SOURCEFORGE » RALF

h1. USRP1, B100 and B200 installation notes

This documentation explains how to install an USRP device operated through USB interface (ex.: USRP1, B100, B200...). In the following, we assume that a Debian based operating system has been successfully installed along with UHD and GNURadio (see for example [[Debian Wheezy 7 installation guidelines]] and [[UHD and GNURadio installation]]).

h2. System integration

First of all, it is necessary to make @udev@ aware of USRP devices.

<pre>

sudo cp /usr/local/lib/uhd/utils/uhd-usrp.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

sudo udevadm trigger

</pre>

h2. Hardware detection and firmware update

Power/connect the USRP device and try to detect it.

<pre>

uhd_find_devices

</pre>

Then, inspect the hardware configuration of the transceiver.

<pre>

uhd_usrp_probe

</pre>

Eventually, the last instruction will ask for a firmware update.

<pre>

sudo /usr/local/lib/uhd/utils/uhd_images_downloader.py

</pre>

h2. Performances assessment

You can perform a rate benchmarking.

<pre>

/usr/local/lib/uhd/examples/benchmark_rate --duration 20 --rx_rate <wanted-rate>     # Reception test

/usr/local/lib/uhd/examples/benchmark_rate --duration 20 --tx_rate <wanted-rate>     # Transmission test

</pre>

where @<wanted-rate>@ should be less than 8 MS/s for USB 2.0 and 61.44 MS/s for USB 3.0.

If @OOOOOO...@ or @UUUUUUU...@ appears on the standard output, it means that incoming samples (from the computer to the USRP) are dropped or outgoing samples (from the USRP to the computer) are not provided at expected rate. This defect can result from various causes: lack of CPU-time of the computer, overloaded interface... See "this page": for detailed explanation.