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enjoy-digital / litex_m2sdr

LiteX based M2 SDR FPGA board.
BSD 2-Clause "Simplified" License
24 stars 2 forks source link

readme 

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                              LiteX based M2 SDR FPGA board.
                            Copyright (c) 2024 Enjoy-Digital.

License

[!WARNING]

LiteX-M2SDR is still in the lab, engineering new features. 🧪 Expect things to change or break, but feel free to contribute! Hardware will be available on the webshop soon.

[> Intro

We know what you'll first ask when discovering this new SDR project: what's the RFIC? 🤔 Let's answer straight away: Another AD936X-based SDR! 😄

Why yet another SDR based on this RFIC? Because we've been designing FPGA-based projects for clients with this chip for almost 10 years now and still think this RFIC has incredible capabilities and possibilities that haven't been fully tapped by open-source projects. We believe it can provide a fantastic and simple solution when paired with the LiteX framework we're developing. 🚀

Imagine a minimalist AD9361-based SDR with:

OK, you probably also realized this project is a showcase for LiteX capabilities, haha. 😅 Rest assured, we'll do our best to gather and implement your requests to make this SDR as flexible and versatile as possible!

This board is proudly developed in France 🇫🇷 by Enjoy-Digital, managing the project and gateware/software development, and our partner Lambdaconcept designing the hardware. 🥖🍷

Ideal for SDR enthusiasts, this versatile board fits directly into an M2 slot or can team up with others in a PCIe M2 carrier for more complex projects, including coherent MIMO SDRs. 🔧

For Ethernet support with 1000BaseX/2500BaseX and SATA connectivity to directly record/play samples to/from an SSD, mount it on the LiteX Acorn Mini Baseboard! 💽

Unlock new possibilities in your SDR projects with this cutting-edge board—we'll try our best to meet your needs! 🎉

[> PCIe SoC Design

The PCIe design is the first variant developed for the board and does not require an additional baseboard. Just pop the M2SDR into a PCIe M2 slot, connect your antennas, and you're ready to go! 🚀

The SoC has the following architecture:

The PCIe design has already been validated at the maximum AD9361 specified sample rate: 2T2R @ 61.44MSPS (and also seems to correctly handle the oversampling at 2T2R @ 122.88MSPS with 7.9 Gbps of bandwidth on the PCIe bus; this oversampling feature is already in place and more tests/experiments will be done with it in the future).

[> Ethernet SoC Design (1/2.5Gbps x 1 or 2).

[!WARNING]

WiP 🧪 Still in the lab, all the cores required are already developped and interfaces have been validated but the SoC still need to be assembled/tested and software developped.

The Ethernet design variant will gives flexibility when deploying the SDR. The PCIe connector has 4 SerDes transceivers that are in most cases used for... PCIe :) But these are 4 classical GTP transceivers of the Artix7 FPGA that are connected to the PCIe Hardened PHY in the case of a PCIe application but that can be used for any other SerDes-based protocol: Ethernet 1000BaseX/2500BaseX, SATA, etc...

In this design, the PCIe core will then be replaced with LiteEth, providing the 1000BaseX or 2500BaseX PHY but also the UDP/IP hardware stack + Streaming/Etherbone front-end cores.

TODO: Add diagram and more info.

[> Getting Started

For SDR Enthusiasts

If you are an SDR enthusiast looking to get started with the LiteX-M2SDR board, follow these simple steps to get up and running quickly:

  1. Connect the Board:

    • Insert the LiteX-M2SDR board into an available M2 slot on your Linux computer and connect your antennas.

  2. Install Required Software:

    • Ensure you have the necessary software installed on your Linux system. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal: 
      sudo apt install gnuradio gnuradio-dev soapysdr-tools libsoapysdr0.8 libsoapysdr-dev libgnuradio-soapy3.10.1 gqrx

  3. Clone the Repository:

    • Clone the LiteX-M2SDR repository using the following command: 
      git clone https://github.com/enjoy-digital/litex_m2sdr

  4. Build and Install Software: Software build use make and cmake for the C kernel driver and utilities, but since we also like Python 😅, we created a small script on top if it to simplify our developpment and installation:

    • Navigate to the software directory and run the build script: 
      cd software
./build.py
    • This will build the necessary components including the kernel driver, user-space utilities, and the SoapySDR driver.

  5. Load the Kernel Driver:

    • Load the kernel driver with the following commands: 
      cd software/kernel
sudo ./init.sh
    • 🚀 Ready for launch!

  6. Run Your SDR Software:

    • Now, you can launch your preferred SDR software (like GQRX or GNU Radio) and select the LiteX-M2SDR board through SoapySDR. 📡

[!WARNING]

WiP 🧪 Content below is more our memo as developers than anything useful to read 😅. This will be reworked/integrated differently soon.

For Software Developers

For those who want to dive deeper into development with the LiteX-M2SDR board, follow these additional steps after completing the SDR enthusiast steps:

  1. Run Software Tests:

    • Test the kernel: 
      cd software/kernel
make clean all
sudo ./init.sh
    • Test the user-space utilities: 
      cd software/user
make clean all
./m2sdr_util info
./m2sdr_rf init -samplerate=30720000
./tone_gen.py tone_tx.bin
./m2sdr_play tone_tx.bin 100000

  2. SoapySDR Detection/Probe:

    • Detect the LiteX-M2SDR board: 
      SoapySDRUtil --probe="driver=LiteXM2SDR"

  3. Run GNU Radio FM Test:

    • Open and run the GNU Radio FM test: 
      gnuradio-companion ../gnuradio/test_fm_rx.grc

  4. Enable Debugging in Kernel:

    • Enable debugging: 
      sudo sh -c "echo 'module litepcie +p' > /sys/kernel/debug/dynamic_debug/control"

For Software & FPGA Developers

For those who want to explore the full potential of the LiteX-M2SDR board, including FPGA development, follow these additional steps after completing the software developer steps:

  1. Install LiteX:

  2. Ethernet and PCIe Tests:

    • For Ethernet tests, if the board is mounted in an Acorn Mini Baseboard: 
      ./litex_m2sdr.py --with-ethernet --ethernet-sfp=0 --build --load
ping 192.168.1.50
    • For PCIe tests, if the board is mounted directly in an M2 slot: 
      ./litex_m2sdr.py --with-pcie --variant=m2 --pcie-lanes=N_LANES --build --load
lspci

  3. Use JTAGBone/PCIeBone:

    • Start the LiteX server for JTAG or PCIe: 
      litex_server --jtag --jtag-config=openocd_xc7_ft2232.cfg # JTAGBone
sudo litex_server --pcie --pcie-bar=04:00.0              # PCIeBone (Adapt bar)

  4. Flash the Board Over PCIe:

    • Flash the board: 
      cd software
./flash.py ../build/litex_m2sdr_platform/gateware/litex_m2sdr_platform.bin

  5. Reboot or Rescan PCIe Bus:

    • Rescan the PCIe bus: 
      echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:0X\:00.0/remove # Replace X with actual value
echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/rescan

[> Contact

E-mail: florent@enjoy-digital.fr