Re: Writing Drivers for Custom Hardware (GNSS Firehose)

Friends -

On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 10:09:18PM -0400, Marcus D. Leech wrote:
> On 12/07/2024 16:42, Walter Szeliga wrote:
> > I have a GNSS Firehose
> > https://transitiva.com/product/gnss-firehose-receiver-tri-band-quad-constellation/
> Are these things actually in production?  What kind of price range, and how
> tunable in terms of center frequency are they?

+1

I agree, that looks like a really interesting board!
I wish someone had pointed it out to me earlier.
More info at

GNSS Firehose
by Peter Monta, June 4, 2012
http://www.pmonta.com/gnss-firehose.html
https://github.com/pmonta/GNSS_Firehose

Its BOM looks mostly available today, which is pretty impressive for
a design that mostly dates to 2012. Parts status/availability at DigiKey:
Avago MGA-68563 LNA Obsolete 3 $13.001 in 10s at WinSource
Maxim MAX2112 downconverter Active 3 $9.732 in 10s
Maxim MAX19505 ADC Active 4 $7.220 in 10s
Micrel MIC2090-1YM5 switch Active 3 $0.26 in 1s
Atmel AT25DF041B flash Active 1 $1.04 in 1s
Xilinx XC6SLX9-2TQG144C FPGA Active 1 $32.06 in 1s
Micrel KSZ9031RNX Eth-phy Active 1 $3.58 in 1s
TI CDCLVC1102 buffer Active 1 $2.97 in 1s
TI LMK03806 clock-gen Active 1 $20.07 in 1s
Linear LTC3633 dual-regulator Active 1 $8.40 in 1s
Connor-Winfield D75J TCXO Active 1 $10.56 in 1s but no stock of 38.88 MHz
Total for active parts $176.54, but would go down with build volume.
Doesn't count passives, connectors, board fab, assembly, testing, case, ...

The schematic and layout started in gEDA, and the version in git
(since 2017) is in KiCad 4.

The LNA datasheet bandwidth is 100 MHz to 1500 MHz, and the
downconverter datasheet band coverage is 925 MHz to 2175 MHz.

- Larry