I’m trying to run a transceiver script for OFDM, which has both the tx
and
rx flowgraphs (very similar to tunnel.py except the TUN interface). But,
I
can’t seem to receive anything successfully in that case. Even the
preamble
correlation fails, it barely sees anything substantial in the air at the
RF
end.
On the other hand, if I just disable the uhd_transmitter in the script,
the
receiver then works just about great.
I’ve run the transceiver script earlier on USRP2 with the eth driver -
could it be something to do with the UHD? Is it possible that the
transmitter is in some way locking the receiver?
I’ve run the transceiver script earlier on USRP2 with the eth driver -
could it be something to do with the UHD? Is it possible that the
transmitter is in some way locking the receiver?
P.S: Individually, tx and rx work just fine.
You did not mention which daughterboard you’re using. If it’s the
XCVR2450 db and you continuously transmit you sort of block your
receiver indeed. That’s because the XCVR2450 is only half-duplex.
In which case, the TX side is running--even if you aren't sending
I’m working with Apurv, so I’m going to chime in here
I tried doing some searching on the mailing list, but I wasn’t really
able to find much on this. I also thought that auto tr would handle
this. I found a post from Josh on the mailing list that said Auto TR
is always enabled in UHD.
Yes, it is enabled in UHD. But since Gnu Radio is a streaming model,
you need to take special measures to control TX from within a
Gnu Radio flow-graph. YOu need to insert a tag in the stream to
control the transmitter, otherwise, you’ll be continuously streaming.
What you do is insert a burst-tagger into your stream, and set it to
send the appropriate tags for UHD into the stream using the trigger
input. I just can’t off the top of my head, remember what those
stream tags are at the moment. But the basic issue is that Gnu Radio
uses a streaming model, and while UHD itself (at the C++ level) has
fine-grianed control over transmitter functions, etc, gr-uhd doesn’t
directly expose any of that, because there’s just not mechanism
within Gnu Radio to expose that stuff. The stream tagging, however,
does allow you to control the transmitter state. In the particular
case of the XCVR2450, the hardware is physically incapable of
TX and RX at the same time.
On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 5:01 PM, Marcus D. Leech [email protected]
wrote:
using tagging to tell UHD to turn on/off the TX side.
Josh probably has better words of wisdom on this than I.
Hi Marcus,
I’m working with Apurv, so I’m going to chime in here
I tried doing some searching on the mailing list, but I wasn’t really
able
to find much on this. I also thought that auto tr would handle this. I
found a post from Josh on the mailing list that said Auto TR is always
enabled in UHD.
I see various controls using tx_streamer and tx_metadata_t to use tags
to
control samples to be part of a burst. Like, marking the start and end
of
my TX burst of samples which can construct a packet.
No prob, I can do that. But it seems like there needs to be some sort of
UHD stream command which turns the TX chain in to an “on-demand” chain
and
not continuously streaming. On the other hand, I would like RX to be
continuous.
That is clearly documented as control of samples to the host to be
continuous or not.
However, I don’t see that same control for the TX stream. Tx_metadata_t
and
t_streamer control the bursts, but don’t seem to control the overall
stream? Maybe I am missing something.
It seems like this is something that should be fixed about tunnel.py
in future GNU Radio releases for use with UHD.
I’ve attached a skeletal piece of GRC that uses the “Burst Tagger” block
with a 10Hz trigger input to insert
tx_eob/tx_sob tags into the stream. I’m not sure whether this will
have the desired effect or not, but at
least in theory it should.
It seems like this is something that should be fixed about tunnel.py in
future GNU Radio releases for use with UHD.
Like removing it altogether
That is clearly documented as control of samples to the host to be
continuous or not.
Basically, RX is intended to work on a continuous streaming model, which
is why stream command inst swigged up. The start()/stop() methods are
actually the ones issuing the command.
When and if the pmt based message passing gets merged, i was going to
implement control messages to deal with streaming, possibly other
things. This lets you tie the uhd source block into a control plane.
As is stands now, i guess someone could just forward the stream command
stuff, so long as the work() function knew to block when there is
definitely not supposed to be samples. That way you avoid the scheduler
marking the block done on a timeout.
However, I don’t see that same control for the TX stream. Tx_metadata_t and
t_streamer control the bursts, but don’t seem to control the overall
stream? Maybe I am missing something.
You can use stream tags to control start/stop of burst and transmit
times. See the usrp sink header or the tags demo in gr-uhd.
Now that being said, the framer blocks in tunnel.py could be more
intelligent and properly shutoff streaming (aka end a burst) when there
is no data. That way you avoid underflow when there isnt a continuous
supply of data to modulate.
I see various controls using tx_streamer and tx_metadata_t to use tags
to
control samples to be part of a burst. Like, marking the start and end
of
my TX burst of samples which can construct a packet.
No prob, I can do that. But it seems like there needs to be some sort of
UHD stream command which turns the TX chain in to an “on-demand” chain
and
not continuously streaming. On the other hand, I would like RX to be
continuous.
That is clearly documented as control of samples to the host to be
continuous or not.
However, I don’t see that same control for the TX stream. Tx_metadata_t
and
t_streamer control the bursts, but don’t seem to control the overall
stream? Maybe I am missing something.
A quick question on how the trigger works in UHD. I have some basic
code
integrated with the help of your suggestions.
Burst tagger port 0 is the raw complex sample stream. Burst tagger port
1
is the trigger. Let’s say the raw complex sample stream has an outgoing
packet. I’m assume that I change the value on port 1 that corresponds
to
the first sample of the preamble to a value of ‘1’: which is the trigger
like “hey, here is the start of the burst!” My question is, for all
indexes on port 1 that correspond to samples in the packet on port 1,
should those also be of value 1? Or only just the first sample? What
about the last sample?
Just trying to understand exactly how the trigger works.
Just trying to understand exactly how the trigger works.
Sorry, I dont know anything about the burst tagger. But I can tell you
about the stream tags that I guess burst tagger is producing.
Basically in the gnuradio framework, arbitrary metadata can be
associated with a sample, aka sample tags. When the scheduler calls work
in the uhd sink block, work looks for any start/end of burst tags and
timestamp tags.
UHD sends packets of samples into the USRP. Each packet can have
metadata associated with it (burst flags, times). The job of the work
function is to slice the stream up such that the tag metadata gets setup
to go out with the metadata for the packet of samples.
So burst tagger should only be causing 1 start of burst tag and 1 end of
burst tag. The start of burst is sort of optional as far as the hardware
cares. Mostly, you want to communicate end of burst when there will be
no more data.
and 1 end of burst tag. The start of burst is sort of optional as far
as the hardware cares. Mostly, you want to communicate end of burst
when there will be no more data. -josh
The way the burst-tagger appears to work is that it watches the trigger
input, and when that trigger input changes state, it inserts the
tag corresponding to the new state into the stream.
That sounds almost like what is needed, except that in a GRC
flow-graph, data will continue to flow after the EOB tag has been
inserted, which won’t really make things happy.
continuous or not.
stuff, so long as the work() function knew to block when there is
Now that being said, the framer blocks in tunnel.py could be more
intelligent and properly shutoff streaming (aka end a burst) when there
is no data. That way you avoid underflow when there isnt a continuous
supply of data to modulate.
-Josh
–
Marcus L.
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
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