Celebrating a decade of MATRICs® technology

Innovative, mission-altering, an enabler – these are all ways to describe MATRICs®, a family of powerful microelectronics chips. MATRICs is a portfolio of reconfigurable radio-frequency (RF) products based on a continually developed library of intellectual property (IP).

BAE Systems’ FAST Labs™ research and development (R&D) organization developed, designed, and manufactured the innovative technology building blocks of the MATRICs portfolio. Think of each chip like a modular home. You start with pre-designed blocks and combine elements together to customize exactly what you want.

"The concept for MATRICs grew out of a 2012 DARPA program called RF-FPGA, where we designed RF transceiver components that could be reprogrammed similar to a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)," said Greg Flewelling, product director, at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs. "The first MATRICs Adaptive Transceiver from 2013 is a far cry from what we have today. Today's version is mission-altering."

Ten years of success: After 10-years of development, the evolving product line continues to build on early successes. For example, earlier this year, FAST Labs successfully demonstrated the first over-the-air radar capability using the MATRICs Adaptive Transceiver based hardware. This achievement further advances BAE Systems’ modular and scalable advanced seeker solution for precision guided munitions. This is just the latest milestone during a decade of successful collaboration, development, and investment in MATRICs technology.

The original flagship MATRICs Adaptive Transceiver (AD-XCVR) is designed to meet the need for radio systems to adapt to changing environments on the fly and be easily reconfigured once they’re in the field. From the AD-XCVR, a library of MATRICs IP within various products helps address the future requirements of communications, electronic warfare, and signal intelligence systems. The general-purpose AD-XCVR chip enables engineers to develop customized radio systems from common software-defined hardware. The IP is then used in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) when additional performance is required. Software Defined Radios (SDRs) based on the MATRICs AD-XCVR also let engineers create rapid prototypes and working systems that can be fielded and updated faster.

MATRICs products operate over a wide spectrum of radio signals; are small, lightweight, and energy-efficient; and don’t require the long development cycles and expensive engineering costs typically associated with fully customized chips. The reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the MATRICs chips make it ideal for critical applications where lightweight and low-power are at a premium, including unmanned aerial platforms and man-portable radios.

As technology constantly improves, BAE Systems continues to invest its own internal R&D and leverages funding from customers, achieving multiple milestones, including a successful DRAGONS demo. In this demo, the technology was used in an exercise to sensed radio frequency (RF) and communication signals in simulated congested and contested battle environments in conjunction with an unmanned aerial system.

History of success:

• Just last year, a contracted research and development program demonstrated advanced RF-EW capabilities in support of numerous government sponsored test events with MATRICs®-enabled hardware. These low SWaP-C payloads provided UAS platforms with the broad spectrum coverage and rapid frequency agility required to counter modern threats.
• On the DARPA CONCERTO program in 2018, BAE Systems demonstrated multi-function RF through a UAV brassboard payload including communications, radar, and electronic warfare on the same hardware baseline. The discrete enabler was the MATRICs AD-XCVR’s reprogramming capability that can easily change between these applications.
• One of the earliest demonstrations of the MATRICs AD-XCVR took place in 2016 at DARPA Demo Day at the Pentagon. The AD-XCVR debuted on an early SDR called the MATRICs Evaluation Kit (MEK). Newer versions of the MEK continue to be developed today.

BAE Systems will continue to advance the underlying technology that feeds the MATRICs IP and focus on scaling MATRICs production. Many of the chips in the MATRICs family are getting ready to ship on multiple platforms. The FAST Labs team will continue to innovate, and new MATRICs chips will be right around the corner.