Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] UHD replacement for write_fpga_reg

[Colin Stagner]

On 09/15/2012 01:33 AM, Josh Blum wrote:
> The TX GPIO setting kicks in when packets sent into the USB. You can
> override the GPIO setting though with the dboard iface (all swigged up
> into python as well)
> http://files.ettus.com/uhd_docs/doxygen/html/classuhd_1_1usrp_1_1dboard__iface.html
My revised FPGA design always advertises that it has space in the
transmitter buffer, that the buffer never underflows, and that it is
never empty. This should force the ATR mechanism to keep the transmitter
on, since there is always data to transmit. The signal that the
master_control.v block uses to determine whether or not there is data to
transmit, tx_empty, is a constant 1'b0. If I read the logic right, this
should satisfy the ATR. I am hesitant to use the GPIO interface without
a good example of what I'm trying to do, since I've read that the GPIO
controls can burn up the USRP.

The culprit responsible for turning the transmitter off periodically is
in uhd/host/lib/usrp/usrp1/io_impl.cpp line 275, which shuts off the
transmitter if nothing has been sent to the USRP recently. I can get
around this by sending a stream of 1s to the USRP, which are
unceremoniously and deliberately discarded by the FPGA. Debug logs show
that the host is instructing the transmitter to enable (i.e., via
usrp_tx_enable(true) in fx2_ctrl.cpp). As expected, the daughterboard
transmitter now turns on. The USRP only transmits a pure sinusoidal
carrier at the transmitter's center frequency, however. It should be
transmitting chirps, and either the chirp generator isn't working or the
signal is not making it to the daughterboard.

This exact same FPGA image works perfectly with libusrp. I'm not sure
what has changed with the interface. As far as I know, for the USRP1 the
standard UHD FPGA image is identical to the libusrp FPGA image. I'll
write some debugging functionality for my FPGA image and let you know
what I find.

Colin

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