UHD - Firmware and FPGA Image Application Notes

Table of Contents

Images Overview
Pre-built images
- Platform installers
- Archive install
Building images

Images Overview

Every USRP device must be loaded with special firmware and FPGA images. The methods of loading images into the device varies among devices:

USRP1: The host code will automatically load the firmware and FPGA at runtime.
USRP2: The user must manually write the images onto the USRP2 SD card.
USRP-N Series: The user must manually transfer the images over ethernet.
USRP-E Series: The host code will automatically load the FPGA at runtime.
USRP-B Series: The host code will automatically load the FPGA at runtime.

Pre-built images

Pre-built images are available for download. See the UHD wiki for the download link.

The pre-built images come in two forms:

bundled with UHD in a platform-specific installer
stand-alone platform-independent archive files

Platform installers

The UNIX-based installers will install the images into /usr/share/uhd/images. On windows, the images will be installed to <install-path>/share/uhd/images.

Archive install

When installing images from an archive, there are two options:

Option 1:

Unpack the archive into the UHD installation prefix. The UHD will always search <install-path>/share/uhd/images for image files. Where <install-path> was set by the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX at configure-time.

Option 2:

Unpack the archive anywhere and set the UHD_IMAGE_PATH environment variable. The UHD_IMAGE_PATH may contain a list of directories to search for image files.

Building images

The UHD source repository comes with the source code necessary to build both firmware and FPGA images for all supported devices. The build commands for a particular image can be found in <uhd-repo-path>/images/Makefile.

Xilinx FPGA builds

Xilinx ISE 12.x and up is required to build the Xilinx FPGA images. The build requires that you have a unix-like environment with make. Make sure that xtclsh from the Xilinx ISE bin directory is in your $PATH.

See <uhd-repo-path>/fpga/usrp2/top/*

Microblaze firmware builds

The Microblaze GCC compiler from the Xilinx EDK is required to build the Microblaze firmware images. The build requires that you have a unix-like environment with autotools and make. Make sure that mb-gcc from the Xilinx EDK/microblaze directory is in your $PATH.

See <uhd-repo-path>/firmware/microblaze

Altera FPGA builds

Quartus is required to build the Altera FPGA images. Pre-built images can also be found in <uhd-repo-path>/fpga/usrp1/rbf

See <uhd-repo-path>/fpga/usrp1/toplevel/*

FX2 firmware builds

The sdcc compiler is required to build the FX2 firmware images. The build requires that you have a unix-like environment with autotools and make.

See <uhd-repo-path>/firmware/fx2