware) to allow system developers to focus on designing and implementing their proprietary mission applications. ACCELERATING SYSTEM DEPLOYMENT To reduce costs and further improve timelines, Rappid hardware consists of commercial off-the-shelf devices from multiple industry-trusted vendors, the same base hardware that primes and government customers are familiar with and trust. The abstraction capabilities of Rappid provide a seamless deployment of applications from the lab, to the prototype, and on to fielded solutions. ENABLING SYSTEM SUSTAINMENT Rappid provides a level of abstraction from the hardware for both software and firmware, which simplifies system sustainment. The abstraction allows new hardware to run existing applications. Additionally, by leveraging commercial products from trusted companies, the Rappid platform mitigates the risk of component obsolescence. MAXIMIZING EW SYSTEM PERFORMANCE Traditional EW systems support a predefined set of low- latency capabilities that are designed into FPGAs. If a more extensive set of capabilities is required, the system designer typically must either increase the number of FPGA devices or increase the size of the FPGA. Both options are not only costly, but increase the physical size of the system as well as the thermal dissipation challenges. By using the Rappid open platform, EW techniques can be swapped in and out as needed, maximizing system performance by reducing the need for expensive, large and hard-to-cool FPGA devices. OPEN HARDWARE, OPEN SOFTWARE, OPEN FIRMWARE Unlike other open standards, Rappid integrates open hardware, open firmware and open software. Through this framework, heterogeneous EW capabilities that run on both FPGA and CPU/GPU processors are further decoupled from the hardware. OPEN HARDWARE Rappid leverages existing commercial hardware and open hardware standards such as OpenVPX and SOSA to maximize system flexibility. Developing mission applications and solutions on open hardware accelerates solution development. The introduction of future system capabilities during the sustainment phase is smoother and more low risk than the arduous process of upgrading custom hardware. OPEN SOFTWARE There are many industry efforts toward enabling open standards software development. A significant focus of the development of software is the virtualization and abstraction of the hardware from the applications. This abstraction takes many forms, and Rappid embraces several of them, allowing flexible application choices. Some enabling technologies such as virtualization, Docker, OpenDDS and the ubiquitous Ethernet protocol are all ready for use on Rappid subsystems. ▪ Portable applications through Docker containers ▪ Distributed applications and remote reprogramming through standard Ethernet control and OpenDDS ▪ Open standard system control using gRPC and Ethernet (ready for MOSA, OMS, FACE and more) ▪ Hardware-agnostic drivers for all hardware and subsystems (never have to write a driver) ▪ Multi-language client support (C#, C++, and more) Starting with BOARDS Starting with BOARDS, CHASSIS, AND BACKPLANE Starting with RAPPID Starting with UPGRADED HARDWARE Starting with RAPPID Existing applications (CPU and embedded) work with upgraded hardware New development consists of application upgrade only based on new hardware capabilities Development Initial Release Development to Deployment Comparison Timeline Develop Deploy Sustainment Comparison Timeline

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