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<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN>Now that Hermes (and presumably its Apollo companion<SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>)</SPAN> are getting close to production, I would like
to bring up a point that has been bothering me for awhile. It's a tremendous
accomplishment by the design team to have achieved such a high performance
transceiver board set. However, packaging is currently lacking. The Apollo
discussion says "The idea is to build a self contained HPSDR Transceiver into a
box similar to the one used for the two <A title=ALEXIARES
href="http://openhpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=ALEXIARES"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal; text-underline: none"
lang=EN-US><FONT face=Arial>Alex</FONT></SPAN></A> boards. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN>The box, made by Hammond has a sliding cover on one of the sides (Series
1455, PN 1455N1601). This cover can be used as Front Panel and behind this a
display up to 4 inches may be installed. There will also be space for a
controller (Beagleboard or something else). One of the goals is a small platform
to use as controllers for a self contained transceiver.<SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>"</SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN>I believe there would be a lot of interest in this. A self-contained
processing capability coupled with an excellent mechanical package and excellent
operator interface (controls/displays) without being tied to an external P.C.
would provide a professional level transceiver, not only in performance but also
in looks and usefulness. The board set will not be inexpensive, and potential
buyers will be looking at other packaged alternatives such as the upcoming
Elecraft KX3. With regard to operator interface, take a look at the Juma
TRX2<SPAN class=243472117-10122011> or the KX3</SPAN>. Elegant
simplicity.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN>A list of requirements for the operator interface needs to be
developed. <SPAN class=243472117-10122011>A fundamental decision would be
whether to use a simple 2 row LCD display or a more capable graphics display
that could display a relatively wideband spectrum in real time, depending on
available processing capability.</SPAN> <SPAN class=243472117-10122011>The
size of the case should not necessarily make it as compact as possible but
rather be determined by what controls/displays we want to
have.</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN>The extra resources in the FPGA<SPAN class=243472117-10122011>, which
has a lot of growth capability, </SPAN> could be used to do much of the
"heavy lifting<SPAN class=243472117-10122011>"</SPAN> such as FFT/IFFT based
filters<SPAN class=243472117-10122011> and even dedicated filters for a spectrum
display in addition to other transceiver filters</SPAN>. The actual
controller board "guts" in my opinion is secondary to the look and feel of the
transceiver. Many more people would want to buy this as a self-contained<SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>, professional looking</SPAN> unit<SPAN
class=243472117-10122011> than just the board set</SPAN>. One could
still <SPAN class=243472117-10122011>use the </SPAN>audio <SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>or Ethernet capabilities with </SPAN>an external p.c.
for all the bells and whistles or use the internal self-contained <SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>capability. Very low cost but high performance
microcontrollers are coming on the market now, some of which have very good DSP
performance. The selection of the processor should be dictated by the
availability of a good software development environment that is available al low
or no cost besides its hardware performance. I would look at the Arm
Cortex M4 type processors as low cost/high performance candidates. Take a
look, for example at the STMicroelectronics STM32F4<SPAN
class=243472117-10122011> </SPAN>Discovery<SPAN class=243472117-10122011> board.
(See link below)</SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"> <A
href="http://www.st.com/internet/com/TECHNICAL_RESOURCES/TECHNICAL_LITERATURE/USER_MANUAL/DM00039084.pdf">http://www.st.com/internet/com/TECHNICAL_RESOURCES/TECHNICAL_LITERATURE/USER_MANUAL/DM00039084.pdf</A></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><SPAN class=243472117-10122011>It has a 168 MHz/210 DMIPS Cortex-M4
with single cycle DSP MAC and floating point unit <SPAN
class=243472117-10122011>while </SPAN>providing<SPAN class=243472117-10122011>
o</SPAN>utstanding power efficiency, Up to 1 Mbyte of on-chip Flash memory, 192
Kbytes of SRAM</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><SPAN class=243472117-10122011>What do you all think? Any ideas about
operator interface requirements?</SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="mso-outline-level: 2"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"
lang=EN><SPAN class=243472117-10122011>Regards, "Digital Steve",
K1RF</P></SPAN></SPAN></DIV></BODY></HTML>