converting X310 to NI USRP RIO

[lildes]

Has anyone been successful in  converting X310 to NI USRP RIO to be able to use Labview?

https://kb.ettus.com/Converting_an_X310_into_an_NI-USRP_Rio

My device is not recognized in NI Max but was able to locate it using uhd_find_devices. I noticed that the UHD driver used by say NI USRP 17.2 is v3.01...Does it matter that it is that old?

I have spent weeks in getting this USRP X310 going but keep running into new problems...I have also tried the GNU radio route but have problems there as well. FYI, I am running Window. I noticed that were multiple versions of the UHD in my system 1) old driver from NI USRP 17.2 2) the UHD 3.11 driver that came with the GNU raadio windows install v 3.7.12 and lastly 3) the standalone ettus uhd release v 3.11

I uninstalled the standalone and the NI USRP to see GNU radio would work. I am facing more problems there and due to my unfamiliarity with Linux it is even more complex.

I am eager to try the NI USRP route again but am not sure how to get USRP to show up in the "Select USRP RIo Device" field..

I'd like help on this.

Thanks in advance

[DylanDylanDylan]

A couple notes:

• USRP RIO won't show up in MAX if you are connected via Ethernet, only PCIe
• Initialize X310 is only if you want to use the USRP RIO IDLs (and most likely modify the FPGA using LV FPGA)
  • See page 8: http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/376355c.pdf
• If you just want to use ethernet and the NI-USRP IDL's, you don't need to run any tool, it will work out of the box with Ettus USRP HW
  • See page 8: http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/376355c.pdf

Questions:

How are you connecting your USRP RIO to your PC?

Do you want to use the NI-USRP API or the USRP RIO IDL's (Real questions is do you want to modify the FPGA using LV FPGA)

[lildes]

Hi ,

Thanks for clarifying that. Some reason I was too focused in following that KB and didn't realize that I could use out of the box.

I am using the X520-DA2 interface with the 10 GB  SFP+ cable on port1.

The intent is use this device as realtime fft spectrometer.

I am still having no luck with the probe command.  I get the error  " Error: AssertionError: Failed to find a valid XML path for RFNoC blocks.Try setting the enviroment variable UHD_RFNOC_DIR to the correct location". I checked the environment variable and the path value, it seems fine to me.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

[lildes]

It works now with the NI-USRP. I went back and reentered the environment variable path value for the RFNOC (strange).

There is support documentation for my goals with GNU radio code. I wish there was a way to use Labview and GNU as per need, without conflicting UHD versions.

Thanks again.

[DylanDylanDylan]

Good to hear!

What build of UHD are you using with GNURadio and what version of LV? NI-USRP calls into a build of UHD so I can try and find an NI-USRP installer that has compatible FPGA images between the two (assuming you're willing to upgrade/downgrade one or the other)

[lildes]

That sounds great. I am willing to explore this.

I have Labview 2015.

The gnuradio windows (v3.1.7.12)that I had previously installed , used UHD v3.11.

I am using NI USRP 17.2 comes with UHD 3.010....

Thanks.

[DylanDylanDylan]

Ok in that case the only option would be to downgrade GNURadio as we haven't released a later build of NI-USRP built off of UHD since 17.1 unfortunately. I'm not too in the loop on GNURadio versions + UHD builds though.

If you were willing to get a PCIe connection you could busload the FPGA images in a matter of seconds which I assume is your pain-point via ethernet. It would also enable you to program the FPGA of the USRP via LV FPGA if you wanted!

[lildes]

Hmm. I'll try to downgrade GNUradio. It's not obvious which version of the UHD driver is included with the binary installers.

I'll consider the PCle option, hopefully when resources open up..

Thanks for your prompt help.

[lildes]

Hi,

I was wondering if there was an indication of the UHD version included in the NI-USRP package prior to install. For example, v.17.2 of NI USRP has the UHD _003.010.003.HEAD-0-gd9643b9d

and gnuradio 3.7.11 includes UHD_003.010.001.001-0-unknown

Would downgrading the NI-USRP result in an exact match? How do I find this without installing and uninstalling various versions.?

[DylanDylanDylan · Accepted solution]

So it doesn't need to be an exact match as long as the FPGA images didn't have a compatibility breaking change between them (I assume that's what you care about).

Unfortunately we don't have this documented thus there isn't a better solution than what you are doing to get it or ask here :D. We also don't build exactly on the commit UHD's releases are built on but it's roughly (going back a bit)

18.0/17.2/17.1:

~3.10.3

17.0: 

~3.10.2

16.1:

~3.10.1

16.0/15.5

~3.9.4

14.5/14.1:

~3.9.1