Relies on some new libbladeRF API calls. Has been tested
with gqrx on new bladeRF hardware (as a source) but have
not yet tested sink, or existing bladeRF hardware.
Since firmware 2016.01-rc1 bladeRF has the ability to lock to an
external reference as well as produce arbitrary frequency signal
(25 MHz here) on its clock output.
Use gr-osmosdr source with the following arguments to produce 25
MHz on the SMB connector:
osmocom_fft -a bladerf,smb=25e6
smb=25e6
To lock the bladeRF itself to an external GPSDO reference, use
additional arguments tamer=external for 10MHz or tamer=external_1pps for
1PPS GPSDO signals.
osmocom_fft -a bladerf,smb=25e6,tamer=external
tamer={internal,external_1pps,external}
The described method requires https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF/releases/
tag/2016.01-rc1
Carefully *read the instructions for external reference locking*
(especially max allowed voltage levels) on Nuand's blog https://
www.nuand.com/blog/2016-01-rc1-release/
When running with metadata mode enabled, the bladerf_sink supports 'tx_sob' and
'tx_eob' stream tags. Anything not in the burst will be dropped, and a warning
will be printed.
Use of the bladeRF metadata can be enabled via a 'enable_metadata'
device argument. If running full-duplex, this must be provided to both
the source and the sink. This does not currently any additional features
to the sink.
Common parameter handling has been moved into bladerf_common::init().
The buflen parameter is now in units of samples, not bytes. This
deviates from the other gr-osmosdr items. However, with the requirement
that buffers be in multiples of 1024 samples, this makes specifying this
parameter a bit easier. The user shouldn't need to know we're operating
on SC16Q12 values under the hood, and have to calculate accordingly.
To avoid confusion when both a bladeRF source and sink are in a flow
graph a [bladeRF source/sink] prefix has been added to output. Error
number have been replaced with bladeRF string representations of these
error values.
Firmware flashing has been removed. The bladeRF-cli or bladeRF-flash
tools are the preferred route for firmware upgrades.
The gr_complex FIFO is no longer used on the TX side, so it doesn't
really make sense to have it in bladerf_common. The associated items
have been moved into bladerf_source, and some renaming has been done in
bladerf_sink to tidy up.
Pending further performance tests of the bladerf_source, the _fifo
member (boost::circular_buffer) may need to be replaced.
Removed the use of an intermediate sample FIFO in the sink
implementation. Note the the FIFO has not been moved out of
bladerf_common --> bladerf_source_c in this commit.
work() now handles converting samples from complex to SC16_Q12, and filling
"transmit-ready" buffers. The callbacks are now only responsible for
marking the provided buffer free, and returning the next buffer.
It appears that a small deadlock issues remains in this changest, which
can be induced by:
1: Using a small sample rate (160Khz)
2: Switching back and forth between sinusoid <-> GSM burst
In this case, it appears that work() is blocked waiting for a buffer to
become free. More investigation here is required...
This is based on the original work (https://github.com/Nuand/gr-osmosdr)
done by folks at nuand LLC for the gr3.6 branch of gr-osmosdr.
The following modifications have been done in this commit:
* port to gr-osmosdr master codebase (gr3.7)
* moved shared properties to bladerf_common
* added & verified IF filter bandwidth setters
* set LMS6002D registers with values taken from FAQ 5.27
* print device information (serial/versions) on startup
* added fpga= and fw= device arguments to program MCU/FPGA
* added bladerf=# dev. arg. to select a specific bladeRF
* grc gain field controls RF path VGA for RX/TX
* grc BB gain field controls BB path VGA for RX/TX
Usage example:
osmocom_fft -a "bladerf,fpga=/tmp/hostedx115.rbf"
The following RX named gain stages are available:
LNA: 0 to 6 dB, in 3dB steps
VGA1: 5 to 30 dB, in 1dB steps; nonlinear mapping done inside the lib
VGA2: 0 to 60 dB, in 3dB steps; not recommended to be used above 30dB
The following TX named gain stages are available:
VGA1: -35 to -4 dB, in 1dB steps, BB side
VGA2: 0 to 25 dB, in 1dB steps, RF side
Thanks a lot to the team of nuand LLC for this major contribution.
Ryan Tucker
Dimitri Stolnikov