Reference Information for NI USRP Radio Setup Wizard

The Radio Setup wizard of the Wireless Testbench™ Support Package for NI™ USRP™ Radios leads you through steps to connect and set up your radio for use in Wireless Testbench. Use this reference to get more information about how to perform these steps. For more information about how to start the wizard, see Start Radio Setup Wizard.

SD Card Image Creation

For NI USRP radios with an SD card, the host computer must have at least one microSD card reader and one writable microSD card. The radio takes a microSD card, and if the host has a standard SD card reader, you can use an adapter. If the host computer does not have an integrated card reader, use an external USB SD card reader.

If your host computer has a Linux^® operating system (OS), your SD card must have a FAT32 partition with a minimum of 14.8 GB of free space.
If your host computer has a Windows^® OS, your SD card must have a formatted partition and a minimum of 14.8 GB of free space.
Note
If you previously used your SD card with a USRP radio on a Windows OS, your SD card can show up as a disk containing multiple partitions in the Drive dropdown.

Radio Device Connection

Connection Between Host and Radio

NI USRP radios use an Ethernet connection to communicate between the host computer and the radio hardware. The Ethernet connection is often referred to as a network connection. This connection is necessary for transmitting data, such as the field programmable gate array (FPGA) image or firmware image, from the computer to the radio. It is necessary also for sending and receiving signals to and from the radio.

Your host computer must contain at least one dedicated Gigabit network interface card (NIC) for connecting to the radio.

For NI USRP X410 devices, the host computer must contain a 10 Gigabit NIC.
For other supported radio devices, the host computer must contain either a 1 Gigabit or 10 Gigabit NIC.

The Connect Radio step in the wizard tells you which SFP port to use on the radio. To connect your host computer to the radio, use one of the following options:

If you have a 1 Gigabit NIC, you can use an RJ45 cable with an SFP-to-RJ45 adapter.
If you have a 10 Gigabit NIC, you can use an SFP cable.
If you have a single NIC used for internet access, you can use a USB3/Ethernet adapter dongle.
Note
- Using an adapter can reduce data transfer speed between the computer and the radio. Some adapters do not provide high enough data transfer speeds, which can result in connection errors.
- If you are using an adapter with a laptop, connecting to a power supply can improve data transfer speed.

Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Driver

If you are using a Windows OS, you can configure the Ethernet adapter driver settings to optimise your data transfer speed.

To verify that an appropriate Ethernet network adapter driver is installed and working properly, follow these steps.

Open Windows Device Manager, and click Network adapters.
Under Network adapters, right-click the Gigabit Ethernet adapter entry dedicated to the network connection and click Properties in the context menu.
In the Adapter Properties dialog box, click the Driver tab to verify the driver.

In the Adapter Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab. For the best performance, use the following settings for the jumbo packet and receive buffer values.

Set the Jumbo Packet (or Jumbo Frame) value depending on your Ethernet connection.
- If you have a 1 Gigabit NIC, set the value to 1500 bytes, which is the standard Ethernet frame size.
- If you have a 10 Gigabit NIC, set the value to the maximum supported value, for example, 9014 bytes. Gigabit Ethernet controllers that support jumbo frames can transfer packet sizes larger than the standard Ethernet frame size.
Set Receiver Buffers (or Receiver Descriptors) to the maximum supported value, for example, 2048. For some Ethernet controller drivers, the setting is grouped under Performance Options.

Note
If you are using a USB3/Ethernet adapter dongle and you cannot access this setting, you may not be able to achieve the required data transfer speed. Consider using a dedicated NIC, or a different adapter dongle.

Network Configuration

The network configuration of the host IP address is persistent on Windows. However, on Linux systems, unless you make the changes in your network connection persistent, a system reboot resets the network connection changes and loses the host-to-radio connection.

To retain the host-to-radio connection during a computer reboot on Linux systems, make the network connection changes to the host computer persistent by editing the /etc/network/interfaces file.

