Simple Radio Example with USRP X310 on ORBIT Sandbox 2

Description

This tutorial shows a simple radio example - transmit a sine wave using an USRP X310 on ORBIT SB2, view it on another X310.

Set Up

Make a reservation on the ​Orbit Scheduler for using SB2.

Prepare the nodes

• Load baseline-sdr.ndz on nodes 1-1 and 1-2.

  root@console.sb2:~$ omf load -i baseline-sdr.ndz -t node1-1,node1-2
  

• Once imaging is done, turn the nodes on and log in

  root@console.sb2:~$ omf tell -a on -t node1-1,node1-2
  root@console.sb2:~$ ssh root@node1-1
  root@console.sb2:~$ ssh root@node1-2
  

Prepare network setup for USRP access

Each X310 on SB2 is connected to its respective node through a 10G interface adapter installed in Port 1 of the USRP. In this configuration, the X310 will have a default IP address of 192.168.40.2 (see ​X310 User Manual). To setup network connectivity, make sure DATA2 interface is configured with an address in the 192.168.40.0/24 subnet.

root@node1-1:~# ifconfig DATA2 192.168.40.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 mtu 9000
root@node1-1:~# ifconfig -a
CTRL: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 10.12.1.1  netmask 255.255.0.0  broadcast 10.12.255.255
        inet6 fe80::728b:cdff:febc:844a  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 70:8b:cd:bc:84:4a  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 1048  bytes 91762 (91.7 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 559  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 335  bytes 38105 (38.1 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 20  memory 0xf7d00000-f7d20000

DATA1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet6 fe80::728b:cdff:febc:844b  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 70:8b:cd:bc:84:4b  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 625  bytes 56232 (56.2 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 559  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 38  bytes 9320 (9.3 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

DATA2: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 9000
        inet 192.168.40.1  netmask 255.255.0.0  broadcast 192.168.255.255
        inet6 fe80::f652:14ff:fe83:b720  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether f4:52:14:83:b7:20  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 75  bytes 4500 (4.5 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 43  bytes 10530 (10.5 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 210  bytes 17093 (17.0 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 210  bytes 17093 (17.0 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

With this setup, each node should be able to access the X310 connected to it. Check USRP access with uhd_find_devices and uhd_usrp_probe commands.

root@node1-1:~# uhd_find_devices
[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 7.5.0; Boost_106501; UHD_3.15.0.0-release
--------------------------------------------------
-- UHD Device 0
--------------------------------------------------
Device Address:
    serial: 31B8F3F
    addr: 192.168.40.2
    fpga: XG
    name: sdr1-1
    product: X310
    type: x300

root@node1-1:~# uhd_usrp_probe
[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 5.4.0 20160609; Boost_105800; UHD_3.13.0.HEAD-0-g5b236772
[INFO] [X300] X300 initialization sequence...
[INFO] [X300] Maximum frame size: 8000 bytes.
[INFO] [X300] Radio 1x clock: 200 MHz
[INFO] [0/DmaFIFO_0] Initializing block control (NOC ID: 0xF1F0D00000000000)
[ERROR] [0/DmaFIFO_0] Major compat number mismatch for noc_shell: Expecting 2, got 5.
Error: RuntimeError: FPGA component `noc_shell' is revision 5 and UHD supports revision 2. Please either upgrade UHD  (recommended) or downgrade the FPGA image.

If uhd_usrp_probe reports firmware incompatibility, please run uhd_images_downloader to make sure compatible firmware images are available, and then load a new image on to the USRP.

root@node1-1:/usr/local/share/uhd# uhd_image_loader --args="type=x300,fpga=HG"
[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 5.4.0 20160609; Boost_105800; UHD_3.13.0.HEAD-0-g5b236772
Unit: USRP X310 (30F110A, 192.168.40.2)
FPGA Image: /usr/local/share/uhd/images/usrp_x310_fpga_HG.bit
-- Initializing FPGA loading...successful.
-- Loading HG FPGA image: 100% (121/121 sectors)
-- Finalizing image load...successful.
Power-cycle the USRP X310 to use the new image.

Power cycle the USRP - exit the node and use omf commands to power-cycle the node, which in turn power-cycles the USRP. Turn the nodes off.

prasanthi@console.sb2:~$ omf tell -a offh -t node1-1,node1-2

Once the off command is complete, wait for a minute and turn them back on.

prasanthi@console.sb2:~$ omf tell -a on -t node1-1,node1-2

Log on to the nodes, setup networking as described above and test USRP access

root@node1-1:~# ifconfig eth2 192.168.40.1 mtu 9000
root@node1-1:~# uhd_usrp_probe
.
.
.
|   |    /
|   |   |       RFNoC blocks on this device:
|   |   |
|   |   |   * DmaFIFO_0
|   |   |   * Radio_0
|   |   |   * Radio_1
|   |   |   * DDC_0
|   |   |   * DDC_1
|   |   |   * DUC_0
|   |   |   * DUC_1

Run the experiment

Once both the USRPs are ready and accessible, run the experiment.

• Send a waveform from the TX node, node1-1

  root@node1-1:~/uhd/host/build/examples# ./tx_waveforms --freq 2e9 --rate 10e6 --wave-type SINE --wave-freq 1e6 --gain 0
  

• Run a spectrum analyzer application on the RX node, node1-2, to view the waveform

  root@node1-2:~/uhd/host/build/examples# ./rx_ascii_art_dft --freq 2e9 --rate 10e6 --gain 0 --ref-lvl -40