bladeRFx40 with yateBTS not working

Having issues with the site, hardware, source code, or any other issues?
Post Reply
klins
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:10 am

bladeRFx40 with yateBTS not working

Post by klins »

Hello,

I am trying to set up a private working BTS with yate, yateBTS and BladeRFx40. For that Im using a lubuntu desktop 16.04 OS on my stationary computer. So far i have followed a tutorial and have done the following:


Install Prerequisites
$ sudo apt-get install subversion
$ sudo apt-get install autoconf
$ sudo apt-get install libgsm1-dev
$ sudo apt-get install libgusb-dev

Install Yate
$ which -a yate-config (make sure only have 1 instance installed)
$ svn checkout http://voip.null.ro/svn/yate/trunk yate
$ cd yate
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure
$ sudo make install-noapi

Install YateBTS
$ svn checkout http://voip.null.ro/svn/yatebts/trunk yatebts
$ cd yatebts
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure
$ sudo make install

$ sudo touch /usr/local/etc/yate/snmp_data.conf /usr/local/etc/yate/tmsidata.conf

Configure YateBTS values
$ sudo vim /usr/local/etc/yate/ybts.conf
Radio.Band= 900
Radio.C0=0
Identity.MCC=219
radio_read_priority=highest
radio_send_priority=high

$ sudo vim /usr/local/etc/yate/subscribers.conf (set country code)
country_code=385
regxp=.*



I have also set transciver to transciver-bladerf.

Also see my data and versions from bladeRF:


bladeRF> version

bladeRF-cli version: 1.5.1-2017.12-rc1-1-ppaxenial
libbladeRF version: 1.9.0-2017.12-rc1-1-ppaxenial

Firmware version: 2.0.0
FPGA version: 0.1.2

bladeRF> info

Serial #: 71bba86705d54e33f3f09cce4fecc0ec
VCTCXO DAC calibration: 0x9211
FPGA size: 40 KLE
FPGA loaded: yes
USB bus: 2
USB address: 10
USB speed: SuperSpeed
Backend: libusb
Instance: 0



Please see bellow output when i start yate -s. (When started single light is on also the ones on the side, first and third is on, and the middle one is blinking)




From the log provided I can not decode what is not working properly, but anyway I do not see my BTS on my phone.


Kindly Assist.

Rok
bglod
Posts: 201
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 6:10 pm

Re: bladeRFx40 with yateBTS not working

Post by bglod »

First, thank you for providing such detailed information! I'm far from an expert on YateBTS, so I don't know how helpful this will be.

I noticed you are receiving a lot of "TX underrun" errors, TX timestamp issues, RX timestamp jumps, and excessive TOA errors. The TX underruns and jumpy timestamps can usually be attributed to a lack of CPU "horsepower" or a crummy USB3 controller. I'm not so sure about the TOA errors. They might be a firmware version issue, a Yate slot configuration issue, a calibration issue, or something else entirely. (Note: Do NOT use kalibrate-bladerf ... it causes more problems than it solves). If you can get rid of those TX underrun errors but still see TOA errors, then it may be time to ask the Yate folks.

Check your CPU governor -- sometimes a 'balanced' or 'powersaving' mode can cause problems. If it's not already, setting it to 'performance' may help.

We have a list of known good USB3 controllers, and also some known problematic controllers. Your controller may not be listed. That is okay, it just means nobody reported it to us. If you have another controller, or a different machine altogether, give them a try. Trying another USB3 cable if you have one is also worthwhile.

Check the priority settings in your ybts.conf:
radio_read_priority=highest
radio_send_priority=high
These seem to be the default priorities, so they should be fine. Try tweaking them to see if the rate of TX underruns changes at all.

Check the libbladeRF and firmware versions:
bladeRF> version

bladeRF-cli version: 1.5.1-2017.12-rc1-1-ppaxenial
libbladeRF version: 1.9.0-2017.12-rc1-1-ppaxenial

Firmware version: 2.0.0
FPGA version: 0.1.2
Some guides I've seen on this topic (e.g. evilbts) use really old versions of libbladeRF (0.16.2) and FX3 firmware (1.6.1). Try downgrading to those versions?

There's also this error. It doesn't appear relevant, but it's an error nonetheless:
Initializing module Jabber Server
2018-03-13_09:49:57.865411 <jbserverengine:NOTE> Failed to load entity caps from '/usr/local/etc/yate/jabberentitycaps.xml': I/O error 2 'No such file or directory'
2018-03-13_09:49:57.865447 <jbserverengine:NOTE> No domains configured
Electrical Engineer
Nuand, LLC.
klins
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2018 2:10 am

Re: bladeRFx40 with yateBTS not working

Post by klins »

Hello,

Thank you for you reply. I have got the similar feedback from Yate community. I will Try different versions and update.

Regards,

Rok
jhutchins
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:48 pm

Re: bladeRFx40 with yateBTS not working

Post by jhutchins »

Hello,

Was the cause of TOA error ever determined? I am getting these errors only and am unable to associate with the BTS but I am able to detect it. could it be that Yate is trying to use a buffer size appropriate for the bladerf v1 on the v2 micro? I'm going to try on my desktop when I have time but I was just wondering if anyone has a fully functional setup using the 2.0 micro.

Edit:
Tried this on my Desktop too. I simply swapped hard drives from laptop to desktop so OS was still Ubuntu 18.04.01 LTS. I did this to try to rule out that it wasn't a problem with a bad USB controller or too low performance memory/cpu. Exact same error, Perhaps it is an OS issue, I will try ubuntu 16.04 next and see if the problem is still present.

Edit 2:
Tried it on Ubuntu 16.04 and exact same problem. Excessive TOA error. I tried changing tx_slots in ybts.conf but for some reason yate ignores my setting and always sets tx_slots=16. I can try hardcoding it and recompiling if there is any chance I'm on the right track?
Post Reply