A case for bladeRF and DesignSpark Mechanical

A case for DesignSparc Mechanical

The bladeRF-board was bought for GNSS-experiments. So I need to connect a GPS-antenna. The one I have is an active antenna that needs power. I built a small circuit to feed the antenna using phantom power. From two small pieces of PCB I made a stand and soldered them on a PCB-ground plate. This became the basis of my bladeRF-case.

I did some drawing with DesignSpark Mechanical and was looking for some serious work to develop skills: a case was born...

First sketch

The GPS-antenna is a Unictron GPS 02 and needs 2.4 .. 5,5 V. At 5 V it draws about 20 mA current. Not too much for the 5 V regulator in the bladeRF-board. I placed a jumper  on J70 and soldered a wire to get the needed 5 V for the antenna-supply. 

In UHF the golden rule is: the smaller the better. I decided to use SMD only. From my (big) SMD-junkbox I found the needed parts. The values are not calculated: I just more or less took what I found in the junkbox...

In retrospect the value of 39 ohm for the series resistor might become a problem. The power dissipation I*I*R = 20 * 20 * 39 = 15.6 mW. This SMD is very small, about 1*2 mm. I have no idea how much it can dissipate.

In case of a short cut the dissipation will be U*U/R = 5 *5 / 39 = 0,6 W. The resistor will act as a fuse in that case!

The RX-enty of the bladeRF is protected by two anti-parallel-diodes, hence the 820 pF capacitor to the RX-entry.

Connectors

I bought an SMB socket and a socket for the GPS-antenna, I think is was MMX with a diameter of 3.2 mm. Quite expensive: 6 + 10 euro at my local electronics-store. I needed some support for this sockets so decided to use a piece of PCB. Drilling an soldering of PCB makes a nice and sturdy support.

In the picture above you see a PCB ground plane and the support stand for the connectors. In the air between the two connectors you see the SMD- 820 pF capacitor. The red wire is the +5 V wire connecting to a jumper on J70 nof the bladeRF.

In the upper right you see that the bolt that holds the bladeRF is soldered to the base-plate.

Warning

For the sockets you need to drill a hole of 6.5 mm. I was so stupid to hold the small piece of PCB with my fingers firmly pressed to the table while drilling the 6.5 mm hole in the PCB. You might guess what happened: the PCB will be lifted up by the drill and will turn around the drill. With your fingers so close-by you get a nice long (15 mm) wound and rather deep too.

OK, not love and understanding this time, but my wife helped me close the wound with a nice plaster. Yes, I am 65 and stupid too!

The SMD-circuit in 3D

I used DesignSpark Mechanical to draw the circuit (just for fun). 

The same, but now in real-life:

The case

The case is a lower case and an upper case (my name, by the way is Kees which is pronounced like case, just in case). The lower case is a piece of PCB. At Elektor's shop I bought a "project-case". This is not much more than two pieces of plastic with some hex-stands. I used one plate of the project-case as the top plate. 

The bladeRF board is mounted with 4 bolts 2.5 mm. The bolts are soldered on the bottom-plate. The holes in the bladeRF-board are not 3 mm, just slightly smaller. That is a pity because M3 is much stronger than M2.5 that I had to use.

Epilogue

It was nice, after a long time of only programming, to find myself with a soldering iron again. It was great fun to solder the tiny SMD-parts, this time without a microscope. I found spectacles with very thick glasses +3. Sometimes I wear two spectacles for a better view (I am not joking, try it yourself!).

PCB is a very good material to make a housing, a case, for your circuits.

DesignSpark Mechanical is a free tool. Download it free and use it. I thought it is only a package to use a pre defined library of connectors from RS, but it is more, much more than that!

Next time, my ramblings with DesignSpark Mechanics or my struggling with getting GNSS-bladeRF-samples into a file and processing that file with Python.

Feel free to comment if something is not soo obvious!

The Windows installer for bladeRF-software

Nuand has new installer software for Windows

In the blog at nuand.com they write:

There is now a Windows based installer for the bladeRF that will install all of the relevant drivers, user mode utilities, and FX3/FPGA images. The file can be directly downloaded from http://nuand.com/downloads/bladerf_win_installer.exe .