Edit /etc/network/interfaces to define settings for eth1.
Use an IP address on the same subnet as your radio (that is, with three initial octets that match those of your radio) and a unique value for the fourth octet. For example:
```
auto eth1 
iface eth1 inet static 
    address 192.168.30.1 
    netmask 255.255.255.0
```

Validate Radio Connection

Host and Radio Configuration

During the first three validation tests, the Radio Setup wizard validates the host and the radio configuration. You can progress to the next wizard step by passing these tests.

If the host IP address configuration test fails, check that the host IP address that you selected in the Select Link Configuration wizard step matches the host OS network configuration.
If the host-radio connection test fails:
- Check that the physical connection between the radio and host is through the correct ports.
- Check that the radio is on or try powering the radio off then on again.
- Go back to the Set Up SD Card step in the wizard and set up the SD card again with a compatible image.
If the radio SD card image version test fails (applies only to NI USRP radios with an SD card reader):
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Go back to the Set Up SD Card step in the wizard and set up the SD card again with a compatible image.
If the version test fails for the image of the radio filesystem (applies to NI USRP N3xx and X410 radios):
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Click Update Image and follow the steps to download, validate, and update the image.
- If the version test continues to fail, update the radio filesystem manually. For instructions, see Update Radio Filesystem Manually.

OS Optimization and Data Transfer

During the last two validation tests, the Radio Setup wizard validates the OS optimization setting and the data transfer. Any validation failure that occurs during these steps does not stop you from progressing to the next wizard step. However, to optimize the transfer speed between the host computer and the radio and to ensure that your radio can transmit and receive signals, consider fixing all validation failures.

If the host OS optimization test fails, update your OS settings. For instructions, see Data Transfer Optimization.
If the radio transmit and receive test fails:
- Fix any OS optimization test failure that occurs in the previous validation test.
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Check that you have attached an antenna or a loopback cable to the correct port.

Update Radio Filesystem Manually

If the version validation of the NI USRP N3xx or X410 radio filesystem image fails after following the steps in the wizard to update the image, you can update the filesystem manually. If your host computer has a Windows OS, OpenSSH Client is required.

Follow the steps in the wizard to download, extract, and validate the correct filesystem image file.
Update your radio filesystem by using a Windows PowerShell or Linux terminal. By default, the radio IP address is 192.168.10.2. If in the network configuration step of the wizard you configured your radio with a different IP address, specify that IP address instead of 192.168.10.2 in these commands.
1. Copy the extracted .mender filesystem image file onto the radio. If necessary, provide the full path to the image file.
  $ scp -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no <mender_filesystem_image> root@192.168.10.2:/tmp/wt-uhd-image.mender
2. Log in to the radio.
  $ ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.10.2
3. Install the new filesystem image. Then restart your radio. These steps take several minutes.
  # mender install /tmp/wt-uhd-image.mender # reboot
4. Log in to the radio.
  $ ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.10.2
5. Make the filesystem changes permanent on the radio.
  # mender commit
For more information on updating the radio filesystem, see Installing the Mender Artifact on the hardware vendor website.
Return to the Radio Setup wizard and follow the instructions to revalidate your radio setup.

Data Transfer Optimization

To optimize the transfer speed between the host computer and the radio, you must update the FastSendDatagramThreshold registry key on Windows or the wmem and rmem network buffer sizes on Linux systems. To automatically update your OS with this setting, click Press here to set in the Validate step of the Radio Setup wizard. If you encounter issues during this update, follow these steps to manually update your OS.

Windows

Locate the FastSendDatagramThreshold.reg file at UHD_INSTALL/win64 path by running these commands.
```
>> uhd_install_location = getUHDInstallLocation
>> cd(fullfile(uhd_install_location,'win64'))
```
Double-click and run the FastSendDatagramThreshold.reg file.
Restart your computer.

Linux

Run these commands in a terminal.

`echo "net.core.rmem_max=2500000" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf`
`echo "net.core.wmem_max=2500000" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf`
`sudo sysctl -p`