[hpsdr] Hermes

[Rob Frohne]

Hi Phil,

I vote for ethernet as well, but I'm wondering how much it would add to 
the complexity and cost to leave the USB interface on there as well.

73,

Rob, KL7NA

On 08/04/2010 07:18 PM, David McQuate wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
> I vote for Ethernet.  (I believe I heard you had a way of loading the 
> FPGA over Ethernet. True?)
> 73,
> Dave
>
> Phil Harman wrote:
>> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>>
>> All,
>>
>> Having completed the Beta testing of Hermes we are now preparing to make
>> the necessary changes to bring the board into a production ready state.
>>
>> There are quite a few changes which are mainly due to the fact we 
>> want to
>> ensure the product lives up to the 'High Performance' name tag.
>>
>> One of the changes is to replace one of the high current linear 
>> regulators
>> with a SMPSU. We are fortunate to have Kjell, LA2NI,  on our design 
>> team.
>> Kjell has designed a high frequency SMPSU that works well when
>> incorporated on the Hermes PCB and does not introduce significant 
>> spurs. This substantially reduces the current drain and also the heat
>> dissipation.
>>
>> The other potential change is this.  I have this week build a prototype
>> OzyII Gigabit Ethernet board. It works very well and I'm impressed with
>> how rugged Ethernet appears to be in comparison to USB and Firewire.
>>
>> We therefore have the opportunity to replace the USB interface on Hermes
>> with Ethernet.  There are a number of advantages in doing this:
>>
>> - we overcome the USB driver issues when using different operating 
>> systems
>> - we can 'network attach' Hermes
>> - we will have a very high speed interface to the board for future 
>> features
>> - we can use a much longer Ethernet cable than USB allows
>>
>> the disadvantages
>>
>> - it may need more that one spin of the PCB which will delay the 
>> delivery
>> - we will use approximately 10% of the FPGA to implement the Ethernet
>> interface.
>>
>> I'm not too concerned about using more of the FPGA since the device 
>> we are
>> using is 70% larger than that used on Mercury.
>>
>> So "to USB or not to USB - that is the question"?
>>
>> 73's Phil...VK6APH
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E.
E.F. Cross School of Engineering
Walla Walla University
100 SW 4th Street
College Place, WA 99324
(509) 527-2075			 http://people.wallawalla.edu/~rob.frohne

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