[hpsdr] Atlas Update - From whence we have come

[Philip Covington]

On 5/9/06, Bill Tracey <bill at ewjt.com> wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
<snip>
> >Does OZY have the throughput to handle both a MERCURY and a JANUS board
> >operating at the same time?
>
> Don't know, but suspect it will.  The GNUradio USRP folks can get 32
> MBytes/second over the USB bus with the setup they have that is essentially
> the same parts we're looking at for Ozy (least I think they are -- Phil C
> would be the one to know for sure).  They are open soruce as well so we can
> always flatter them and use some of their code.

One of the reasons I stayed with Altera in the OZY is that the USRP
uses the Altera Cyclone.  We plan to use the Cyclone II.  Since the
work has been done for the firmware for the Cypress FX2 in the USRP
(thanks to Eric B. and Matt E.), I planned on borrowing/adapting the
USRP firmware for the configuration of the FPGA.  This will reduce the
initial development burden so we can get something up and going
quickly by using a tested/proven basis for the firmware.

One upgrade to the OZY (OZY II?) for the future would be to support
PCI express instead of USB 2.0.  TI makes a PHY type chip that will
interface to the Cyclone II to do PCIe 1X (2.5 gbps up/down). 
Unfortunately the Altera MegaCore to support this is $$$$ so we would
have to develop our own (Anyone here from Altera? Can you help us out?
;-) ).  I would use GBICs to allow fiber between the PC and the OZY
II.

We are developing a PCI express sequencer for astronomical
instrumentation at OSU so maybe I hope to leverage some of the work
into the HPSDR.  We will use the Stratix II GX (which supports various
high speed serial interfaces) so the TI PHY will not be needed.

73 de Phil N8VB

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