[hpsdr] New Hermes board

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Glen,

This is a receiver only. 14-bit. You can listen to many online at
http://sdr.hu

I mention it in context of the Hermes transceiver redesign for these
reasons.

It uses a relatively inexpensive Xilinx Artix7 BGA part. $35 for 35K LEs.
Earlier discussion on this thread recommended switching to BGA even though
it restricts access to home builders. Also, it was pointed out that pin and
interfacing specs are better for BGA and there are fewer new nonBGA FPGAs
available. With the Hermes-Lite 2 we went with a Cyclone IV part in 144
EQFP package just so home builders would be able to build one. We've
learned that there is now too much SMT on the Hermes-Lite 2 that only a few
diehards will ever build one at home. I anticipate that most Hermes-Lite 2s
will be partially or completely assembled in China. So in hindsight we
could have considered a BGA part for the Hermes-Lite 2, and I probably will
in future projects. The KiWiSDR is a good example of an entirely open
source project, designed with KiCAD, for a hobby market that uses a BGA
FPGA. So, a Hermes redesign should consider just how many people want to
assemble a board or purchase one that is partially assembled, and use that
the make a decision on BGA. We sold partially assembled Hermes-Lite 1s
(~50) and that worked out well.

The KiWiSDR started with an Altera part but switched to the Xilinx part. In
my discussions with the designer, one reason was that he wanted to use
Xilinx FIR filter and NCO IP. The way Xilinx licenses this IP makes it
possible to use such IP and distribute RTL with the free version of their
software. This is not the case with the free Altera software. A lot of work
goes into designing and tuning these IP so they can often be very good and
easy (and quick) to use.

I ran into IP restriction issues when starting out with the Hermes-Lite.
Since I was using a BeMicro SDK, I wanted to start with the sdrstick RTL as
I didn't have time to redo firmware from scratch. I was told that the
sdrstick firmware at that time used Altera IP and hence the RTL couldn't be
distributed. This is why I switched to the openhpsdr RTL because it was
open source. (I am very grateful and thankful to the authors of the
firmware for making it open source.) So, one reason openhpsdr may want to
consider Xilinx FPGAs is because there is more DSP IP available for
community/open use.

Finally, the KiWiSDR is an example of an open source project that is open
down to the PCB level. People may think I am harping on this point, but it
is important when trying to attract those who wish to do actual derivative
work or borrow layout. The KiWiSDR was done entirely in KiCAD. It uses a 6
layer board.

73,

Steve
KF7O








On Sat, Jun 3, 2017 at 10:15 AM, K4KV <k4kv at k4kv.com> wrote:

> Steve,
>
> I could not find where it said it was a transceiver, nor it's power output
> if any...
>
> 73
>
> Glen K4KV
>
>
>
> On 6/3/2017 12:29, Steve Haynal wrote:
>
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
>
>
> Hi Group,
>
> The KiwiSDR is an interesting SDR project to consider with regards to a
> Hermes redesign: http://kiwisdr.com/  The project
>
> * uses an inexpensive BGA part
> * switched to Xilinx as the licensing of some DSP IP is more lenient with
> Xilinx than Altera
> * is entirely open source, including PCB design files
>
> 73,
>
> Steve
> KF7O
>
>
>
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