AraRAN Experiments

Experiment 1 - Transmitting, Receiving, and Visualizing Waveforms using UHD and GNURadio

Platform: Universal Software Radio Peripheral.

Resources needed: USRP N320, USRP B210, and a general purpose server.

Short Description: Transmit and receive samples to a file using

USRP Hardware Driver (UHD) and GNU Radio.

Detailed Description: The experiment makes use of UHD and GNU Radio to transmit signals from the base station, receive, visualize, and save the IQ samples to a file for analysis.

Follow the steps below to create leases and launch containers for this experiment:

  1. Login to the portal portal.arawireless.org with your username and password.

  2. Create two reservations using the Project -> Reservations -> Leases tab from the dashboard:

    1. gNB

      • Site: Sandbox

      • Resource Type: AraRAN

      • Device Type: Base Station

    2. UE

      • Site: Sandbox

      • Resource Type: AraRAN

      • Device Type: User Equipment

  3. Create two containers on the respective nodes using the corresponding reservation IDs. For the containers, the Docker images can be used as follows:

    1. gNB

      • Container Image: aravisor/container_images:gNodeB

    2. UE

      • Container Image: aravisor/container_images:nrUE

    (Note that these container images have been equipped with USRP Hardware Driver already)

  4. Once the container is launched, associate a floating IP with the container.

  5. Associate floating IPs with the containers using the Project -> Network -> Floating IPs tab.

  6. The containers can be accessed via the console tab of the respective containers in the Project -> Containers tab from the dashboard or using ssh via the jumpbox server.

  1. In the gNB container, run the following commands to transmit a sample waveform with specific frequency, sampling rate, bandwidth, and gain.

    cd /usr/local/lib/uhd/examples
./tx_waveforms --freq 3500e6 --rate 5e6 --gain 0

The output from the tx_waveforms is as follows:

Creating the usrp device with: ...
[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 7.5.0; Boost_106501; UHD_4.0.0.HEAD-0-g90ce6062
[INFO] [MPMD] Initializing 1 device(s) in parallel with args: mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,type=n3xx,product=n320,serial=32584FD,claimed=False,addr=192.168.20.2
[INFO] [MPM.PeriphManager] init() called with device args `mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,product=n320,clock_source=gpsdo,time_source=gpsdo'.
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0] init() called with args `mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,product=n320,clock_source=gpsdo,time_source=gpsdo'
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1] init() called with args `mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,product=n320,clock_source=gpsdo,time_source=gpsdo'
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0] Re-initializing daughter board. This may take some time.
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0] init() called with args `mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,product=n320,clock_source=internal,time_source=internal,skip_rfic=None,master_clock_rate=245760000.0,ref_clk_freq=25000000.0'
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0.init.LMK04828] LMK initialized and locked!
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0.DAC37J82] DAC PLL Locked!
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0.AD9695] ADC PLL Locked!
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-0.init] JESD204B Link Initialization & Training Complete
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1] Re-initializing daughter board. This may take some time.
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1] init() called with args `mgmt_addr=192.168.20.2,product=n320,clock_source=internal,time_source=internal,skip_rfic=None,master_clock_rate=245760000.0,ref_clk_freq=25000000.0'
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1.init.LMK04828] LMK initialized and locked!
Using Device: Single USRP:
  Device: N300-Series Device
  Mboard 0: n320
  RX Channel: 0
    RX DSP: 0
    RX Dboard: A
    RX Subdev: Rhodium
  RX Channel: 1
    RX DSP: 1
    RX Dboard: B
    RX Subdev: Rhodium
  TX Channel: 0
    TX DSP: 0
    TX Dboard: A
    TX Subdev: Rhodium
  TX Channel: 1
    TX DSP: 1
    TX Dboard: B
    TX Subdev: Rhodium

Setting TX Rate: 1.000000 Msps...
Actual TX Rate: 0.999024 Msps...

Setting TX Freq: 3500.000000 MHz...
Setting TX LO Offset: 0.000000 MHz...
Actual TX Freq: 3500.000000 MHz...

Setting TX Gain: 0.000000 dB...
Actual TX Gain: 0.000000 dB...

[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1.DAC37J82] DAC PLL Locked!
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1.AD9695] ADC PLL Locked!
[INFO] [MPM.Rhodium-1.init] JESD204B Link Initialization & Training Complete
[WARNING] [0/Radio#0] Attempting to set tick rate to 0. Skipping.
Setting device timestamp to 0...
Checking TX: all_los: locked ...
Press Ctrl + C to stop streaming...
^C
Done!

  1. To visualize the DFT/FFT of the waveform generated in Step 3, run the following command in the UE container;

    cd /usr/local/lib/uhd/examples
./rx_ascii_art_dft --freq 3500e6 --rate 1e6 --gain 40 --ref-lvl -60

  2. The terminal displays DFT/FFT as in the figure below when we run rx_ascii_art_dft;

_images/rx_ascii.png
Note: You can change the properties of the waveform to suit your

preference. Moreover, you can transmit an OFDM signal/waveform such as the one from the OAI nrsoftmodem.

  1. To save the IQ samples to a file for further processing, run the following command in the UE container;

    cd /usr/local/lib/uhd/examples
./rx_samples_to_file --freq 3500e6 --rate 1e6 --gain 40 --duration 15 IQ_samples.dat

  2. The output from rx_samples_to_file is as follows:

    Creating the usrp device with: ...
[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 7.5.0; Boost_106501; UHD_4.2.0.HEAD-0-g46a70d85
[INFO] [B200] Detected Device: B210
[INFO] [B200] Operating over USB 3.
[INFO] [B200] Initialize CODEC control...
[INFO] [B200] Initialize Radio control...
[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test...
[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test...
[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
[INFO] [B200] Setting master clock rate selection to 'automatic'.
[INFO] [B200] Asking for clock rate 16.000000 MHz...
[INFO] [B200] Actually got clock rate 16.000000 MHz.
Using Device: Single USRP:
  Device: B-Series Device
  Mboard 0: B210
  RX Channel: 0
    RX DSP: 0
    RX Dboard: A
    RX Subdev: FE-RX2
  RX Channel: 1
    RX DSP: 1
    RX Dboard: A
    RX Subdev: FE-RX1
  TX Channel: 0
    TX DSP: 0
    TX Dboard: A
    TX Subdev: FE-TX2
  TX Channel: 1
    TX DSP: 1
    TX Dboard: A
    TX Subdev: FE-TX1

Setting RX Rate: 1.000000 Msps...
[INFO] [B200] Asking for clock rate 32.000000 MHz...
[INFO] [B200] Actually got clock rate 32.000000 MHz.
Actual RX Rate: 1.000000 Msps...

Setting RX Freq: 3500.000000 MHz...
Setting RX LO Offset: 0.000000 MHz...
Actual RX Freq: 3500.000000 MHz...

Setting RX Gain: 40.000000 dB...
Actual RX Gain: 40.000000 dB...

Waiting for "lo_locked": ++++++++++ locked.

Press Ctrl + C to stop streaming...
^C
Done!

  3. Check the size of your IQ file using the command below

    $ ls -al IQ_samples.dat
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 25720000 Feb 12 23:11 IQ_samples.dat