OK, download this installer and open it

A warning, but what else can I do than execute this file?

Yes! There is bladeRF CLI in the Windows Start Menu

What about USB3?

The bladeRF-board was connected all the time at anUSB2-port. Now the LEDs stopped blinking. The installation did something to it. The bladeRF-board was connected all the time at a USB2-port. I’ll unplug it and reconnect to a USB3-port and start bladeRF CLI

Oeps, the board is invisible for bladeRF-cli when connected at a USB3-port!
Reconnect to a USB2-port and restart bladeRF CLI

Get the latest image for the FPGA

I have to get the latest.img from http://nuand.com/fx3/latest.img
C:\bladeRF-master_new might be a good place for it.
I’ll put it on C:\Program Files (x86)\bladeRF

A lot of errors, I seem to have to define a variable

I get a lot of errors and I have to define an environment variable in Windows.
So, in the configuration screen of the start menu of Windows I select advanced and environment-variables.

Defined BLADERF_SKIP_FW_SIZE_CHECK = 0

Now it seems to be OK

Connect an antenna and try to get samples into a file

Oh boy, this is interesting. It is late in the night already but I take the antenna from my Kenwood  TH-F7, it has the same connector as the bladeRF-board, and connect it to RX.

I created a file with samples. What is in this comma-separated-values file?

File  C:/temp/new282810M.csv reads:

…
89, 81
88, 80
92, 76
84, 76
90, 77
88, 76
92, 77
90, 84
85, 77
92, 80
88, 81
86, 75
92, 73
86, 82
91, 76
89, 81
91, 77
92, 77
88, 81
86, 73
88, 77
86, 77
90, 77
90, 77
91, 77
88, 77
91, 79

…

So, not so interesting. I’d expect more variation in the value of the numbers…

Epilogue

OK, installation of the Windows software with the installer from Nuand is a breeze! Thanks a lot for all their efforts. They keep doing a great job.

After installation I got error-messages with a clue: define BLADERF_SKIP_FW_SIZE_CHECK = 0

It seems I did only get some noise in the file with the samples. I'll experiment with some parameters like the gain, bandwidth, frequency and samplerate. I have a signal-generator that can put a signal up to 1 GHz on the antenna. With 100 W output-power to the RX-input of the bladeRF-board I should be able to get some smoke into and out of my file!

(dont try this with 100 W, some microVolts should be enough :>))

Architecture of the bladeRF-software

Thoughts

Before I bought the bladeRF-board I decided to make a program coded in python to control my bladeRF-board from the laptop. Furthermore I wanted to do the time-consuming calculations on the FPGA coded in VHDL. Quite challenging. Now I understand more of the bladeRF. There is a very good program bladeRF-cli that can do almost everything I want. There is C-coded program in the FX3-USB-chip. And there seems to be a NIOS-processor soft-programmed in the FPGA. That can be programmed in C too?

Goal

To understand/learn a device I define a goal and try to achieve that goal:

 "Try to code a python-program that gets some info from the bladeRF, eg. the bandwidth".

 Investigating the bladeRF-software

On my laptop the software is at C:\bladeRF-master.

Have a look at the source bladeRF.cli

The source for the basic funtions of bladeRF seems to be at

C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\src

Doc for the libusb-API

I was desperately looking for the python-libusb-API on the internet. I did not find it!! However, the doc is in python itself, just type “help(usb)” and you get:

Help on package usb:

NAME
    usb - PyUSB - Easy USB access in Python

FILE
    c:\python27\lib\site-packages\usb\__init__.py

DESCRIPTION
    This package exports the following modules and subpackages:
    
        core - the main USB implementation
        legacy - the compatibility layer with 0.x version
        backend - the support for backend implementations.
    
    Since version 1.0, main PyUSB implementation lives in the 'usb.core'
    module. New applications are encouraged to use it.

PACKAGE CONTENTS
    _debug
    _interop
    backend (package)
    control
    core
    legacy
    util

DATA
    __all__ = ['legacy', 'core', 'backend', 'util']
    __author__ = 'Wander Lairson Costa'

AUTHOR
    Wander Lairson Costa


>>> Help(usb.core):

Help on module usb.core in usb:
NAME
    usb.core - usb.core - Core USB features.

FILE
    c:\python27\lib\site-packages\usb\core.py

DESCRIPTION
    This module exports:
    
    Device - a class representing a USB device.
    Configuration - a class representing a configuration descriptor.
    Interface - a class representing an interface descriptor.
    Endpoint - a class representing an endpoint descriptor.
    find() - a function to find USB devices.

CLASSES
    __builtin__.object
        Configuration
        Device
        Endpoint
        Interface

Etcetera, so the doc is in python!!

My goal again

In order to set the bandwidth to 12.345 MHz what to program in python? After that, read back the bandwidth from bladeRF-cli.

bladeRF-software

C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\src contains bladerf.c:

…. int bladerf_get_bandwidth(struct bladerf *dev, bladerf_module module, unsigned int *bandwidth ) { /* TODO: Make return values for lms call and return it for failure */ lms_bw_t bw = lms_get_bandwidth( dev, module ); *bandwidth = lms_bw2uint(bw); return 0; } ….

C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\src contains lms.c:

… // Get the bandwidth for the selected module lms_bw_t lms_get_bandwidth(struct bladerf *dev, bladerf_module mod) { uint8_t data; uint8_t reg = (mod == BLADERF_MODULE_RX) ? 0x54 : 0x34; bladerf_lms_read(dev, reg, &data); data &= 0x3c; data >>= 2; return (lms_bw_t)data; } …

So, search for bladerf_lms_read.

C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\include

libbladeRF.h contains:

/** * Read a LMS register * * @param dev Device handle * @param address LMS register offset * @param val Pointer to variable the data should be read into * * @return 0 on success, value from \ref RETCODES list on failure */ API_EXPORT int bladerf_lms_read(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t address, uint8_t *val); /** * Write a LMS register * * @param dev Device handle * @param address LMS register offset * @param val Data to write to register * * @return 0 on success, value from \ref RETCODES list on failure */ API_EXPORT int bladerf_lms_write(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t address, uint8_t val);

What is API_EXPORT? a macro?

… /** Marks an API routine to be made visible to dynamic loader */ #if defined _WIN32 || defined _CYGWIN__ # ifdef __GNUC__ # define API_EXPORT __attribute__ ((dllexport)) # else # define API_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport) # endif #else # define API_EXPORT __attribute__ ((visibility ("default"))) #endif …

Search for lms_read and lms_write

C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\src
bladerf.c

/*------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * LMS register read / write functions *----------------------------------------------------------------------------*/ int bladerf_lms_read(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t address, uint8_t *val) { return dev->fn->lms_read(dev,address,val); } int bladerf_lms_write(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t address, uint8_t val) { return dev->fn->lms_write(dev,address,val); } C:\bladeRF-master\host\libraries\libbladeRF\src bladerf_priv.h /* LMS6002D accessors */ int (*lms_write)(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t addr, uint8_t data); int (*lms_read)(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t addr, uint8_t *data);

Where are lms_read and lms_write defined?

C:\bladeRF-master\hdl\fpga\ip\altera\nios_system\software\lms_spi_controller hello_world_small.c

