Framework showcases energy of modular design as geek engineers drone jammer utilizing a bespoke SDR module

• A brand new SDR module is coming for Framework 16, becoming the GPU slot
• Designed for C-UAS, it’ll detect, monitor, and presumably neutralize rogue drones
• It packs severe processing energy with customized cooling for FPGA and DSP chips

We’re large followers of Framework’s modular laptops – as whereas many pocket book makers have shifted in direction of soldered elements, making even easy upgrades all however inconceivable, Framework’s strategy permits you to get the laptop computer you need and make no matter upgrades you might want to the {hardware}.

You may select the processor, mainboard, RAM, and even elements just like the webcam, display, keyboard and growth playing cards. The corporate even affords a RISC-V mainboard, created by DeepComputing, and most just lately, Framework introduced its Laptop computer 16 gadget can now assist as much as 26TB of superfast Gen4 SSD storage.

In 2024, the corporate open-sourced 3D CAD designs for its Laptop computer 16, giving customers the flexibility to 3D print customized elements. Over on X, Lukas Henkel at Open Visions, which designs and develops modern {hardware} options, introduced he’s taking benefit of this flexibility by making a Software program-Outlined Radio (SDR) module for a buyer within the Counter-Unmanned Plane Techniques (C-UAS) sector.

Taking down drones

This new product will match into the Framework 16 GPU module kind issue, leading to what Henkel describes as a “nice, fully enclosed solution with lots of processing power and a very high-bandwidth link between the radio and the host system.”

In a later submit, Henkel defined he must “customize the heat pipe and heat spreader for the Framework Laptop SDR module in order to cool both the FPGA and DSP” as a result of the reference implementation is “designed for only a single heat source.” Fortuitously, he studies, “the form factor provides enough Z-height for these kinds of modifications.”

Though Henkel doesn’t go into element about what the SDR module will likely be used for or the way it will work, being within the C-UAS sector, we will assume it should detect, monitor, and probably neutralize unauthorized or hostile drones. This type of know-how is usually utilized in navy, regulation enforcement, and safety purposes, but it surely’s the primary time we’ve seen it being built-in so neatly right into a laptop computer on this approach.

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