Ignoring Buffer Overflow

[cochenob]

Is there a way to "ignore" the buffer overflow error and just let the buffer be overwritten without having to shut down and acquisition process and retune/reinitiate the radio?

I know the first question is, "Are you *sure* you'd want to do that?"...but yes, I'm sure!

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Brandon

[Sarah_Y · Accepted solution]

Hey Brandon,

I'm glad you asked about this!  We have just posted our latest NI-USRP driver, version 1.3.  You can download it here:

http://www.ni.com/download/ni-usrp-1.3/4711/en/

One of the features of this driver is a new property node that allows you to pass underflows and overflows as warnings instead of errors.  You can find the property under Configuration » Advanced » Warning Policy.  You can then wire up the Return Warnings constant:

Please note, after updating your driver, you will also need to update the FW and FPGA image on your USRP.

[cochenob]

You're the best!  I'll download and take a look!

This actually brings up a larger question that I've always had...how exactly to the functionality of the UHD and the NI driver comare?  Does NI just wrap code interface nodes around C files from UHD?  Does the NI driver only implement portions of what the UHD can do?  All of it?  Does and update to UHD necessitate an update to the NI driver?  I've always been curious as to exactly how this works.  Does it have an easy answer? 

I often get the feeling that UHD and GNU Radio are analogous to the NI Driver and associated RF/comms toolkits...but...it's hard to see where the precise connections are.

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Brandon

[cochenob]

By the way...is there a way to get notifications when the driver gets updated?  Was it posted/announced somewhere?  It's sort of hard to find in the USRP section of the main site...and when I did find it...it links to Version 1.1

Also...is there a page somewhere where I can see what updates were made/what's new/etc from version to version?

[psisterhen]

The driver underneath the NI-USRP LabVIEW API uses code from UHD but it is not a one-to-one wrapper.  It adds some features to UHD and doesn't expose others.  It is a separate driver stack and GnuRadio/UHD can co-exist on the same system with NI-USRP.  Updating either UHD or NI-USRP on your system will have no effect on the other.

You are correct that GnuRadio/UHD is analogous to LV RF Comms toolkits/NI-USRP.  Luckily, they can co-exist peacefully for anyone who wants to try both.

If there are features of UHD that are not exposed in NI-USRP that you would like to see, please let us know.

[cochenob]

Excellet response!  Thank you!

I'm currently in the process of scheduling some formal training from an Ettus provider on the UHD and GNU Radio to learn more, so I can't say for certain yet what features of UHD might be attractive in the NI driver which hasn't been implemented yet.

I'm assuming there isn't a list you guys have somewhere that shows what's the same and what's different...though is there an Ettus resource somewhere that has documentation for all the driver methods that I could at least browse through?  The Wiki doesn't really offer much in this regard.

[psisterhen]

We don't have a document that compares the two drivers directly, at this point.

Here is some documentation you may not have found for UHD:

http://files.ettus.com/uhd_docs/doxygen/html/namespaceuhd.html

Specifically, this will be an important interface you would use:

http://files.ettus.com/uhd_docs/doxygen/html/classuhd_1_1usrp_1_1multi__usrp.html