[Discuss-gnuradio] Ettus Research Announcements -- Nov 2010

[Matt Ettus]

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Ettus Research Announcements
November 2010

1>   USRP Nominated for Technology of the Year!
2>   USRP N210 Product Announcement
3>   DBSRX2 Product Announcement
4>   RFX2200 Product Announcement
5>   Rackmount Product Announcement
6>   UHD Driver status
7>   New Simulink Drivers for the USRP2
8>   New Mailing List
9>   DBSRX and TVRX End of Life
10>  SDR'10 Conference and GNU Radio Meeting

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1>   USRP Nominated for Technology of the Year!


The USRP Family of Products has been nominated for the 2010 Technology
of the Year award from the Wireless Innovation Forum.  We are very
honored to have the USRP family be nominated from among the many
exciting products and technologies in the Software Radio field.

Members of the Wireless Innovation Forum may cast their vote online for
the winner here:

        http://groups.winnforum.org/p/su/rd/sid=56

Votes need to be in by 12 Pacific Time on Friday Nov 12th.

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2>   USRP N210 Product Announcement

The USRP N210 software radio system builds on the success of the USRP2,
offering higher performance and increased flexibility.  The N210 offers
the following improvements over the USRP2:

        - Xilinx Spartan 3A-DSP3400 FPGA
        - on-board TCXO frequency reference
        - Flash configuration memory.
        - An improved ADC (still 14 bits, 100 MS/s)

The flash memory replaces the SD card used on the USRP2, and is
reprogrammable over the network.  The N210 is usable with our entire
line of daughterboards.

The USRP N210 introductory price is $1700, and orders placed now will
ship in mid- to late- December.

The USRP2 will continue to be available for those who cannot use the
N210, but lead times may be longer.

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3>   DBSRX2 Product Announcement

The DBSRX2 is now shipping.  It has the same price ($150) and features
as the original DBSRX, including an 800 MHz to 2.4 GHz frequency range,
with the following improvements:

        - Better phase noise
        - No modifications necessary to use with the USRP2

The DBSRX2 works with all USRP motherboards, including USRP1, USRP2,
and USRP N210.  The DBSRX2 requires the use of the UHD drivers.

Please see below for status of the original DBSRX.

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4>   RFX2200 Product Announcement

The RFX2200 is now shipping.  This transceiver covers 2.0 GHz to 2.45
GHz, has 50+ mW output power, and is otherwise similar to the other
members of the RFX-series.  It is full duplex capable, and is ideal for
use in the satellite up and downlink bands.  It costs $275 and works
with all USRP systems.

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5>   Rackmount Product Announcement

We are now selling a rack mount frame for the USRP2 and USRP N210
products.  This frame allows 4 systems to be mounted in a standard 19"
rack, occupying 3 Units of space.  It costs $250.  You can see a
picture of it here:

        http://www.ettus.com/images/U2-Rackmount.JPG

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6>   UHD Driver status

The UHD is now the preferred driver system for all USRP products.  It
supports all of our hardware, and works well with GNU Radio as well as
other software packages.  It is strongly recommended that users migrate
their applications to the new system.  More information about the UHD
can be found here:

        http://www.ettus.com/uhd_docs/manual/html/

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7>   New Simulink Drivers for the USRP2

The MathWorks latest version (release R2010b) of Communications
Blockset™ for Simulink® now ships with receiver and transmitter
interface blocks to the USRP2. These blocks allow engineers to speed
development of communications systems in a design environment that
streams real world signals to and from the USRP2 radio. More
information can be found here:

        http://www.ettus.com/simulink

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8>   New Mailing List

We have created a new mailing list for users of USRP hardware who use
it with software other than GNU Radio.  This is the preferred support
forum for use of USRPs with Simulink, LabVIEW, or custom software.
Subscription information and archives can be found here:

http://lists.ettus.com/mailman/listinfo/usrp-users_lists.ettus.com

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9>   DBSRX and TVRX End of Life

A key part in the original DBSRX has been designated as "End Of Life"
by its manufacturer, and so we will need to do the same with the
DBSRX.  We recommend that any users wishing to purchase the original
DBSRX purchase the DBSRX2 instead.  If there is some reason that the
DBSRX2 will not work for you, please contact you and we will be more
than happy to get you one of the original DBSRX units, but there may be
a limited supply of these available.

A key part in the TVRX has been discontinued by its manufacturer and we
can no longer obtain them.  We will continue to sell our existing stock
of the TVRX for as long as it remains, but we will not be able to build
any more.  A replacement product, the TVRX2, will be available in early
2011.

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10>  SDR'10 Conference and GNU Radio Meeting

The SDR'10 Conference will be held from November 30th through December
3rd.  Like last year, Ettus Research will be sponsoring a GNU Radio
Meeting, which will now be a formal part of the program on Wed December
1st.  You do not need to attend the rest of the conference to attend
this meeting.

        http://conference.wirelessinnovation.org

Ettus Research will also have a booth in the Expo area of the
conference.

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Thanks for your time,
Matt Ettus
President, Ettus Research LLC