Difference between revisions of "UBX"

Latest revision as of 09:10, 14 October 2021

Device Overview

The UBX daughterboard is a full-duplex wideband transceiver that covers frequencies from 10 MHz to 6 GHz. Coherent and phase-aligned operation across multiple UBX daughterboards on USRP X Series motherboards enables users to explore MIMO and direction finding applications. The UBX daughterboard is supported by the USRP Hardware Driver™ (UHD) software API for seamless integration into existing applications.

The UBX is capable of phase coherent operation, and therefore is suitable for MIMO and Phased Array applications, on the X Series. Additionally this capability is only available on the X Series devices.

Key Features

Frequency Range: 10 MHz - 6 GHz Versions: 40MHz / 160MHz RF shielding Full duplex operation with independent TX and RX frequencies Synthesizer synchronization for applications requiring coherent or phase-aligned operation, supported on USRP X Series motherboards only

Daughterboard Specifications

Features

• 2 quadrature frontends (1 transmit, 1 receive)
  • Defaults to direct conversion
  • Can be used in low IF mode through lo_offset with uhd::tune_request_t
• Independent receive and transmit LO's and synthesizers
  • Allows for full-duplex operation on different transmit and receive frequencies
  • Can be set to use Integer-N tuning for better spur performance with uhd::tune_request_t

Antennas

Transmit: TX/RX

Receive: TX/RX or RX2

• Frontend 0: Complex baseband signal for selected antenna
• Note: The user may set the receive antenna to be TX/RX or RX2. However, when using a UBX board in full-duplex mode, the receive antenna will always be set to RX2, regardless of the settings.

Gains

• Transmit Gains: PGA0, Range: 0-31.5dB
• Receive Gains: PGA0, Range: 0-31.5dB

Bandwidths

• UBX: 40 MHz, RX & TX
• UBX-160: 160 MHz, RX & TX

Sensors

• lo_locked: boolean for LO lock state

LEDs

• LOCK: Synthesizer Lock Detect
• TX/RX TXD: Transmitting on TX/RX antenna port
• TX/RX RXD: Receiving on TX/RX antenna port
• RX2 RXD: Receiving on RX2 antenna port

RF Specifications

Freq Range

• 10MHz - 6GHz

Noise Figure

• 10 MHz - 500 MHz: 3 - 4 dB
• 500 MHz - 1.5 GHz: 2 - 3 dB
• 1.5GHz - 6GHz: 4 - 10 dB

RX IIP3 (Max)

• 10 MHz - 6 GHz: 8 - 9 dBm

RX IQ Imbalance

• 10 MHz - 6 GHz: < -30dBc

TX Power (Max)

• 10 MHz - 3 GHz: 20 dBm
• 3 - 6 GHz: 8 - 20 dBm

TX OIP3

• 10 - 500 MHz: 41 dBm
• 0.5 - 3 GHz: 36 dBm
• 3 - 6 GHz: 26 dBm - 36 dBm

TX IQ Imbalance

• 10 MHz - 6 GHz: < -30 dBc

Note: The UBX 160 transmitter path has 160 MHz of bandwidth throughout the full frequency range of the device; the receiver path has 84 MHz of bandwidth for center frequencies from 10 MHz to 500 MHz.

Input/Output Impedance

• All RF Ports are matched to 50 Ohm with -10dB or better return loss generally. Detailed test is pending.

Input Power Levels

• The maximum input power for the UBX is -15 dBm.

RF Performance Data

• UBX without UHD Corrections

Hardware Specifications

• Ettus Research recommends to always use the latest stable version of UHD

UBX-40

• Current Hardware Revision: 2
• Minimum version of UHD required for UBX rev-1: 3.8.2
• Minimum version of UHD required for UBX rev-2: 3.9.5

UBX-160

• Current Hardware Revision: 2
• Minimum version of UHD required for UBX rev-1: 3.8.2
• Minimum version of UHD required for UBX rev-2: 3.9.5

Environmental Specifications

Operating Temperature Range

• 0-40 °C

Operating Humidity Range

• 10% to 90% non-condensing

USRP Compatibility

UBX-40

• N or X Series

UBX-160

• X Series only

Phase Synchronization

The UBX daughterboard is capable of phase-synchronous operation, and is recommended for phase-coherent applications. The SBX and TwinRX daughterboards are also recommended for phase-coherent applications.

If you are operating the UBX at frequencies below 1 GHz and need phase synchronization, then it is necessary to select a 20 MHz daughterboard clock rate, instead of using the default 50 MHz rate. Note that this is only required for phase synchronization below 1 GHz. The UBX can still operate below 1 GHz without setting this lower daughterboard clock rate, but it will operate without any phase synchronization capability.

If you're using a UHD program, then you can specify the lower daughterboard clock rate on the command line of the program, with --args="dboard_clock_rate=20e6".

If you're using the UHD API from a C++ program, then you can include "dboard_clock_rate=20e6" in the device arguments parameter when first invoking multi_usrp::make().

If you're using GNU Radio, then you can add "dboard_clock_rate=20e6" to the "Device Arguments" field of the properties for the UHD Sink and UHD Source blocks.

Schematics

UBX

UBX Schematics

Key Component Datasheets

Mechanical Information

Drawings

• PDF Format

• STP Format

RF Connectors

• The UBX daughterboard features female SMA connectors for both the TX/RX and RX2 connectors.

Certifications

RoHS

As of December 1st, 2010 all Ettus Research products are RoHS compliant unless otherwise noted. More information can be found at http://ettus.com/legal/rohs-information

China RoHS

Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products Regulation

Chinese Customers

National Instruments is in compliance with the Chinese policy on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) used in Electronic Information Products. For more information about the National Instruments China RoHS compliance, visit ni.com/environment/rohs_china.

Certificate of Volatility

UBX-40/UBX-160

• Media:volatility UBX CBX WBX SBX r1 1.pdf

Important Notes

• A larger 24W (6V, 4A) power supply is required when using a UBX-40 daughterboard and integrated GPS Disciplined Oscillator accessory together in a USRP2, USRP N200, or USRP N210 device.
• The UBX-160 transmitter path has 160 MHz of bandwidth throughout the full frequency range of the device; the receiver path has 84 MHz of bandwidth for center frequencies from 10 MHz to 500 MHz.

Downloads

FPGA Resources

UHD Stable Binaries

UHD Source Code on Github