#define LMS_READ 0 #define LMS_WRITE (1<<7 data-blogger-escaped-access="" data-blogger-escaped-address="" data-blogger-escaped-an="" data-blogger-escaped-backend="(struct" data-blogger-escaped-bladerf-master="" data-blogger-escaped-bladerf="" data-blogger-escaped-bladerf_linux="" data-blogger-escaped-c:="" data-blogger-escaped-definition="" data-blogger-escaped-dev-="" data-blogger-escaped-dev="" data-blogger-escaped-finally="" data-blogger-escaped-for="" data-blogger-escaped-fpga="" data-blogger-escaped-host="" data-blogger-escaped-in="" data-blogger-escaped-int="" data-blogger-escaped-ioctl="" data-blogger-escaped-is="" data-blogger-escaped-it="" data-blogger-escaped-libbladerf="" data-blogger-escaped-libraries="" data-blogger-escaped-linux.c="" data-blogger-escaped-linux_lms_read="" data-blogger-escaped-lms="" data-blogger-escaped-lms_read:="" data-blogger-escaped-nios="" data-blogger-escaped-processor="" data-blogger-escaped-register="" data-blogger-escaped-ret="" data-blogger-escaped-runs="" data-blogger-escaped-software="" data-blogger-escaped-src="" data-blogger-escaped-static="" data-blogger-escaped-struct="" data-blogger-escaped-that="" data-blogger-escaped-the="" data-blogger-escaped-this="" data-blogger-escaped-uart_cmd="" data-blogger-escaped-uc="" data-blogger-escaped-uint8_t="" data-blogger-escaped-val="" data-blogger-escaped-virtual="">backend; address &= 0x7f; uc.addr = address; uc.data = 0xff; ret = ioctl(backend->fd, BLADE_LMS_READ, &uc); *val = uc.data; return ret; } static int linux_lms_write(struct bladerf *dev, uint8_t address, uint8_t val) { struct uart_cmd uc; struct bladerf_linux *backend = (struct bladerf_linux *)dev->backend; uc.addr = address; uc.data = val; return ioctl(backend->fd, BLADE_LMS_WRITE, &uc); }

C:\bladeRF-master\firmware_common
bladeRF.h

#define BLADE_LMS_WRITE _IOR(BLADERF_IOCTL_BASE, 20, unsigned int) #define BLADE_LMS_READ _IOR(BLADERF_IOCTL_BASE, 21, unsigned int)

It looks like BLADE_LMS_WRITE and BLADE_LMS_READ are defined here. In the interface to the USB-FX3-chip!! IOR = Input Output Request??

IOR/IOCTL

http://h30097.www3.hp.com/docs/dev_doc/DOCUMENTATION/HTML/DDK_R2/DOCS/HTML/MAN/MAN9/0028___R.HTM

NAME _IOR - General: Defines ioctl types for device control operations SYNOPSIS #include _IOR( g, n, t ); ARGUMENTS g Specifies the group that this ioctl type belongs to. This argument must be a nonnegative 8-bit number (that is, in the range 0-255 inclusive). You can pass the value zero (0) to this argument if a new ioctl group is not being defined. n Specifies the specific ioctl type within the group. These types should be sequentially assigned numbers for each different ioctl operation the driver supports. This argument must be a nonnegative 8-bit number (that is, in the range 0-255 inclusive). t Specifies the data structure size, which cannot exceed 128 bytes. You use this argument to size how much data is passed from the kernel back to the user application. The kernel determines the number of bytes to transfer by passing the value in this argument to the sizeof operator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioctl

The ioctl system call first appeared in Version 7 of Unix under that name. It is supported by most Unix and Unix-like systems, including Linux and Mac OS X, though the available request 

codes differ from system to system. Microsoft Windows provides a similar function, named "DeviceIoControl", in its Win32 API.

…

For example, on Win32 systems, ioctl calls can communicate with USB devices, or they can discover drive-geometry information for attached storage-devices.

…

http://docs.python.org/2/library/fcntl.html

35.10. fcntl — The fcntl() and ioctl() system calls¶
This module performs file control and I/O control on file descriptors. It is an interface to the fcntl() and ioctl() Unix routines.

All functions in this module take a file descriptor fd as their first argument. This can be an integer file descriptor, such as returned by sys.stdin.fileno(), or a file object, such as 

sys.stdin itself, which provides a fileno() which returns a genuine file descriptor.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/libusb-win32/wiki/libusbwin32_documentation

http://tali.admingilde.org/linux-docbook/usb/ch07s06.html

The ioctl() Requests
Chapter 7. The USB Filesystem (usbfs)  
The ioctl() Requests

http://www.ioctls.net/

IOCTL_USB_DIAGNOSTIC_MODE_OFF 0x220404 inc\api\usbioctl.h 
IOCTL_USB_DIAGNOSTIC_MODE_ON
0x220400 inc\api\usbioctl.h TheIOCTL_USB_DIAGNOSTIC_MODE_ONI/O control has been deprecated. Do not use.


