E t t u s
Resea r ch
Universal Software Radio PeripheralThe Foundation for Complete Software Radio Systems
Four 64 MS/s 12-bit analog to digital Converters
Four 128 MS/s 14-bit digital to analog Converters
Four digital downconverters with programmable
decimation rates
Two digital upconverters with programmable
interpolation rates
High-speed USB 2.0 interface (480 Mb/s)
Capable of processing signals up to 16 MHz wide
Modular architecture supports wide variety of RF
daughterboards
Auxiliary analog and digital I/O support complex
radio controls such as RSSI and AGC
Fully coherent multi-channel systems
(MIMO capable)
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F E A T U R E S
The Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP)
enables engineers to rapidly design and implement
powerful, flexible software radio systems. The intuitive
USRP design helps you to get your software radio up
and running quickly. Simply download GNU Radio,
a complete open source software radio and signal
processing package, and the USRP is ready to use.
Once you install the software and plug the USRP into
a host computer, it is ready to transmit and receive a
virtually limitless variety of signals.
The true value of the USRP is in what it enables
engineers and designers to create on a low budget
and with a minimum of effort. A large community of
developers and users have contributed to a substantial
code base and provided many practical applications for
the hardware and software. The powerful combination
of flexible hardware, open-source software and a
community of experienced users makes it the ideal
platform for your software radio development.
T H E U S R P S Y S T E M
Low cost, flexible platform
Large community of developers
Close coupling with the GNU Radio software radio
framework forms a flexible and powerful platform
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B E N E F I T S
Tel: +1-650-967-2870 • Fax: +1-866-807-9801 • [email protected] • www.ettus.com
The USRP can simultaneously receive and transmit on two
antennas in real time. All sampling clocks and local oscillators are
fully coherent, thus allowing you to create MIMO (multiple input,
multiple output) systems.
In the USRP, high sample-rate processing takes place in the
field programmable gate array (FPGA), while lower sample-rate
processing happens in the host computer. The two onboard digital
downconverters (DDCs) mix, filter, and decimate (from 64 MS/s)
incoming signals in the FPGA. Two digital upconverters (DUCs)
interpolate baseband signals to 128 MS/s before translating them
to the selected output frequency. The DDCs and DUCs combined
with the high sample rates also greatly simplify analog filtering
requirements.
Daughterboards mounted on the USRP provide flexible,
fully integrated RF front-ends. A wide variety of available
daughterboards allows you to use different frequencies for a broad
range of applications. The USRP accommodates up to two RF
transceiver daughterboards (or two transmit and two receive) for RF
I/O.
Available daughterboards include:
H A R D W A R E
The entire USRP design is open source, including schematics,
firmware, drivers, and even the FPGA and daughterboard designs.
When combined with the open source GNU Radio software, you
get a completely open software radio system enabling host-based
signal processing on commodity platforms. No software or licenses
need to be purchased. It provides a complete development
environment to create your own radios.
While most often used with GNU Radio software, the USRP is
flexible enough to accommodate other options. Some users have
created their own SDR environments for the USRP, while others
have integrated the USRP into the LabView and Matlab/Simulink
environments.
O P E N S O U R C E
DC to 30 MHz receiver
DC to 30 MHz transmitter
1 MHz to 250 MHz receiver
1 MHz to 250 MHz transmitter
50 to 860 MHz receiver
800 MHz to 2.4 GHz receiver
750-1050 MHz transceiver
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1150-1450 MHz transceiver
1.5-2.1 GHz transceiver
2.3-2.9 GHz transceiver
50 MHz to 1 GHz transceiver
800 MHz to 2.2 GHz transceiver
2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Dualband transceiver
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S P E C I F I C A T I O N S
S u p p o r t e d O p e r a t i n g S y s t e m s
Linux
Mac OS X
Windows XP, Windows 2000
FreeBSD, NetBSD
I n p u tNumber of input channels: 4 (or 2 I-Q pairs)
Sample rate: 64 Ms/s
Resolution: 12 bits
SFDR: 85 dB
O u t p u tNumber of output channels: 4 (or 2 I-Q pairs)
Sample rate: 128 Ms/s
Resolution: 14 bits
SFDR: 83 dB
A u x i l i a r y I / OHigh-speed digital I/O: 64 bits
Analog input: 8 channels
Analog output: 8 channels
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Transceiver DaughterboardsFor the USRP Software Radio System
Daughterboards turn a USRP or USRP2 motherboard
into a complete RF transceiver system. Just add an
antenna, and you are ready for two-way, high bandwidth
communications in many popular frequency bands. The
boards have many features which facilitate their integration
into more complex systems, such as digital control lines
and the option for split transmit and receive ports.
D E S C R I P T I O N
Ettus Research LLC • Tel: +1-650-967-2870 • Fax: +1-866-807-9801 • [email protected] • 1580 West El Camino Real Suite 4 Mountain View, CA 94040 • www.ettus.com
30 MHz transmit and receive bandwidth
Fully synchronous design, MIMO capable
All functions controllable from software or FPGA
Independent local oscillators (LOs) for TX and RX enable
split-frequency operation
< 200us PLL lock time, can be used for frequency hopping
Built-in T/R switching
TX and RX on same connector or use auxiliary RX port
16 digital I/O lines to control external devices
like antenna switches
Built-in analog RSSI measurement
70 dB of AGC range
Adjustable transmit power
Full-duplex capable (with some limitations)
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F E AT U R E S
W B X 0 5 1 0• Frequency Range: 50 MHz to 1 GHz
• Transmit Power: 100mW (20dBm)
The frequency range of the WBX0510 covers many bands of interest, including broadcast television (and whitespaces), public safety, land-mobile communica-tions, low-power unlicensed devices, wireless sensor networks, cell phones, and five amateur radio bands.
R F X 9 0 0• Frequency Range: 750 to 1050 MHz
• Transmit Power: 200mW (23dBm)
The RFX900 comes with a 902-928 MHz ISM-band filter installed for filtering strong out-of-band signals (like pag-ers). The filter can easily be bypassed to allow usage over the full frequency range, enabling use with cellular, paging, motes, and two-way radio, in addition to the ISM band.
R F X 1 2 0 0• Frequency Range: 1150 to 1450 MHz
• Transmit Power: 200mW (23dBm)
Coverage of navigation, satellite, and amateur bands.
R F X 1 8 0 0• Frequency Range: 1.5 to 2.1 GHz
• Transmit Power: 100mW (20dBm)
Coverage of DECT, US-DECT, and PCS (including unli-censed) frequencies.
R F X 2 4 0 0• Frequency Range: 2.3 to 2.9 GHz
• Transmit Power: 50mW (17dBm)
The RFX2400 comes with a bandpass filter around the ISM band (2400-2483 MHz). The filter can be easily bypassed, allowing for coverage of the full fre-quency range.
X C V R 2 4 5 0• Frequency Range: 2.4 to 2.5 GHz, and 4.9 to 5.9 GHz
• Transmit Power: 100mW (20dBm)
The XCVR2450 covers both the ISM band at 2.4 GHz and the entire 4.9 to 5.9 GHz band, including the public safety, UNII, ISM, and Japanese wireless bands.
B O A R D S
O V E R V I E W
The Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) enables engineers to rapidly design and implement powerful, fl exible software radio systems.
The USRP product family consists of the motherboards (the original USRP and the USRP2), which contain an FPGA for high-speed signal processing, and interchangeable daughterboards that cover different frequency ranges. Together, they bridge between bits in a host computer and one or more antennas. Among the various daughterboards, the USRP family has an overall range of DC to 5.9 GHz, which covers everything from AM radio through Wi-Fi and beyond.
The true value of the USRP family is in what it enables engineers and designers to create on a low budget and with a minimum of effort. The powerful combination of fl exible hardware, open-source software and a community of experienced users makes it the ideal platform for your software radio development.
H A R D W A R E
The original USRP is a very low cost software radio device. It connects to a host computer by USB 2.0 (480 Mb/s), and can send up to 16 MHz of RF bandwidth in either direction. It contains an FPGA which can be reprogrammed, 4 high-speed Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs), 4 high-speed Digital to Analog Converters (DACs), and a lot of auxiliary analog and digital IO to make integration into a larger system easy. It can accommodate up to 2 transceiver daughterboards, making it 2x2 MIMO capable out of the box.
The USRP2 builds on the success of the original USRP, offering higher performance and increased fl exibility. The USRP2 connects to the host computer via Gigabit Ethernet, allowing it to send up to 50 MHz of RF bandwidth in and out simultaneously. It contains a much larger FPGA which can even be used to operate the device in a standalone fashion, without a host computer. It has higher-speed and higher precision ADCs and DACs. The USRP2 holds a single transceiver daughterboard, and multiple USRP2s can be connected together to form very wide MIMO systems (up to 8x8).
A P P L I C A T I O N S
The USRP product family is in use all over the world in a wide variety of applications. While the USRP is often used for rapid prototyping and research applications, it has been deployed in many real-world commercial and defense systems.
Commercial ApplicationsThere are many applications for the USRP in commercial systems. System development and prototyping is ideally done on a software radio. And when an application does not have the volume to justify a custom hardware design, the fl exibility of the USRP enables a cost effective, deployable system.
As an example, Path Intelligence Ltd., uses the USRP product family to track pedestrian foot traffi c in shopping malls. The phased-array capabilities of the USRP allow Path Intelligence to determine the locations of shoppers by receiving the control-channel transmissions of cell phones.
Defense and Homeland SecurityThe USRP product family is being used by all branches of the U.S. military and intelligence services, many large defense contractors and other NATO nations. The USRP motherboard and daughterboards enable rapid prototyping and deployment of sophisticated wireless systems on a low budget. Some applications include:
SIGINT/COMINT
Battlefield networks, survivable networks
JTRS research
Public safety communications bridges
Emergency low-power beacons
Mine safety and underground communications
Synthetic Aperture RADAR
Passive RADAR
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Wireless ResearchNumerous researchers in wireless networks are using the USRP product family to study such diverse topics as:
MIMO systems
Ad-hoc and mesh networking
MAC-layer protocols
PHY-layer design
Spectrum occupancy, spectrum sensing
Cognitive radio
The open and easy to use USRP product family enables rapid prototyping of innovative new communication systems. The low cost allows deployment of signifi cant numbers of nodes in a test-bed for studying large-scale network effects.
TeachingMany universities within the U.S. and around the world have equipped student labs with USRP systems. The low cost, extreme fl exibility, and open-source nature of the USRP product family and GNU Radio make them ideal for use in teaching:
Software radio
Signals and systems
Digital signal processing
Communication systems
FPGA design
Other UsesFor over three years our customers have been coming up with new and innovative uses for their USRP systems. Some of the more interesting examples include radio astronomy, wildlife tracking, RFIDs, medical imaging, sonar, and customizable test equipment.
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Spectrogram of an FM transmitter with iBOC sidebands. GNU Radio and USRP running on Mac OS X.Spectrum of the 930-932 MHz pager band.
GNU Radio and USRP running on Windows XP.
S O F T W A R E
GNU RadioGNU Radio is an open-source software defi ned radio (SDR) platform. It is has a large worldwide community of developers and users that have contributed to a substantial code base and provided many practical applications for the hardware and software. It provides a complete development environment to create your own radios, handling all of the hardware interfacing, multithreading, and portability issues for you.
GNU Radio has libraries for all common software radio needs, including various modulations (GMSK, PSK, QAM, OFDM, etc.), error-correcting codes (Reed-Solomon, Viterbi, Turbo Codes), signal processing constructs (optimized fi lters, FFTs, equalizers, timing recovery), and scheduling. It is a very fl exible system, and it allows applications to be developed in C++ or Python.
Other OptionsWhile most often used with GNU Radio software, the USRP is fl exible enough to accommodate other options. Some users have created their own SDR environments for the USRP, while others have integrated the USRP into the LabVIEWTM and MATLAB®/Simulink® environments.
OSSIE, an open-source implementation of the Software Communications Architecture (SCA) developed by a third-party, is also available for the USRP.
Open Source CommunityThe entire USRP design is open source, including schematics, fi rmware, drivers, and even the FPGA and daughterboard designs. When combined with the open source GNU Radio software, you get a completely open software radio system enabling host-based signal processing on commodity platforms. No software or licenses need to be purchased.
P R O D U C T P O R T F O L I O
USRP System
USRP2 System
DC to 30 MHz receiver
DC to 30 MHz transmitter
1 MHz to 250 MHz receiver
1 MHz to 250 MHz transmitter
50 to 860 MHz receiver
800 MHz to 2.4 GHz receiver
50 MHz to 1 GHz transceiver
800 MHz to 2.2 GHz transceiver
2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Dualband transceiver
750-1050 MHz transceiver (including cell and ISM bands)
1150-1450 MHz transceiver
1.5-2.1 GHz transceiver (including PCS bands)
2.3-2.9 GHz transceiver (including ISM band)
S U P P O R T E D P L AT F O R M S
Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD
Windows XP, Windows 2000
Mac OS X (Intel and PowerPC)
Applications written using GNU Radio will run on all supported
platforms
A B O U T E t t u s R e s e a r c h L L C
The USRP family of products is designed and built by Ettus Research. The company specializes in ASIC-, FPGA-, and software-based DSP systems. In addition, Ettus Research provides wireless, DSP, and software radio design consulting services.
Tel: +1-650-967-2870
Fax: +1-866-807-9801
1580 West El Camino Real
Suite 4
Mountain View, CA 94040
www.ettus.com
LabVIEW is a trademark of National Instruments Corporation. MATLAB and Simulink
are registered trademarks of The MathWorks, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Building Software Radio Systems
w w w . e t t u s . c o m
The USRP
Product Family
GNU Radio Companion (GRC), a GUI Radio Design system, similar to SimuLinkTM