On 07/13/2011 06:35 PM, Nemanja Trecakov wrote:
Thanks Marcus,
I used your script which installed all the prerequisites, downloaded
and installed the source code for newest version of Gnu radio and UHD,
together with the newest pre-built images of FPGA and firmware. The
last two mentioned were to find in usr/local/share/uhd/images.
The mentioned trunk files were also to be found in the UHDs'
sub-directories 'firmware' and 'fpga'.
Regarding the firmware and FPGA image, here is how I understood it:
- There are to images flashed on the SD card, firmware and FPGA image.
- The firmware image configurates the FPGA pins and "constructs" "Soft
CPU", now ZPU, which handles the communication
and operations with other hardware on the board, BUT NO DSP.
- On the other side, the FPGA image configurates the rest of the FPGA
for high-speed DSP.
Correct?
Yes, that's correct.
One thing left unclear - Is the "Soft CPU" present in FPGA by
fabrication, or is it just our choice of "constructing" it by
programming FPGA to "construct" one?
I think what you're asking here is whether the ZPU is a so-called "Hard
Macro". No, it isn't.
The ZPU is part of the FPGA image ,and the firmware is the code that
runs on this "soft" CPU.
Previously, the USRP2 used the aeMB soft-cpu, but it was found that
ZPU consumed fewer resources,
and still had everything needed to handle all the necessary
"supervisory" functions of the USRP2/N2XX
family devices.
--
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
http://www.sbrac.org
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