Squashed commit of rtucker-bladerf-hierarchy branch:
commit 35442da7d390919f6f9cbae3f69d6dc32ca595bb
through
commit 9026136cfdbc7116f55af18cb06d1731330fa13f
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/
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.
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.
Clayton Smith
Rey Tucker
Dimitri Stolnikov