...

IOCTL_USB_HCD_GET_STATS_1
0x2203fc inc\api\usbioctl.h TheIOCTL_USB_HCD_GET_STATS_1IOCTL has been deprecated. Do not use.
IOCTL_USB_HCD_GET_STATS_2
0x220428 inc\api\usbioctl.h TheIOCTL_USB_HCD_GET_STATS_2IOCTL has been deprecated. Do not use.
IOCTL_USB_HUB_CYCLE_PORT
0x220444 inc\api\usbioctl.h TheIOCTL_USB_HUB_CYCLE_PORTI/O control request power cycles the port that is associated with the PDO that receives the request.
IOCTL_USB_RESET_HUB
0x22044c inc\api\usbioctl.h TheIOCTL_USB_RESET_HUBIOCTL is used by the USB driver stack. Do not use.
IOCTL_USB_USER_REQUEST
0x220438 inc\api\usbuser.h Do not use this request.

Conclusion

I have to dig further in IOCTL and have a look at/in PYUSB. Somehow these two worlds should meet. I am sure the final Python-program to set the bandwidth will be remarkably simple! But I don't yet know how to do it. If there is any reader who knows the answer? Make a comment and I will be (almost eternally) grateful!

This is art. An artist put some stuff on a pillar,

paint it in nice bright colors and that's it! In 

Spain, Zarautz, in December 2012.

BladeRF-python problem "ValueError: No backend available" solved and... python has no problems with bladeRF in USB3

Summary

I want to access the bladeRF-board from a Python-program. The simple program below returns an error. By changing the driver from libusbk to libusb-win32 I solved the problem and now I can also access the bladeRF-board from python using an USB3-port! However, the program bladeRF-cli still cannot access the bladeRF-board when plugged in an USB3-port.

Warning: somehow I screw up the layout, I did copy/paste from Word. I have to find out a better way.... Sorry

Running a simple python-program

The following simple python-program:

import usb.backend
import usb.legacy
import usb.core
import usb.util
import usb.control

# find our device
dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=0x1D50, idProduct=0x6066)

# was it found?
if dev is None:
    raise ValueError('Device not found')
else:
    print ('Device found')

    print 'len =', dev.bLength
    print 'bNumConfigurations =', dev.bNumConfigurations
    print 'bDeviceClass =', dev.bDeviceClass
    num = dev.idVendor
    num = "%#x"%(num)
    print 'idVendor = ', num
    #print 'idVendor = ', dev.idVendor
    num = dev.idProduct
    num = "%#x"%(num)
    print 'idProduct = ', num
    #print 'idProduct = ', dev.idProduct
    print 'bcdUSB = ', dev.bcdUSB
    print 'bcdDevice = ', dev.bcdDevice
    print 'iManufacturer = ', dev.iManufacturer
   
# set the active configuration. With no arguments, the first
# configuration will be the active one
dev.set_configuration()
#dev.set_configuration(0)

Output:

Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 10 2012, 23:31:26) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information.
>>> ================================ RESTART ================================
>>>

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\lonneke\python\bladeRF01.py", line 9, in 
    dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=0x1D50, idProduct=0x6066)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\usb\core.py", line 846, in find
    raise ValueError('No backend available')
ValueError: No backend available
>>> 

Trying to solve the problem with environment-variables

Changes to the environment-variables PATH and PYTHONPATH did not solve this problem.

Research on the Internet:

http://pyusb.sourceforge.net/docs/1.0/tutorial.html :

PyUSB should run on any platform with Python >= 2.4, ctypes and at least one of the supported builtin backends.

Do I have ctypes?

Yes: I found a directory C:\Python27\Lib\ctypes

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13773132/pyusb-on-windows-no-backend-available :

I am using Python 2.6.5, libusb-win32-device.bin-0.1.12.1 and pyusb-1.0.0-a0 on a windows XP system and kept receiving ValueError: No backend available.

Since there wasn't any real help on the web for this problem I spent a lot of time finding that ctypes util.py uses the Path variable to find the library file. My path did not includewindows\system32 and PYUSB didn't find the library. I updated the path variable and now the USB is working.

