raspberry

How to install gr-bladeRF on Raspberry Pi 4

1. Prepare Raspberry Pi4

1.1. Download and install rpi-imager:

visit https://www.raspberrypi.com/software and download rpi imager or run

wget https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_latest_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i imager_1.6.2_amd64.deb 

1.2. Flash image and setup network

Insert microSD card to slot on your computer an run rpi-imager

Choose OS: Other general purpose OS - Ubuntu - Ubuntu Server 21.04.3 LTS (RPi 3/4/400) 64-bit server OS for arm64 architectures

Choose storage - your microSD card

Press WRITE

Insert microSD into RPi and plug ethernet & power cables.

1.3. Determining the Pi’s IP address

To determine the IP address of your board, open a terminal and run the arp command:

On Ubuntu and Mac OS:

arp -na | grep -i "e4:5f"   
? (192.168.1.105) at e4:5f:01:35:c0:92 [ether] on wlp3s0

Connect to rpi4 via ssh: ssh ubuntu@192.168.1.105

password: ubuntu Change password on first login and connect again.

1.5. Install a desktop

sudo apt update sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt install -y xubuntu-desktop

2. Install bladeRF

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuandllc/bladerf
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y bladerf libbladerf-dev bladerf-firmware-fx3    
sudo apt-get install bladerf-fpga-hostedx40   # for bladeRF x40
sudo apt-get install bladerf-fpga-hostedx115  # for bladeRF x115
sudo apt-get install bladerf-fpga-hostedxa4   # for bladeRF 2.0 Micro A4
sudo apt-get install bladerf-fpga-hostedxa5   # for bladeRF 2.0 Micro A5
sudo apt-get install bladerf-fpga-hostedxa9   # for bladeRF 2.0 Micro A9

Check bladeRF:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ bladeRF-cli -i

    bladeRF> info

      Board:                    Nuand bladeRF 2.0 (bladerf2)
      Serial #:                 0a3e891bd6ff4eee908b8278a2a67d45
      VCTCXO DAC calibration:   0x1d01
      FPGA size:                49 KLE
      FPGA loaded:              yes
      Flash size:               32 Mbit
      USB bus:                  2
      USB address:              2
      USB speed:                SuperSpeed
      Backend:                  libusb
      Instance:                 0

    bladeRF> exit

3. Crossplatform build volk and gnuradio using docker and install on RPi

./build_gnuradio.sh 

Transfer files to RPi:

scp *.deb ubuntu@192.168.1.105:/home/ubuntu

Connect to RPi

ssh -X ubuntu@192.168.1.105 # -X for run GUI applications

Install

sudo dpkg -i volk.deb
sudo dpkg -i gnuradio.deb
sudo apt-get install -y libusb-1.0-0-dev libusb-1.0-0 git cmake g++ \
   libboost-all-dev libgmp-dev swig python3-numpy python3-matplotlib \
   python3-mako python3-sphinx python3-lxml doxygen libfftw3-dev \
   libsdl1.2-dev libgsl-dev libqwt-qt5-dev libqt5opengl5-dev python3-pyqt5 \
   liblog4cpp5-dev libzmq3-dev python3-yaml python3-click python3-click-plugins \
   python3-zmq python3-scipy python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-3.0 \
   libcodec2-dev libgsm1-dev libqt5svg5-dev libpulse-dev pulseaudio alsa-base \
   libasound2 libasound2-dev pybind11-dev libsndfile-dev

Run gnuradio

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
gnuradio-companion

4. Build and install gr-iqbal, gr-osmosdr, gr-bladeRF

Make directory for source

mkdir ~/gr

gr-iqbal

cd ~/gr
git clone git://git.osmocom.org/gr-iqbal
cd gr-iqbal
git submodule update --init --recursive
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc) 
sudo make install && sudo ldconfig

gr-osmosdr

cd ~/gr
git clone https://github.com/Nuand/gr-osmosdr -b dev-gr-3.9
cd gr-osmosdr
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j$(nproc)
sudo make install && sudo ldconfig

gr-bladeRF

cd ~/gr
git clone https://github.com/Nuand/gr-bladeRF.git
cd gr-bladeRF
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j4
sudo make install

Check gr-bladeRF:

gnuradio-companion ~/gr/gr-bladeRF/apps/fm_receiver.grc