uhd.dox

/*! \page page_uhd UHD Interface

\section uhd_introduction Introduction

This is the GNU Radio UHD package. It is the interface to the UHD
library to connect to and send and receive data between the Ettus
Research, LLC product line. To use the UHD blocks, the Python
namespaces is in gnuradio.uhd, which would be normally imported
as:

\code
    from gnuradio import uhd
\endcode

The relevant blocks are listed in the \ref uhd_blk group. The most important
components are the gr::uhd::usrp_source and gr::uhd::usrp_sink blocks, which
act as receivers/transmitters. Both are derived from gr::uhd::usrp_block, which
defines many of the shared functions between those blocks.

\section uhd_external_docs External Documentation

Ettus Research maintains the comprehensive documentation to the underlying UHD driver, which can be found at:

http://files.ettus.com/manual/

The list of classes in the UHD Doxygen is located at:

http://files.ettus.com/manual/annotated.html


\section uhd_command_syntax Command Syntax

The UHD sink and source can be controlled by a message port. These message ports
take commands, which are PMTs formatted as described in \ref msg_passing_commands.

There is a legacy format, which will be deprecated in the future, where commands may
be tuples, formatted as:

    (command, value, [channel])

See older versions of this manual for documentation on this deprecated command format.

In general, every command consists of one or more key/value pairs (either stored as a
PMT pair, or a dictionary). A full list of keys is listed below.

Example:
\code{.cpp}
pmt::pmt_t command = pmt::cons( // Make a pair
    pmt::mp("freq"), // Key is 'freq' => sets the frequency
    pmt::mp(1.1e9) // Set the frequency to 1.1 GHz
);
// Now pass 'command' into the USRP block's command port
\endcode

This PMT would set the frequency to 1.1 GHz on all channels. We make use of the pmt::mp() function
which automatically sets the PMT types. Assume we only want to set the frequency on channel 1
(i.e. the second channel). In this case, we must construct a dictionary:
\code{.cpp}
pmt::pmt_t command = pmt::make_dict();
command = pmt::dict_add(command, pmt::mp("freq"), pmt::mp(1.1e9)); // Specify frequency
command = pmt::dict_add(command, pmt::mp("chan"), pmt::mp(1)); // Specify channel
// Now pass 'command' into the USRP block's command port
\endcode

This command structure becomes more intuitive when thinking of sending the command PMT
as a function call, where the key/value pairs are argument names and values, respectively.
In the above example, the behaviour is the same as if calling
\code{.python}
usrp_source.set_center_freq(freq=1.1e9, chan=1)
\endcode
The main difference is that we can add more properties to the same
command PMT, e.g. as such:
\code{.cpp}
// 'command' is the same PMT as in the previous example
command = pmt::dict_add(command, pmt::mp("gain"), pmt::mp(23.0)); // Specify gain
command = pmt::dict_add(command, pmt::mp("antenna"), pmt::mp("TX/RX")); // Switch antenna
// Now pass 'command' into the USRP block's command port
\endcode
When the USRP block interprets this command PMT, all properties will be
set.


\subsection uhd_command_syntax_cmds Common command keys

The following command keys are understood by both UHD Source and Sink:

Command name | Value Type   | Description
-------------|--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------
`chan`       | int          | Specifies a channel. If this is not given, either all channels are chosen, or channel 0, depending on the action. A value of -1 forces 'all channels', where possible.
`gain`       | double       | Sets the Tx or Rx gain (in dB). Defaults to all channels.
`freq`       | double       | Sets the Tx or Rx frequency. Defaults to all channels. If specified without `lo_offset`, it will set the LO offset to zero.
`lo_offset`  | double       | Sets an LO offset. Defaults to all channels. Note this does not affect the effective center frequency.
`tune`       | tune_request | Like freq, but sets a full tune request (i.e. center frequency and DSP offset). Defaults to all channels.
`lo_freq`    | double       | For fully manual tuning: Set the LO frequency (RF frequency). Conflicts with `freq`, `lo_offset`, and `tune`.
`dsp_freq`   | double       | For fully manual tuning: Set the DSP frequency (CORDIC frequency). Conflicts with `freq`, `lo_offset`, and `tune`.
`direction`  | string       | Used for timed transceiver tuning to ensure tuning order is maintained. Values other than 'TX' or 'RX' will be ignored.
`rate`       | double       | See usrp_block::set_samp_rate(). *Always* affects all channels.
`bandwidth`  | double       | See usrp_block::set_bandwidth(). Defaults to all channels.
`time`       | timestamp    | Sets a command time. See usrp_block::set_command_time(). A value of PMT_NIL will clear the command time.
`mboard`     | int          | Specify mboard index, where applicable.
`antenna`    | string       | See usrp_block::set_antenna(). Defaults to all channels.

Special types:

- tune_request: Like a uhd::tune_request_t, but always uses POLICY_AUTO. This is a pair, composed of (target_frequency, lo_offset)
- timestamp: A pair composed of (long full_secs, double frac_secs). Similar to uhd::time_spec_t

\b Note: Not all commands are affected by `time`. See the UHD manual for details on timed commands.

\subsection uhd_command_syntax_multi_vs_single Dictionaries vs pairs

Given the choices, it may be unclear if it's preferable to send multiple commands
to the USRP block with a single key/value pair each, or send a single dict with
all the values.

In general, the dictionary should be preferred. It has some distinct advantages:
- If it carries a timestamp, this timestamp is valid for all key/value pairs it
  may be applied to.
- All settings will be applied at once. With multiple messages, other blocks might
  be sending interfering messages while the messages are being processed.

\section uhd_configuring Configuring a UHD object

A typical option parser setup for a UHD device looks like

\code
    parser = OptionParser(option_class=eng_option)
    parser.add_option("-a", "--args", type="string", default="",
                      help="UHD device address args , [default=%default]")
    parser.add_option("", "--spec", type="string", default=None,
                      help="Subdevice of UHD device where appropriate")
    parser.add_option("-A", "--antenna", type="string", default=None,
                      help="select Rx Antenna where appropriate")
    parser.add_option("-s", "--samp-rate", type="eng_float", default=1e6,
                      help="set sample rate (bandwidth) [default=%default]")
    parser.add_option("-f", "--freq", type="eng_float", default=None,
                      help="set frequency to FREQ", metavar="FREQ")
    parser.add_option("-g", "--gain", type="eng_float", default=None,
                      help="set gain in dB (default is midpoint)")
\endcode

To use these options to create a UHD source object:

\code
    self.u = uhd.usrp_source(device_addr=options.args,
                             io_type=uhd.io_type.COMPLEX_FLOAT32,
                             num_channels=1)

    self.u.set_samp_rate(options.samp_rate)

    # if no gain was specified, use the mid-point in dB
    if options.gain is None:
        g = self.u.get_gain_range()
        options.gain = float(g.start()+g.stop())/2
    self.u.set_gain(options.gain, 0)

    # Set the center frequency
    self.u.set_center_freq(options.freq, 0)

    # Set the subdevice spec
    if(options.spec):
        self.u.set_subdev_spec(options.spec, 0)

     # Set the antenna
     if(options.antenna):
        self.u.set_antenna(options.antenna, 0)
\endcode

Frequently, your application may need a sample rate that is not
supported by the UHD device. If you have extra CPU power to spare, you
can easily set the sample rate you want, then ask the device what the
actual sample rate set was. Then, you can easily create an arbitrary
resampler to take care of the difference.

\code
    self.u.set_samp_rate(options.samp_rate)

    desired_rate = options.samp_rate
    actual_rate = self.u.get_samp_rate()
    resample = desired_rate / actual_rate

    # Use the filter.pfb version and pass only the resample factor.
    # This block builds a half-band filter for you

    self.resampler = filter.pfb.arb_resampler_ccf(resample)
\endcode

*/
// vim: set ft=doxygen: