Software Defined Radio Receiver(SDR-R) for UMBC Computer Engineering Capstone FA18-SP19

The purpose of this repository will be for tracking of source code changes/additions and team collaboration for the development of this SDR-R. This will facilitate in project organization and documentation.

Note: The home for this repository can be found here

fpga-src/

Source code for any/all HDL written for the FPGA.

hw

Directory for all files related to hardware

sw-src/

Source code for any/all C/C++, Matlab/Simulink, or Python code generated.

vm-info/

Relevant documentation pertaining to the software development environment is kept here (i.e. list of needed packages). This directory also includes an important readme file for setting up important dependencies on your machine. The code provided in sw-src should function on unix/linux style machines (to include macOS), as long as the relevant dependencies are available (mainly pthreads, libftdi, and libusb).

FPGA

For any future capstone groups looking back on this, we apologize that the fpga-src directory is one of the less organized of the bunch. Of the blocks utilized, all but the Xilinx IP cores are here in this repository. These IP cores include a clock generator (which should be simple to set up) and a FIFO for interfacing the Rader ("link") block with the FSM handling the interfacing with the FTDI chip. The FPGA->FTDI FIFO should have a write width of 16 and a read width of 8. The FTDI->FPGA FIFO is written by use for handling the messages sent from the host computer to the FPGA. It is not meant for interfacing with the Rader block.

Software

Instructions for setting up your development environment can be found in vm-info. Please, follow the instructions there for setting up many of the minor dependencies needed for this project before continuing here.

This project has 2 major dependencies (each with their own sub-dependencies) that are critical for functionality:

• GNU Radio
  • Instructions for setting up found in vm-info directory
• libftdi
  • Open source library for writing code the interact with the FT232H bridge we're utilizing
  • Requires libusb 1.0, please install this on your system prior to installing libftdi
  • Requires libconfuse, please install this on your system prior to installing libftdi

git://developer.intra2net.com/libftdi
cd libftdi
# READ THE READMEs IN YOUR FAVORITE TEXT EDITOR

The libftdi developers included verbose instructions within the repository you just cloned. Please read them thoroughly. They also include numerous examples demonstrating the functionality of the library, where this project drew heavily from the stream-test.c.

The libftdi developers also have their documentation available online which you may find necessary to understand how each function works and what their return values may be. To save you time, you may find it here!

Once both GNU Radio and libftdi are installed, software side set up is done. If the FPGA is properly set up, then you're good to compile and run the code found in sw-src.

This project wouldn't be what it is without the inspiration drawn from the following:

• This blog post for inspiring us to try out an FTDI chip instead of terrible terrible UART.
• This github repo for providing an open source FSM for interfacing with the FT232H. Many thanks to Mssr. Marc Pignat!