SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2026--
Altera Corporation, the world’s largest pure-play FPGA solutions provider, today announced collaborations with Mercury Systems and VadaTech to expand its Agilex® 9 FPGA ecosystem with new COTS-based solutions for next-generation defense platforms. By combining Agilex 9 medium-band Direct RF FPGAs with industry-standard, open-architecture systems, the companies are helping defense customers accelerate time to market, reduce SWaP, and enable more flexible, software-defined RF capabilities in mission-critical systems.
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Through this collaboration, Altera is supporting solutions based on open architectures, including SOSA-aligned OpenVPX platforms, delivering greater interoperability and flexibility. These field-proven systems help reduce integration risk and accelerate deployment while enabling rapid adaptability to adjacent mission requirements. With its medium-band direct RF capabilities, Agilex 9 provides an optimal balance of bandwidth, performance, and power efficiency, making it well suited for next-generation software-defined RF systems across a range of defense applications.
Craig Goodwin, Senior Director of Mercury’s Mixed Signal line of business, said, “Integrating medium-band converters into a high-performance FPGA provides the SWaP benefits needed for our boards to deliver mission-critical processing to the edge. Altera’s ready-to-use hardware and software tools enabled faster evaluation of the product’s capabilities and helps us design solutions for our customers more quickly. We selected the Agilex 9 medium-band Direct RF FPGA because of its best-in-class data converters and compute resources for this RF spectrum, with up to 10x SWaP advantage versus other FPGA options.”
Saeed Karamooz, CEO at VadaTech, added, “Agilex 9 Direct RF Series FPGAs enable high-performance, standards-based VPX solutions that integrate seamlessly within larger system architectures. Working alongside Altera, we help customers accelerate integration and bring advanced RF capabilities into deployed platforms.”
Agilex 9 Direct RF Series FPGAs integrate RF, compute and high-speed transceivers into a unified, programmable architecture, enabling real-time processing of large volumes of RF data at the edge for applications such as adaptive radar, cognitive electronic warfare, and secure, software-defined communications. This high level of integration supports the shift toward distributed, multi-domain operations requiring rapid decision-making and adaptability, while delivering the bandwidth, performance, and I/O needed for the most demanding embedded applications.
“Defense systems must process more data, across wider bandwidths, with greater flexibility,” said John Sotir, General Manager of Altera’s Military, Aerospace, and Government business unit. “Our work with Mercury Systems and VadaTech reinforces Altera’s commitment to advancing Direct RF technology and enabling more agile, scalable, and software-defined defense systems.”
Availability
Agilex 9 Direct RF AGRM027 devices, along with development kits, Mercury Systems DRF5660 boards,VadaTech VPX540 boards and supporting software are available for order today. For more information, visit Altera’s Agilex 9 Direct RF-Series product page or contact your local Altera representative: https://www.altera.com/contact.html
About Altera
Altera is a leading supplier of programmable hardware, software, and development tools that empower designers of electronic systems to innovate, differentiate, and succeed in their markets. With a broad portfolio of industry-leading FPGAs, SoCs, and design solutions, Altera enables customers to achieve faster time-to-market and unmatched performance in applications spanning industrial automation, audio/video, robotics, aerospace, defense, data centers, telecommunications, edge AI, and more. For more information, visit www.altera.com.
Altera accelerates defense and aerospace innovation with the Agilex 9 FPGA Direct RF-Series, designed for high-performance RF signal processing at the edge.
NEUILLY-SUR-MARNE, France (AP) — Therapy donkeys are helping patients with mental health conditions recover in a psychiatric hospital unit outside Paris that's unique to France.
The 19th century farm buildings and wooded surroundings are a haven within the Ville-Evrard hospital complex in Neuilly-sur-Marne. On Friday, patients took the five donkeys for a walk and cared for them. Some confidently lifted their hooves to remove dirt. Many ended the session with a hug.
The couple behind the program say more scientific evaluation is needed of animal therapy, which is practiced around the world. They would like it to be formally recognized by the psychiatric community as a complementary form of care, citing their experience with patients and caregivers.
