Questions from a beginner
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:48 am
Hello
I hope this question is appropriate here. If not, let me know where I can ask these questions.
I'm a beginner at SDRs but it's not the radio portion that I'm new at. RF electronics and processing is my profession but it's all of the software that bogs me down. Git, GNU and all this stuff is a bit overwhelming for someone who doesn't use this stuff very often. I've used Visual Studio and I've programmed PIC devices but that's about it.
So...where does one begin with all of this? I have NOT purchased the bladeRF yet as I wanted to see if I could set up the appropriate software first. If it becomes too much then I can skip on making the big purchase. I'm exclusively a Windows user so I do NOT want to be fooling around with Linux at this point. I'll get buried quite fast if I do (hell...I'm already buried). So with this background a few questions:
1) What is the difference between the bladeRF Windows installation and building it from source? It seems an awful lot of trouble to build it. I've gone through the Wiki and it's helpful guides but there is a LOT going there that I just know nothing about. It is very difficult to follow at times since I don't know much of the jargon. What is the upside of "building" instead of just installing?
2) Does the radio allow you to change what goes into the FPGA? One of my purposes in buying this radio is to be able to play around with DSP filters and the like. Such as inputting signals (thru ADC), processing them...and the output through a DAC. I'd like to implement FFTs, FIR filters and Hilbert transforms if possible. I'm guessing but I assume this would be done through the FPGA. If this can be done what software is normally used?
3) Is there software available to control the radio or it something you have to create yourself?
4) I have MATLAB available to me and after looking around a bit this could be helpful. In fact, that one of the reasons I don't want to bother with Linux since if I'm not using Windows I can't access my MATLAB. Or is there something I'm missing here?
5) GNU Radio seems nice. Is there a Windows version? I'm sure it's used in Linux but that's not for me. As to GNU Radio is that something that MATLAB can be used for instead or do the two applications do completely different things?
6) What is "GIT" exactly? Is it some application used with the radio? I find some of the nomenclature out of my purview...
I apologize for the possible stupid questions and if this is an inappropriate place to ask these questions.
Thanks for any help you can give.
jom
I hope this question is appropriate here. If not, let me know where I can ask these questions.
I'm a beginner at SDRs but it's not the radio portion that I'm new at. RF electronics and processing is my profession but it's all of the software that bogs me down. Git, GNU and all this stuff is a bit overwhelming for someone who doesn't use this stuff very often. I've used Visual Studio and I've programmed PIC devices but that's about it.
So...where does one begin with all of this? I have NOT purchased the bladeRF yet as I wanted to see if I could set up the appropriate software first. If it becomes too much then I can skip on making the big purchase. I'm exclusively a Windows user so I do NOT want to be fooling around with Linux at this point. I'll get buried quite fast if I do (hell...I'm already buried). So with this background a few questions:
1) What is the difference between the bladeRF Windows installation and building it from source? It seems an awful lot of trouble to build it. I've gone through the Wiki and it's helpful guides but there is a LOT going there that I just know nothing about. It is very difficult to follow at times since I don't know much of the jargon. What is the upside of "building" instead of just installing?
2) Does the radio allow you to change what goes into the FPGA? One of my purposes in buying this radio is to be able to play around with DSP filters and the like. Such as inputting signals (thru ADC), processing them...and the output through a DAC. I'd like to implement FFTs, FIR filters and Hilbert transforms if possible. I'm guessing but I assume this would be done through the FPGA. If this can be done what software is normally used?
3) Is there software available to control the radio or it something you have to create yourself?
4) I have MATLAB available to me and after looking around a bit this could be helpful. In fact, that one of the reasons I don't want to bother with Linux since if I'm not using Windows I can't access my MATLAB. Or is there something I'm missing here?
5) GNU Radio seems nice. Is there a Windows version? I'm sure it's used in Linux but that's not for me. As to GNU Radio is that something that MATLAB can be used for instead or do the two applications do completely different things?
6) What is "GIT" exactly? Is it some application used with the radio? I find some of the nomenclature out of my purview...
I apologize for the possible stupid questions and if this is an inappropriate place to ask these questions.
Thanks for any help you can give.
jom