LimeSDR Redhawk Device

Dependencies on CentOS 7

You will need cmake3 from EPEL:

sudo yum install epel-release cmake3 gnuplot -y
sudo yum install libusb* -y
sudo yum install sqlite sqlite-devel -y

There's probably other deps but I haven't tested this build from a clean image so I already had them...

Build/Install LimeSDR Drivers

There are several different tools built by the LimeSuite project that you might not care about if you just want the driver and docs. There was a wxWidgets issue in CentOS 7 that prevents the build of some GUI applications but those flags can be turned off. The wxWidgets and LimeSuite install instructions are below. If you do not want wxWidgets skkp that install and remove the "-DwxWidgets_USE_STATIC:BOOL=ON -DwxWidgets_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=~/bin/wxWidgets-staticlib/bin/wx-config" from the cmake3 step in LimeSuite. Also, I had to explicitly turn on the documentation build.

wxWidgets 3.1.0

$ cd ~/bin/
$ wget https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/releases/download/v3.1.0/wxWidgets-3.1.0.tar.bz2
$ tar -xf wxWidgets-3.1.0.tar.bz2  
$ cd wxWidgets-3.1.0/
$ mkdir -p ~/bin/wxWidgets-staticlib
$ ./autogen.sh 
$ ./configure --with-opengl --disable-shared --enable-monolithic --with-libjpeg --with-libtiff --with-libpng --with-zlib --disable-sdltest --enable-unicode --enable-display --enable-propgrid --disable-webkit --disable-webview --disable-webviewwebkit --prefix=`echo ~/bin/wxWidgets-staticlib` CXXFLAGS="-std=c++0x"
$ make -j4
$ sudo make install

LimeSuite

$ cd /tmp
$ git clone https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite
$ cd LimeSuite
$ git checkout stable
$ mkdir builddir && cd builddir
$ cmake3 .. -DENABLE_GUI=OFF -DENABLE_API_DOXYGEN=ON -DwxWidgets_USE_STATIC:BOOL=ON -DwxWidgets_CONFIG_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=~/bin/wxWidgets-staticlib/bin/wx-config
$ make -j4
$ sudo make install
$ sudo ldconfig

# enable non-root users to access usb-based devices like the LimeSDR
$ cd ../udev-rules
$ sudo ./install.sh

I thought the ldconfig step is supposed to do this but I still had to add /usr/local/lib to my library path:

$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Now plug in your LimeSDR and see if you can find it:

$ LimeUtil --find
  * [LimeSDR-USB, media=USB 3.0, module=FX3, addr=1d50:6108, serial=0009061C02D10A14]

You may have also built the LimeQuickTest utility which does more stuff:

$ LimeQuickTest
[ TESTING STARTED ]
->Start time: Sat Dec 14 10:49:03 2019

Firmware version mismatch!
  Expected firmware version 4, but found version 3
  Follow the FW and FPGA upgrade instructions:
  http://wiki.myriadrf.org/Lime_Suite#Flashing_images
  Or run update on the command line: LimeUtil --update

Gateware version mismatch!
  Expected gateware version 2, revision 21
  But found version 2, revision 11
  Follow the FW and FPGA upgrade instructions:
  http://wiki.myriadrf.org/Lime_Suite#Flashing_images
  Or run update on the command line: LimeUtil --update

->Device: LimeSDR-USB, media=USB 3.0, module=FX3, addr=1d50:6108, serial=0009061C02D10A14
  Serial Number: 0009061C02D10A14

# ... more tests

=> Board tests PASSED <=

Elapsed time: 1.40 seconds

This shows a mismatch in firmware (ARM) and gateware (FPGA) versions with this software driver since I haven't updated that in a really long time so let's do that.

Update LimeSDR Firmware/Gateware

This is amazingly simple if you are connected to the Internet, you simply run LimeUtil --update and it will determine what needs to be updated, downloads it and programs the device. If you're not on the Internet... then I guess look at these instructions.

When we run the test again after updating, no more warnings:

$ LimeQuickTest 
[ TESTING STARTED ]
->Start time: Sat Dec 14 10:53:52 2019

->Device: LimeSDR-USB, media=USB 3.0, module=FX3, addr=1d50:6108, serial=0009061C02D10A14
  Serial Number: 0009061C02D10A14

# ... more tests

=> Board tests PASSED <=

Elapsed time: 1.55 seconds

Build/Install LimeSDR Redhawk Device

Now you should be ready to build the Redhawk Device.

$ git clone https://github.com/timcardenuto/LimeSDR_FEI
$ cd LimeSDR_FEI
$ ./build.sh
$ ./build.sh install

To test the Device you can use the Redhawk IDE. NOTE: make sure you open it from the same terminal that has the LD_LIBRARY_PATH set to include the installed location of the libLimeSuite.so library (in the default case this is /usr/local/lib). (Note: Adding /usr/local/lib will cause pip and other python functions to break, so if you need to autogenerate code the LD_LIBRARY_PATH must be restored). Otherwise when you launch the Device it will fail to find that library. This is probably something that should be installed to the Redhawk shared library path. Also again, this library path should be part of the system path after using ldconfig... not sure why it doesn't.

$ rhide &

With the Redhawk IDE open, navigate to the REDHAWK Explorer panel > Target SDR > Devices > Right click on LimeSDR_FEI > Launch in Sandbox > cpp. This should launch the Device and show a bunch of configuration info in the Console. To Allocate a Tuner, right click on the running LimeSDR Device and select Allocate, then enter the Frequency, Bandwidth, and Sample Rate that you want.

TODO there are bugs with this. Not sure what acceptable values are and no data shows up when it says it's successful.... Probably need to update API's for both LimeSDR and Redhawk Device since it's been 2 years.

Testing LimeSDR Redhawk Device

FM Test

Test the LimeSDR device by checking that the receiver can pick up the local FM radio stations.

1. After installing the LimeSDR_FEI go to TARGET SDR > Node > Right click on LimeSDR_FEI
2. Click Launch Device Manager
3. Connect to the TOA
4. Expand Device Managers > LimeSDR_FEI > LimeSDR_FEI_1 > FrontEnd Tuner
5. Right click on RX_Digitizer and press allocate
6. Enter in 90MHz center frequency, 10MHz bandwidth, 20Msps sample rate, and then click OK
7. Right click dataFloat_out and then "Plot FFT"
8. Review the Raster graph
9. Zoom in on each dark white line and identify where the peak of the frequency is (check for the existence of this station)

Loopback RF Test

The LimeSDR has a max TX RF output power of 0dBm and RX RF input power of +12dBm.

1. Connect an RF cable from RX to TX on the LimeSDR mini