Hello all,
I’m trying to do ranging using two USRPs N210.
The idea is that the first USRP sends a signal and then the second USRP
recognize it and send the signal back. Looking to the turnaround time I
would be able to know the ranging.
Despite some problems that I already had, right now I’m stuck with the
second USRP.
To measure the time I’m synchronizing the rx ant tx from the first USRP
using the following code:
now = self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.get_time_now()
self.uhd_usrp_source_0.set_start_time(uhd.time_spec_t(0.1) +
now)
self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.set_start_time(uhd.time_spec_t(0.1) + now)
Using the fisrt USRP I can do ranging, connecting both (rx and tx)
together, with a good precision. However I couldn’t make the second USRP
work yet. When I try to synchronize the tx and rx like I did in the
first
USRP I get a bunch of Ls (late packages) in the terminal. The code drop
all
the packages.
My gnuRadioCompanion blocks for the second USRP looks roughly like
USRP Source -> threshold -> USRP Sink
There’s a better way to solve that problem?
Why do I get the late packages?
Thanks in advance,
Rafael.
PS: To analyze the data that I’m sending I’m using File Sink block and
analyzing the data after the transmission.
Hi Rafael,
what you’re trying to build is not a causal system – you tell the sink
to start transmitting the first sample right at the same moment that
your source receives the first sample – but between that, the samples
have to flow through your PC!
Add a bit of delay between rx and tx.
Also, what daughterboard are you using? Unless you use one of the
daughterboards that support static phase after tuning, and tune as a
timed command, the LO phase between the RX and TX will be random [1]
Best regards,
Marcus
[1] USRP Hardware Driver and USRP Manual: Device Synchronization
Hi Marcus,
I’m using the WBX daughter board.
I though the late packages problem could be because of the processing
time
between receiving a sample and sending it back. And I have tried to
I used the delay difference like this:
now = self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.get_time_now()
self.uhd_usrp_source_0.set_start_time(uhd.time_spec_t(1) + now)
self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.set_start_time(uhd.time_spec_t(1.001) +
now)
And the results are very reasonable.
However in the second USRP sometimes an underflow occurs (U printed in
the
terminal) followed by a few late packages (Ls printed in the terminal)
that
I believe that happens because of some queue being filed. It happen
apparently in random times (every few seconds).
Thanks a lot for you help Marcus!
Rafael,
1ms delay is pretty good, considering that you need to pack one complete
ethernet packet of samples, send it to the PC, unpack that package,
repack it, and send it to the USRP – the main delay here is probably
your OS.
Since both of your USRP are time-synced, I assume both are frequency-
and hence sampling-rate-synced, too, so the U’s are an indication for
the delay not being large enough for the PC to guarantee that it can
keep up with the samples.
Greetings,
Marcus