Monday, November 27, 2017

Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] [USRP-users] Phase sync with different frequencies

I've redone my experiments using the octo-clock as the time/clock/PPS source, but still can't get a reliable phase across multiple runs.


If I could get confirmation that the following is possible or impossible through timed commands, I'd have something to go on:


I have 2 USRP N210s each with an SBX. I form 2 "links":

link1 = tx of USRP-A connected to rx of USRP-B by a wire. tx/rx @ freq1
link2 = tx of USRP-B connected to rx of USRP-A by a wire. tx/rx @ freq2

All wire lengths are the same. I believe the wires are also from the same manufacturing batch.


Note that the frequencies being used on each link are different, so I don't expect the phase value to be the same across the links. Just the same for each link after restarting the USRPs.

I would like to see the same phase X on link1 no matter how many times I restart the 2 USRPs, and the same phase Y on link2.


Thank you,


AB

From: Bakshi, Arjun
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2017 10:40:54 PM
To: John Shields; discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org; usrp-users@lists.ettus.com
Subject: Re: [USRP-users] Phase sync with different frequencies
 

Hi John,


Thanks for the reply. In my setup I make one of the USRPs use the time source and clock source as the MIMO cable, while both get an external PPS signal. Thinking about it now, it may have been better to just have everything from the external octo clock.


My goal is to get the same channel 'X' on link1, and the same channel 'Y' on link2, no matter how many times I restart the USRPs. Or every time I restart I should get a*X and a*Y as my channels on the two links where 'a' can change each time. Right now I observe different/random channels on each link every time I restart.


To clarify link1 = tx of USRP-A connected to rx of USRP-B by a wire. tx/rx @ freq1

link2 = tx of USRP-B connected to rx of USRP-A by a wire. tx/rx @ freq2


My concern is that maybe trying to set the tx and rx chains to different frequencies on the same daughterboard is not a "normal" operation. I was able to observe the same channel over multiple restarts when I use only 1 of the two links. But not when I use both.


I'll re-do my setup with time/clock source as octo-clock and update on Monday.


Thank you,


Arjun

From: John Shields <john.shields@xtra.co.nz>
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2017 10:07:14 PM
To: Bakshi, Arjun; discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org; usrp-users@lists.ettus.com
Subject: Re: [USRP-users] Phase sync with different frequencies
 
Hi Arjun,
             You mention that you have both units connected to 'external PPS source, and have a MIMO cable between them'. Not sure where the Vref is coming from but I presume over the MIMO cable?
 
             I wonder how you are setting the clock and time source but I had an issue with my understanding of the behaviour of the MIMO cable in a configuration of 2xN200 each with an SBX.
 
             Firstly, while the documentation on MIMO doesn't explicitly mention/highlight it, the PPS is not distributed over the MIMO cable – the RTC register of the master is copied to the slave which means that the slave doesn't actually 'see' a PPS over the MIMO cable. This was not a big issue for me but it meant that operations such as get_last_pps and setting the 'sync' on the slave to 'unknown PPS' both fail though, get_time_now works, so your timed commands should be good.
 
             Secondly, while it is obvious when you think about it, if the slave is receiving Vref over the MIMO cable there will always be a fixed phase offset based, at a minimum, on the physical length of the MIMO so the Vref offset is a function of the frequency.
 
             Once I understood especially the second behaviour, my system performed as I would expect.
 
             I know that  your setup is different than mine (I was just supplying the same signal through a splitter to each USRP and measuring the phase offset), but wonder if this might explain your observations?
 
                     Kind Regards,
 
                                John
 
            
 
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2017 10:28 AM
Subject: [USRP-users] Phase sync with different frequencies
 

Hi all,

 

I'd like to use the phase resync freature on the SBX to get reliable phase alignment in the following setup:

 

link_freq1 = USRP-A TX @ Freq1 ---> USRP-B RX @ Freq1
link_freq2 = USRP-B TX @ Freq2 ---> USRP-A RX @ Freq2
 
Where link_freq1 should always have phase X, and link_freq2 should always have phase Y. I measure the phase by first calculating the channel over a wire for that link. I then look at the phase of the channel.
 
The USRPs are connected to an external PPS source, and have a MIMO cable between them.

I've been able to use timed commands to get the same channel/phase every time (after multiple restarts) in a single link setup like:

 

USRP-A TX @ Freq1 ---> USRP-B RX @ Freq1

 

But my code for phase sync in the 2-link setup doesn't seem to work(copied below). I understand that the phase of each link's channel may not be the same as the frequencies are different. However is it possible to set it up so that the phase/channel over wire in link_freq1 is always X and that in link_freq2 is always Y? Or is that impossible because of some hardware constraints?

 

Thank you,

 

AB

 

code snippet:

## 2-channel usrp source and sink have been initialized, everything except

## center feqs have been set

## uhd_usrp_source_0 is a  multi usrp source block

## uhd_usrp_sink_0 is a multi usrp sink block
## both blocks have device args set to : "addr0=192.168.10.3, addr1=192.168.10.2"

 

## the following code is added in the init() function:

time.sleep(1)
 
future_cmd_time = self.uhd_usrp_source_0.get_time_last_pps() + uhd.time_spec_t(1.0)
##My guess is that both physical USRPs should see this time since MIMO+same external PPS

self.uhd_usrp_source_0.set_command_time(future_cmd_time)
self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.set_command_time(future_cmd_time)

self.uhd_usrp_source_0.set_center_freq(uhd.tune_request(cf), 0)
self.uhd_usrp_source_0.set_center_freq(uhd.tune_request(cf2), 1)

self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.set_center_freq(uhd.tune_request(cf2), 0)
self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.set_center_freq(uhd.tune_request(cf), 1)

self.uhd_usrp_source_0.clear_command_time()
self.uhd_usrp_sink_0.clear_command_time()

This is in the init() function. I don't re-tune the frequencies again after this.

 

 

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