Difference between revisions of "B200/B210/B200mini/B205mini Getting Started Guides"

Revision as of 12:04, 1 May 2016

Kit Contents

• USRP B200 / B210 / B200mini / B205mini
• USB 3.0 Cable
• Universal power supply (B210 only)

Verify the Contents of Your Kit

Make sure that your kit contains all the items listed above. If any items are missing, please contact your sales agent or Ettus Research Technical support immediately.

You Will Need

• A host computer with an available USB 2.0 or 3.0 port

Proper Care and Handling

All Ettus Research products are individually tested before shipment. The USRP™ is guaranteed to be functional at the time it is received by the customer. Improper use or handling of the USRP™ can easily cause the device to become non-functional. Listed below are some examples of actions which can prevent damage to the unit:

• Never allow metal objects to touch the circuit board while powered.
• Always properly terminate the transmit port with an antenna or 50Ω load.
• Always handle the board with proper anti-static methods.
• Never allow the board to directly or indirectly come into contact with any voltage spikes.
• Never allow any water, or condensing moisture, to come into contact with the boards.
• Always use caution with FPGA, firmware, or software modifications.

	Never apply more than 0 dBm of power into any RF input.
	Always use at least 30dB attenuation if operating in loopback configuration

Install and Setup the Software Tools on Your Host Computer

In order to use your Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP™), you must have the software tools correctly installed and configured on your host computer. A step-by-step guide for doing this is available at the Basic Installation Instructions Application Note. Release 3.8.4 or later of the USRP Hardware Driver, UHD, is required. It is recommended to use the latest stable version of UHD that is available.

If you have a USB stick with the LiveUSB SDR Environment installed on it, then you may boot your host computer from that. The LiveUSB SDR Environment does not require anything to be installed on your host computer, and contains a Linux-based environment with the UHD software and the GNU Radio framework already installed. More information about the LiveUSB SDR environment is available at the Live SDR Environment Getting Started page.

Connect the USRP to the Host Computer

The included USB 3.0 cable provides power and data connectivity for the USRP Bus Series. The host-side of the cable must be plugged into either a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port. Note that the USB 2.0 link provides less bandwidth than the USB 3.0 link. Also note that an external DC power supply must be connected if using a GPSDO (B200/B210 only). More information about USB bandwidth constraints and power considerations is available on the USRP B200 and B210 - USB 3.0 Streaming Rate Benchmarks Application Note.

Test and Verify the Operation of the USRP

Once the software tools are installed on the host computer, or using the LiveUSB SDR Environment, verify the correct operation of the USRP by running the utility programs on the host computer. More information is available at the Verifying USRP Operation Application Note.

Technical Support and Community Knowledge Base

Technical support for USRP hardware is available through email only. If the product arrived in a non­functional state or you require technical assistance, please contact s​upport@ettus.com​. Please allow 24 to 48 hours for response by email, depending on holidays and weekends, although we are often able to reply more quickly than that.

We also recommend that you subscribe to the community mailing lists. The mailing lists have a responsive and knowledgeable community of hundreds of developers and technical users who are located around the world. When you join the community, you will be connected to this group of people who can help you learn about SDR and respond to your technical and specific questions. Often your question can be answered quickly on the mailing lists. Each mailing list also provides an archive of all past conversations and discussions going back many years. Your question or problem may have already been addressed before, and a relevant or helpful solution may already exist in the archive.

Discussions involving the USRP hardware and the UHD software itself are best addressed through the u​srp­-users ​mailing list at http://usrp-users.ettus.com/.

Discussions involving the use of GNU Radio with USRP hardware and UHD software are best addressed through the d​iscuss­gnuradio​mailing list at https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss­gnuradio​.

Discussions involving the use of OpenBTS® with USRP hardware and UHD software are best addressed through the o​penbts­discuss​mailing list at https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openbts­discuss​.​

The support page on our website is located at h​ttp://www.ettus.com/support​. The Knowledge Base is located at ​http://www.ettus.com/kb​.

Legal Considerations

Every country has laws governing the transmission and reception of radio signals. Users are solely responsible for insuring they use their USRP system in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Before attempting to transmit and/or receive on any frequency, we recommend that you determine what licenses may be required and what restrictions may apply.

Sales and Ordering Support

If you have any non­technical questions related to your order, then please contact us by email at orders@ettus.com​, or by phone at +1­408­610­6399 (Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 5 PM, Pacific Time). Please be sure to include your order number and the serial number of your USRP.

Terms and Conditions of Sale

Terms and conditions of sale can be accessed online at the following link: http://www.ettus.com/legal/terms-and-conditions-of-sale