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Getting started: Mac OSX

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Jon Szymaniak edited this page Dec 10, 2013 · 40 revisions

This guide describes the process of building and installing the bladeRF host libraries and tool for a Mac OSX system, and quickly getting a device up and running using pre-built firmware and FPGA images.

Table of Contents

Installing Dependencies

Install XCode from Apple, as you will need a compiler. This is available in the App Store.

If you plan to use graphical tools (i.e., GNU Radio Companion), ensure you have X11 installed. See the XQuartz project] for additional information and instructions. Next, install a package management system, such as MacPorts (another option is HomeBrew). We need libusb (with USB 3.0 support), pkgconfig, and cmake. The libtecla package is optional; it improves the bladeRF interactive console experience (adds history, vi-bindings, etc.). MacPorts users will have to build build libtecla from source. With MacPorts, you can install these with: 
sudo port install libusb pkgconfig cmake
If you're using homebrew, use the libusbx package: 
brew install libusbx pkgconfig cmake libtecla

Building bladeRF libraries and tools from source

Clone the bladeRF git repository

To obtain the latest source code for the first time, clone the Nuand git repository via: 
$ git clone https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF.git
$ cd ./bladeRF
In the future, you can update the repository via: 
$ git pull

Configure the build

First enter the directory containing the host source. Then create and enter a directory to perform the build in. By working out of the a 'build' directory, it's easy to later clean up, by simply removing 'build/'. 
$ cd host/
$ mkdir build; cd build
Next, configure the build. In the below example, we:
  • Set up a Debug build
  • Specify that files should be installed into /usr/local
    • You can install into a different location via the -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/some/desired/path option. Note that you'll need to need to configure binary and library search paths if you install elsewhere. If you're unsure how to do this, simply follow the steps below to use the default install location.
$ cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ../

Perform the build and installation

The following commands:
  1. Perform the build
  2. Install files to /usr/local or the location specified by CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX
  3. Updated share library paths, so that libbladeRF can be found
$ make && sudo make install

Uninstalling later

Note that from this same directory, you can run the following to uninstall the files place on your system in the previous step. 
sudo make uninstall
The install_manifest.txt file, created after running the install step successfully, lists all the files installed. It is a good idea to back up this file if you plan on removing this build directory later.

Checking basic device operation

Detecting the bladeRF

With the libraries and tools installed, we can now use the bladeRF-cli (command line interface) to probe for devices attached to the system. First, take a look at the command-line options: 
$ bladeRF-cli --help
  • If you see the help text, you can skip ahead to the invocation with the -p option.
Note that the -p option may be used to probe for device. Plug in your device, and run the following command. You should see similar output. 
$ bladeRF-cli -p
    Backend:        libusb
    Serial:         f12ce1037830a1b27f3ceeba1f521413
    USB Bus:        253
    USB Address:    5
If you do not see any device listed:
  • Double-check that device is plugged in and that the jumpers on J70 are populated correctly
    • LED D1 should be illuminated
  • Try looking in Command-Space 'System Information' to see your USB devices.
  • Verify that you have libusb 1.0.17 (check with 'port installed
grep libusb')
  • Try both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports
    • If you see additional issues with the device, ensure that you've upgraded to the latest firmware.

    Viewing additional device information

    More information about the attached device can be viewed while running bladeRF-cli in interactive mode. Enter this mode and issue the help command to see a list of available command. Use the info command to print information about the device, and version to view version information, most notably, the firmware: 

    bladeRF> help

... (Help text shown here ) ...

bladeRF> info

  Serial #:                 f12ce1037830a1b27f3ceeba1f521413                          
  VCTCXO DAC calibration:   0x9857
  FPGA size:                115 KLE
  FPGA loaded:              yes
  USB bus:                  253
  USB address:              5
  USB speed:                Hi-Speed
  Backend:                  libusb
  Instance:                 0

bladeRF> version
  bladeRF-cli version:        0.7.0-git-74980ad-dirty
  libbladeRF version:         0.9.0-git-74980ad-dirty

  Firmware version:           1.4.0
  FPGA version:               0.0.0

    Here we see the device's serial number, DAC calibration, FPGA information, and USB connection information. Take note of the FPGA size, as this will help determine which FPGA file to load.

    Loading the FPGA

    Support for loading the FPGA from flash automatically is currently supported and undergoing further testing. See the bladeRF-cli --help text for information on how to write an FPGA image to flash for autoloading.

    For simplicity, this guide shows how to load the FPGA without storing it into flash for autoloading. (As a result, you'll have to load the FPGA each time the device is reset or plugged in.)

    FPGA images can be obtained from the Nuand website or from a nightly build of "bleeding edge" images.

    To load an image from the command line. 

    $ bladeRF-cli -l <path/to/fpga/file>

    Or to load an image while in interactive mode: 

    bladeRF> load fpga <path/to/fpga/file>

    After the FPGA loads, you should see LEDs on the board begin blinking. At this point, you're ready to start using your device!

    Building GNU Radio and gr-osmosdr

    Ensure that you have X11 support

    The following command installs gnu-radio and to fetch dependencies and checkout some useful tools. However, it only covers installing GNU Radio and gr-osmosdr. A similar procedure maybe used to install the other tools (such as gr-iqbal).

    `sudo port install gnuradio +uhd +grc +swig +wxgui +qtgui +python27`

    After installed can run `gnuradio-companion`.

    gr-osmosdr isn't available in macports and needs to be built separately.

    More Information

    Refer to the other guides to see how to send, receive samples.

    Clone this wiki locally