“It brings relief,'' said Nathalie, a 60-year-old patient. ‘’You stop thinking about everything else." She and others were identified by their first names only in accordance with French medical privacy rules.
Patients attend the sessions free of charge as part of their treatment, which is funded by France’s public health system.
Participants are usually paired with a donkey — Nono, Pitou, Oscar, Manolo or Malraux. Over time, they become familiar with each other’s personalities.
Audrey Seffar, a nurse at the animal therapy unit, said Nathalie's progress after only a few sessions was significant.
“At first, she wouldn’t get out of the cart (provided for people with physical difficulties). But little by little, with encouragement, she did," Seffar said. "The animal serves as a mediator. It’s such an extraordinary one that today she was able to leave the cart and stand beside her donkey."
Another patient, Jérôme, 52, said the program helps reduce his loneliness.
“Talking with people, taking part in activities I wouldn’t normally do, it helps me in my daily life,” he said.
He added, “It helps you break away from the routine of treatment and medication. Staying at home isn’t good for me.”
The first donkeys arrived at Ville-Evrard hospital in 2016 as part of a project launched by Ermelinda and François Hadey.
Ermelinda, a nurse specializing in psychiatry, strongly believed in animal therapy benefits and thought donkeys, known for their calm and social nature, would be perfect. Her husband learned how to train donkeys for therapy work. Some of the animals were adopted through shelters after experiencing neglect or mistreatment.
“A donkey is very intelligent. It understands things very quickly, but you have to explain slowly,” François Hadey said. “Donkeys are calm, serene animals that are generally close to people. Once they’re involved in these interactions, they connect very well with patients. They’re emotional sponges.”
Since 2022, the animal therapy program has had official status as a healthcare unit in the hospital, allowing it to employ three full-time nurses. Volunteers with a nonprofit group help care for the animals.
The program has expanded to include guinea pigs, chickens, doves, goats, turtles and rabbits. Sessions are tailored to people’s needs and preferences, and smaller animals can be brought to hospital rooms.
Alicia Fabi, an 18-year-old nursing student, said the activity gives patients a chance to leave the hospital environment.
“Every time we come back from the activity, they say they feel good, calm and relaxed, and that they enjoyed the outing. That’s really positive,” she said.
Walking together also allows patients and health workers to develop a deeper relationship.
“We talk about many different things, their illness, their lives and just about everything else. We don’t focus only on the illness because we don’t want them dwelling on it all the time,” Fabi said.
Health workers say the sessions are designed as therapeutic interventions for living with anxiety, depression, autism, schizophrenia or other conditions. Staff said they can help improve emotional regulation, communication, social interaction and self-esteem.
“Everything we do with the animals allows us to work with the patient,” Ermelinda Hadey said. “We work on feeding the animal, which helps us address the patient’s own eating habits. We work on the animal’s hygiene, and by mirror effect, we work on the patient’s hygiene as well.”
Many patients take intensive treatments, including antipsychotic medications or sedatives, which can make it difficult to find the motivation to participate in activities, she said. That’s where the relationship to donkeys and other animals play a role, she stressed.
“It does not replace a doctor or a medical prescription, but it can help patients regain confidence and a sense of self-worth," Hadey said.
To get animal therapy formally recognized, she said, ‘’We need research. We have plenty of accounts from patients ... Caregivers who accompany them see the benefits every day as well. But doctors have so many other responsibilities that they don’t necessarily witness it firsthand."
At the end of Friday’s session, as patients chatted, a nurse summed up the program’s appeal: “Donkeys are my best colleagues.”
Patients with mental health conditions, assisted by staff members and volunteers, participate in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Patients with mental health conditions assisted by staff members and volunteers participate in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
A patient with mental health conditions participates in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
A patient with mental health conditions participates in a therapy session involving donkeys at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
A patient with mental health conditions cleans a donkey's eyes during the animal therapy session at a psychiatric hospital in Neuilly-sur-Marne, in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Friday, May 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
