Re: Questions on firing up BladeRF and YateBTS
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:20 pm
Glad to hear you will be using this software responsibly I don't have any personal experience with OpenBTS or YateBTS, but I have heard that YateBTS has better out-of-box support for bladeRF x40/x115 devices. Note that YateBTS requires a specific FPGA version. Take a look at the EvilSocket guide on getting YateBTS running -- it lists the "known working" versions of everything. YateBTS is working on a large overhaul that, when released, will use our libbladeRF API so this requirement will eventually go away.
For the LEDs, take a look at the HDL and schematic to see how the LEDs are connected. The over/underflow LEDs are normally "on" (no over/underflows). When they turn off, an over/underflow has occurred (bad) and you may need to reduce sample rates, especially if operating in USB 2.0 or with a slow host processor. Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the the bladeRF x40 and x115 layout in which LED1 and LED2 are in the wrong order .. so just something to be aware of when looking at the LEDs. (This could be fixed in the HDL, but it hasn't officially been done, I assume, because it would cause mismatch/confusion between the schematic and HDL).
For the LEDs, take a look at the HDL and schematic to see how the LEDs are connected. The over/underflow LEDs are normally "on" (no over/underflows). When they turn off, an over/underflow has occurred (bad) and you may need to reduce sample rates, especially if operating in USB 2.0 or with a slow host processor. Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the the bladeRF x40 and x115 layout in which LED1 and LED2 are in the wrong order .. so just something to be aware of when looking at the LEDs. (This could be fixed in the HDL, but it hasn't officially been done, I assume, because it would cause mismatch/confusion between the schematic and HDL).