NOTE: I use libusbk, NOT libusb-win32!!

Here is the libusb wiki:

http://www.libusb.org/wiki/windows_backend

USB 3.0 support

libusb 1.0 supports USB 3.0 controllers and devices on Windows, from 1.0.9 release onwards. Because of the large number of USB 3.0 controllers, the lack of official USB 3.0 support from Microsoft in Windows 7 and earlier as well as limited testing, be mindful that USB 3.0 support should be considered experimental. Also, if you are using a NEC/Renesas USB 3.0 controller, such as the fairly widespread uPD720200/uPD720200A, you please make sure that your controller drivers are ​version 2.1.16.0 or later. Older versions of the drivers have a bug that prevents access to USB devices when using libusb.

Install a different driver, replace libusbk by libusb-win32

Use zadig.exe to install a different driver, libusb-win32:

Now my bladeRF is a libusb-win32-device



Try bladeRF-cli
What about bladeRF-cli???

Microsoft Windows [versie 6.1.7601] 
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. Alle rechten voorbehouden. 

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -p 

Backend: libusb 
Serial: b436de8c8212b9aeaaeba852246866e7 
USB Bus: 2 
USB Address: 3 
C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -l hostedx115.rbf 
[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774 
[INFO] Found a bladeRF 
[INFO] Claimed all inferfaces successfully 
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2 
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2 
Loading fpga... 
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 0 
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 1 
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000 
[INFO] Found r value of: 4 
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5 
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5 
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5) 
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1 
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000 
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000 
[INFO] Found r value of: 4 
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5 
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5 
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5) 
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1 
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000 
Done. 

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug> 

And all LEDs are blinking!!
 Try the python-program Now try the same python-program as above:
 

And the output is: 

Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 10 2012, 23:31:26) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win32 
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information. 
>>> ================================ RESTART ================================ 
>>> 
Device found 
len = 18 
bNumConfigurations = 1 
bDeviceClass = 0 
idVendor = 0x1d50 
idProduct = 0x6066 
bcdUSB = 528 
bcdDevice = 0 
iManufacturer = 1 
>>> 


Now try USB3 instead of USB2 with bladeRF-cli


But what about plug bladeRF in an USB3-port with this driver?



BladeRF in USB2-port:













Microsoft Windows [versie 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. Alle rechten voorbehouden.
C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -l hostedx115.rbf
[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774
[INFO] Found a bladeRF
[INFO] Claimed all inferfaces successfully
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2
Loading fpga...
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 0
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 1
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Found r value of: 4
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Found r value of: 4
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000
Done.
C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -p
Backend:        libusb
Serial:         b436de8c8212b9aeaaeba852246866e7
USB Bus:        2
USB Address:    3

Now unplug and plug in USB3-port:



C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -l hostedx115.rbf
[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774
[ERROR] No devices available on the libusb backend.
Failed to open device (NULL): No devices available
Could not open device









bladeRF-cli cannot handle the USB3-port on my laptop.

Unplug and replug in USB2-port:









C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -l hostedx115.rbf
[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774
[INFO] Found a bladeRF
[INFO] Claimed all inferfaces successfully
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2
Loading fpga...
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 0
[INFO] Change to alternate interface 1
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Found r value of: 4
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000
[INFO] Found r value of: 4
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5
[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)
[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1
[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000
Done.












C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>

Now try USB3 instead of USB2 with bladeRF-cli




And what about python?




First bladeRF in USB2-port:


Run python-program. 

Output:



>>> 

Device found

len = 18

bNumConfigurations = 1

bDeviceClass = 0

idVendor =  0x1d50

idProduct =  0x6066

bcdUSB =  528

bcdDevice =  0

iManufacturer =  1






Now unplug and put in USB3-slot:





>>> ================================ RESTART ================================

>>> 

Device found

len = 18

bNumConfigurations = 1

bDeviceClass = 0

idVendor =  0x1d50

idProduct =  0x6066

bcdUSB =  768

bcdDevice =  0

iManufacturer =  1

>>> 


Conclusion
YES!!

