Introduction

Enclustra played a key role in the development of Narda’s SignalShark, a high-performance real-time monitoring receiver and RF direction-finding system designed to tackle modern spectrum monitoring and interference detection challenges.

The device features a real-time signal processing path, including elaborate filtering, down-conversion, Fourier-transform and analysis of important properties of the resulting signal. As an additional feature, signals can be demodulated in real-time, making it a powerful tool for professionals in wireless communication, IoT development, and RF analysis.

Customer Challenge

SignalShark needed to achieve high performance while maintaining low power consumption - a crucial requirement for a battery-powered, compact, and portable design. The challenge was to balance computational power with energy efficiency without compromising real-time processing capabilities.

The Solution

To meet the requirements, Enclustra implemented the entiresignal processing path using a low-cost, low-power AMD Artix™ 7 device, specifically the Mars AX3 module. This approach provided significant advantages:

• 8 kHz – 8 GHz frequency range for wideband signal detection
• 40 MHz real-time instantaneous bandwidth to capture even fleeting signals
• Extremely high sweep rate of up to 50 GHz/s
• High dynamic range (HDR) receiver, ensuring reliable signal detection in dense RF environments
• Fully automatic direction-finding with Narda’s ADFA antennas
• Portable and rugged design, suitable for both lab and field applications

By leveraging bit-true models before starting the FPGA implementation, Enclustra enabled Narda to evaluate system performance in advance.

The modular VHDL codebase, along with existing unit and top-level regression tests, simplified the integration of additional features, ensuring a robust and reliable solution.

The Result

Narda’s SignalShark is now an industry-leading spectrum analyzer, optimized for precision, speed, and efficiency. The collaboration between Enclustra and Narda resulted in a compact, high-performance device that excels in real-time spectrum monitoring and interference detection

«One of the main parts in the digital signal processing path of Narda’s Real-Time Spectrum Analyzer SignalShark has been developed and implemented by Enclustra. We appreciated Enclustra's professional approach, thorough documentation and deep understanding of signal processing algorithms as well as FPGA technology.»
 - Eduard Staller, Director R&D, Narda Safety Test Solutions GmbH.

According to Dario Galante, Manager, BU Design Services at Enclustra, this project showcases how Enclustra’s Design Services team helps clients find the perfect balance between performance and power efficiency.

With cutting-edge FPGA-based signal processing, SignalShark is redefining how RF professionals monitor, analyze, and locate interference sources in demanding environments.

The SignalShark was officially demonstrated at Embedded World 2025 in Nuremberg, Germany.