Radioberry development..

[pa3gsb]

Radioberry friends,

Just nice to inform you guys about the latest development.

I added an ethernet module (LAN8720)  to the radioberry. See picture for configuration.

Taking the code from the hermeslite 2 gateware code with modifications is doing the trick of implementing the hpsdr protocol-1 in the FPGA.

After loading the firmware via the rpi using the loadFPGA utitlity and getting an IP address a discovery can be done.

Iam also working on a version where the gpio stream is replaced by an ethernet stream; because the main focus is to use the radioberry as an standalone radio!

But different configurations are possible as showed.

Having now an initial version available.... still a lot to check.... even without a timing closure it is working well!

// PARAMETERS

parameter       NR = 6; // Recievers

localparam      NT = 1; // Transmitters

Running 6 receivers with 48K sample rate is working with the 100MB/s module.

Running powersdr makes it possible to run 2 receivers with 384K sampling rate.

Have fun.

73 Johan

PA3GSB

[ROBERT ENTWISTLE]

Hi Johan,

Interesting development work! Have you considered adding a memory to contain the FPGA code (Like the Hermes Lite 2 uses) so that loading the FPGA is not needed each time the board is powered up?

73,

Robert, WA2T

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[pa3gsb]

Robert

The radioberry is tightly coupled with rpi.

If you like to load the gateware everytime the rpi is started you are what you are looking for.

So no additional memory device.

73 Johan

[rentwist]

Hi Johan,

I think we may be struggling a bit here with a language barrier.  I do not like to load the FPGA every time the RPi is started, that is why I made the suggestion.  So I do not quite understand your response.

Okay, here's another question.  What about using a RPi-like SBC with Gigabit Ethernet port?  Like the RockPro64 for instance?  Or would the GPIO interface between the Radioberry and the SBC limit the bandwidth possible so that the Gigabit Ethernet of the SBC could not be adequately utilized?  Maybe this is why you are adding a 10/100 LAN card directly to the Radioberry, to get away from the GPIO interface.  I admit I do not have a good understanding of the Radioberry architecture so maybe these additional questions make no sense!

73!

Robert, WA2T

[pa3gsb]

Robert

I thought i send a reply but something went wrong...

Why do you not like to load the FPGA every time you are starting the RPI?

IMaybe in the reply i was not explicit enough, iam talking about an automatic job to load the FPGA during RPI startup. 

This approach is not different between a start from a memory module or the RPI. Hope this is answering the question beter.

(further more : no need of valuable resources in the FPGA for remote updating of the gateware and setting up issues with programming devices from different computers containg different operating systems)

You are right the speed of SPI (as used in the standalone release) port is far to less to get more receivers ... i tried to use a more parallel approach by using multiple GPIO pins (as used in the emulator release) which improved it.

For implementing a ethernet bus different implementations are possible.

1. implementing the openhpsdr protocol version 1 or 2 in the FPGA. 

pihpsdr can run on the RPI and is able to connect to the Radioberry using the P-1.

running on a different computer in your network a DSP program which implements the P-1

2. implementing the openhpsdr protocol in a higher level language like C or Java by using the data stream via ethernet packets iso of getting the bulk IQ data from GPIO/SPI.

Having on a Tinkerboard or RPI-4 a 1GB/s ethernet module you can easy connect to your radio by remote control programs like vnc 

or using the ethernet port or wifi for other ideas of using your radio.

3. Doing some nice streams experiments or combination of things 

By having the RPI and the Radioberry sticked together gives some nice possibilities...

For instance using local audio which can be transfered from the protocol to the RPI using the SPI port which is available in config 1.

Maybe you have idea of making use of the combinations of possiblities.

In the feature branch https://github.com/pa3gsb/Radioberry-2.x/tree/feature/ethernet  config 1 and config 2 available.

Hope this makes things clear. And as always have fun !

73 Johan

PA3GSB

Op woensdag 2 oktober 2019 21:32:16 UTC+2 schreef rentwist:

[ROBERT ENTWISTLE]

Hi Johan,

Thank you for your email. I did see your replies yesterday, I thought they were all on the forum but maybe one was directly to me in email.

I understand about automating the FPGA load process when PiHPSDR is started (for example) or just the loading process alone for other SDR programs. I just like the idea of the RB being able to boot up itself and be ready to be connected to without any reliance on external computing. As I am sure you know, this is the way the HL2 works.

It just struck me odd to add an Ethernet port to the RB when the RPi already has one. But, understanding the bottleneck between the RPi and the RB explains why one might want to add another Ethernet port.

With regard to the multiple GPIO pins for a more parallel approach, can this approach be expanded to use more (or many more) pins to alleviate the bottleneck?

If an Ethernet port is added (ad you have done), does the RPi still do other things besides loading the FPGA code?

I guess the thought in my head is what stands between the RB being dependant on external computing and being truly standalone as the HL2 is? Is being truly standalone a viable idea?

I admit that I do not have an adequate understanding of the RB architecture so perhaps some of the questions I ask are way off of what is possible!

73,

Robert, WA2T

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