Python has no problems with USB3 on my laptop!!



The program bladeRF-cli cannot access the bladeRF-board from USB3, so I cannot flash the

FPGA. I should be able to do that from python in this situation. But how?

Anyway, with bladeRF plugged in an USB2-port I can solve this problem for the moment.











December 2012 in Spain, Santiago.

View on the world from within our caravan.

This weather is perfect for programming but

not so pleasant for a long walk with our dog...

At last: my bladeRF is up and running on my laptop in Windows 7

Finally, I succeeded in getting my bladeRF into life! It was alive a long time ago, i.e. it showed a green LED when powered up by USB. It did not mind USB2 of USB3, the LED was on.

But seen from the laptop there was not much life.

At nuand.com there was new software. First there was a https://github.com/nuand/bladerf/wiki with some info to get the beast alive in Windows. And now there is new software at github. Look for the 'host' directory (https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF/tree/master/host).

I used cmake to make a project-file for Visual Studio. In Visual Studio I found a button 'build all'. And that was about it. Soo simple!!

In the meantime my bladeRF thought it was a 'West-Bridge'. I solved that problem using the recover-function of bladeRF-cli:

I downloaded the latest 1.2 FX3 image and renamed it to latest.img

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -i

[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774

[WARNING] Found FX3 bootloader device libusb:device=2:7, could be bladeRF.

[WARNING] Use "recover libusb:device=2:7 <FX3 firmware>" to boot bladeRF.

[ERROR] No devices available on the libusb backend.

Failed to open device (NULL): No devices available

Could not open device

bladeRF> recover libusb:device=2:7 latest.img

[INFO] Device: 2:7

[INFO] Attempting load with file latest.img

[INFO] open firmware image latest.img for RAM upload

[INFO] normal FW binary executable image with checksum

[INFO] FX3 bootloader version: 0x000000A9

[INFO] writing image...

[INFO] transfer execution to Program Entry at 0x40013818

Loaded! An open is now required

bladeRF> open

[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774

[INFO] Found a bladeRF

[INFO] Claimed all inferfaces successfully

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2

bladeRF> exit

At this point you have to remove power and reapply power again. So, unplug and plug in again.

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -p

    Backend:        libusb

    Serial:         b436de8c8212b9aeaaeba852246866e7

    USB Bus:        2

    USB Address:    7

I did not know which FPGA-file to take. I simply downloaded the latest one. 

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>bladeRF-cli -l hostedx115.rbf

[INFO] Using libusb version 1.0.16.10774

[INFO] Found a bladeRF

[INFO] Claimed all inferfaces successfully

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 2

Loading fpga...

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 0

[INFO] Change to alternate interface 1

[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000

[INFO] Found r value of: 4

[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5

[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5

[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)

[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1

[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000

[INFO] Setting integer sample rate: 1000000

[INFO] Found r value of: 4

[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5

[INFO] MSx a + b/c: 316 + 4/5

[INFO] MSx P1: 0x00009c66 (40038) P2: 0x00000002 (2) P3: 0x00000005 (5)

[INFO] Calculated samplerate: 1000000 + 0/1

[INFO] Set actual integer sample rate: 1000000

Done.

C:\bladeRF-master\host\build\output\Debug>

Some issues

There is a problem with USB3. My bladeRF does not function in the USB3 slot. However in the USB2 slot it is OK. I have a Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 host controller and hub. I'll send nuand an email about this issue. It was mentioned by them as a problem.

I had a Python-program that could 'see' the bladeRF. Now it barks that it cannot find the backend. I have to solve that problem.

I still have a problem with GNUradio in Windows. The waterfall-display is frozen. It is a problem with openGL I think.

I want to use my bladeRF to decode GPS-signals (please don't tell me there are cheaper solutions with SIRF III chips etc. I know!). So I need to connect a GPS-antenna. I have one, an active antenne. Active means that I have to become active to build something to feed the antenna with DC over the same line that carries the sub-micro-volts of GNSS-info. It is called phantom-supply.

I need a protective case to protect the bladeRF to the real world of metal things on my desk. Elektor sells a project case, that might be a solution.

Future steps

I want a program written in Python to access the bladeRF. So, I will have to write an FX3-program too and I will have to build some VHDL-code. In the past I did some experiments with a java-program to access an SDR-board. I'll dig up that attempts and build upon that.

This picture was taken in March this year in

Castrojeriz, Spain while we were on vacation.

I love cats. My wife loves cats. And our dog loves

cats too, but in a different manner...

bladeRF, too many options for building the software?

To control the bladeRF-board you have to deal with two  areas:

·         Outside of the bladeRF-board is a system with Windows or linux

·         Inside the bladeRF-board there are two sub-systems:

o   The FX3 Cypress USB subsystem to be programmed in C
there is a non-volatile flash-memory for an initial program

o   The FPGA subsystem to be programmed in VHDL or Verilog
the FPGA is empty at startup, so has to be loaded to perform its virtual hardware function

To use the bladeRF you have to boot the whole system:

1.       The outside system: a laptop, a PC or perhaps a Raspberry Pi connected by USB3 to the bladeRF

2.       The bladeRF has a flash memory with the software for the FX3 USB subsystem

3.       The bladeRF gets a new FX3 program

4.       The bladeRF gets a fresh FPGA image

5.       From now on the bladeRF is able to communicate with the controlling program: bladerf.cli
the bladeRF command line interpreter

·         The bladeRF-board has a JTAG-interface-connector. So it is possible to program the FPGA more or less independent form the remaining hardware.

·         With a suitable program in the FX3-USB-Cypres-chip, the programming of the FPGA can be done without the JTAG-interface, directly from the FX3-chip.

·         On the outside of the board is the bladeRF.cli. This program takes care of loading the FX3-program and the program for the FPGA.

‘Everybody’ seems to use linux for the outside system. So, may be it is better for me to follow the crowd if I want support and results.

To connect the bladeRF to a Windows system there are in fact two possibilities:

1.       Use the Cypress FX3 system with the wizard that generates the INF-file. From then on you can use the FX3-Cypres diagnostic tools to load programs

2.       Use the libusb-system. There seem to be a few flavors of that. Anyway version 0.1 or 1.0. The Zadig software seems to be a keystone for success.

Whether linux or Windows the bladeRF-board can be controlled by a program written in java, python or C. The bladeRF.cli is written in C.

There is also gnu radio, either in Windows or in linux. There is a module, OsmoSDR, that can be used to connect a bladeRF-board.

The above ramblings are sort of start-point-issues.

Now about my dream, my ultimate goal, my ultimate process:

I want to understand GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) by building a GPS-receiver. Perhaps also a GPS-simulator or a GPS-spoofer. In the past I did some experiments, programming in java, with a file with a few minutes GPS-signal from a wideband receiver. I built a function to read the samples. I built a correlator and could ‘see’ the satellites. I built a phase-locked-loop and got stuck in this very PLL. I did not manage to get the loop stable, but did  manage to recover some almanac-data.

For me, it is not the end-result that counts, but the process itself. By doing, experimenting, programming, testing, debugging and reading I get a deep understanding of GNSS’s. Furthermore a system containing an RF-subsystem, an FPGA and an FX3—USB-system controlled by a program on a laptop is really fascinating. A high level language like python, the C-program in the FX3-chip and VHDL on an FPGA. This is a piece of hardware that should be able to do anything you can imagine. Cognitive radio for example. Combined with an inertial system and Kalman filtering one can do miracles with GNSS. The boys and girls of Pentex have the real stuff! But the bladeRF-board is such a marvelous piece of hardware!

I am very confused which route to take:

·         I have a laptop, an old but usable one, I could replace Windows and put genuine Ubuntu on it.

·         I might try to solve the  Windows gnuradio opengl problem and go for the gnuradio solution

·         I might stubbornly stay with Windows and python

·         I might try to go on with Ubuntu in VMware under Windows 7 professional (64 bit)

So far I tried almost everything a little bit, but I don’t yet know which route to take!

a painting, a reproduction, whatever?

This beautiful picture we found in VilaCha, Portugal.