LimeSDR Mini Drivers and Tests

Projects LimeSDR
1

I’m trying to get my new LimeSDR Mini going on Windows 10. As soon as I plug it in windows detects the LimeSDR Mini and has a “working” driver for it (though it won’t show up in LimeSuite). I’ve followed the directions here (https://wiki.myriadrf.org/LimeSDR-USB_driver_installation) for the USB driver but found they don’t work. Windows says I’ve already got the best driver. If I force the issue by saying I’d like to load my own driver and select it from disk, the driver is not compatible and just gives me an error.

Through some complicated gymnastics I was able to load the FTDI FT601 driver, so now I do get a FTDI FT601 USB 3.0 Bridge device showing up in Device Manager. Is this the right driver?? I ask, because after getting this driver installed I can actually connect to the Mini it in LimeSuite.

I also get some feedback from Soapy and LimeUtil which I didn’t get before this point:

C:\Program Files\PothosSDR\bin>SoapySDRUtil.exe --find="driver=lime"
######################################################
## Soapy SDR -- the SDR abstraction library
######################################################

Win32; Microsoft Visual C++ version 14.0; Boost_106300; UHD_003.010.003.000-0-gef157678

Found device 0
  driver = lime
  index = 0
  label =  [USB]
  media = USB
  module = FT601

C:\Program Files\PothosSDR\bin>LimeUtil.exe --find
  * [, media=USB, module=FT601, index=0]

So, then I try moving on to the Quick Test (https://wiki.myriadrf.org/LimeSDR-USB_Quick_Test). When I load the self_test.ini per section 3.2 I get some errors:

[00:50:13] DEBUG: MCU algorithm time: 0 ms
[00:50:13] DEBUG: INT 71, FRAC 629760, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN 2
[00:50:13] DEBUG: VCO 2230.29 MHz, RefClk 30.72 MHz
[00:50:13] DEBUG: ICT_VCO_CGEN: 31
[00:50:13] DEBUG: **TuneVCO(CGEN) - VCO too low**
[00:50:13] ERROR: SetFrequencyCGEN(371.715 MHz) failed
[00:50:13] DEBUG: M=180, N=9, Fvco=929.288 MHz
[00:50:13] WARNING: phase search FAIL
[00:50:13] DEBUG: M=180, N=9, Fvco=929.288 MHz
[00:50:13] DEBUG: M=180, N=9, Fvco=929.288 MHz
[00:50:13] WARNING: phase search FAIL
[00:50:13] DEBUG: M=180, N=9, Fvco=929.288 MHz

Moving on to section 3.3, if I try to set SXT I get errors when I hit the calculate button:

[00:54:31] DEBUG: INT 132, FRAC 753664, DIV_LOCH 0, EN_DIV2_DIVPROG 0
[00:54:31] DEBUG: VCO 4200.00 MHz, RefClk 30.72 MHz
[00:54:31] DEBUG: ICT_VCO: 255
[00:54:31] DEBUG: TuneVCO(SXT) - VCO too low
[00:54:31] DEBUG: VCOL : csw=0 tune fail
[00:54:31] DEBUG: ICT_VCO: 255
[00:54:31] DEBUG: TuneVCO(SXT) - VCO too low
[00:54:31] DEBUG: VCOM : csw=0 tune fail
[00:54:31] DEBUG: ICT_VCO: 255
[00:54:31] DEBUG: TuneVCO(SXT) - VCO too low
[00:54:31] DEBUG: VCOH : csw=0 tune fail
[00:54:31] DEBUG: Selected: VCOH
[00:54:31] ERROR: SetFrequencySXT(2100 MHz) - cannot deliver frequency

So, any tips here on what my USB driver should be and whether this self test needs to be adapted for the Mini would be appreciated!

2

Thanks for pointing this out! The documentation needs updating. The driver mentioned is only for the larger “LimeSDR USB” board and the self-test procedure only works with this. FTDI FT601 is the correct driver.

For the time being I would suggest testing using an application such as Gqrx, which is packaged as part of the installer.

3

Thanks Andrew! Good to know I’m on the right track. I did expect there to be some uncertainty and growing pains since it’s still early days with this device.

I did try GQRX earlier, but now that I know I’m on the right USB driver I tried it again. The LimeSDR mini is properly detected and shows up as a device in GQRX, but when I start the DSP I don’t get any response from the application. i.e. no waterfall, etc.

Just for the sake of comparison… I grabbed my Kali install and tried getting this going on it as well. When I start GQPX in Kali I get this output:

linux; GNU C++ version 7.2.0; Boost_106200; UHD_003.010.002.000-0-unknown

Controlport disabled
No user supplied config file. Using "default.conf"
gr-osmosdr 0.1.4 (0.1.4) gnuradio 3.7.11
built-in source types: file osmosdr fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd miri hackrf bladerf rfspace airspy airspyhf soapy redpitaya freesrp 
FM demod gain: 3.05577
Resampling audio 96000 -> 48000
IQ DCR alpha: 1.04166e-05
Using audio backend: auto
BookmarksFile is /root/.config/gqrx/bookmarks.csv
getDeviceList : Available input devices:
    0 : "RFSPACE SDR-IQ Receiver"
    1 : "RFSPACE SDR-IP Receiver"
    2 : "RFSPACE NetSDR Receiver"
    3 : "RFSPACE Cloud-IQ Receiver"
    4 : "LimeSDR Mini [USB 3.0] 1D398FF169162C"
    5 : "RTL-SDR Spectrum Server"
    6 : "Red Pitaya Transceiver Server"
    7 : "Complex Sampled (IQ) File"
Loading configuration from: "default.conf"
Configuration file: "/root/.config/gqrx/default.conf"
gr-osmosdr 0.1.4 (0.1.4) gnuradio 3.7.11
built-in source types: file osmosdr fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd miri hackrf bladerf rfspace airspy airspyhf soapy redpitaya freesrp 
[INFO] Make connection: 'LimeSDR Mini [USB 3.0] 1D398FF169162C'
[INFO] Device name: LimeSDR-mini
[INFO] Reference: 40 MHz
[INFO] Init LMS7002M(0)
[INFO] Ver=7, Rev=1, Mask=1
[INFO] LMS7002M calibration values caching Disable
CGEN: Freq=80 MHz, VCO=2.56 GHz, INT=63, FRAC=0, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN=15
CGEN: Freq=61.44 MHz, VCO=2.4576 GHz, INT=60, FRAC=461373, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN=19
CGEN: Freq=61.44 MHz, VCO=2.4576 GHz, INT=60, FRAC=461373, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN=19
M=156, N=3, Fvco=1040.000 MHz
M=156, N=3, Fvco=1040.000 MHz
MCU programming : 16384/16384
MCU Programming finished, 2729 ms
CGEN: Freq=61.44 MHz, VCO=2.4576 GHz, INT=60, FRAC=461373, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN=19
CGEN: Freq=61.44 MHz, VCO=2.4576 GHz, INT=60, FRAC=461373, DIV_OUTCH_CGEN=19
M=156, N=3, Fvco=1040.000 MHz
M=156, N=3, Fvco=1040.000 MHz

FATAL: destination port 1 out of range for source_impl(47)

Trying to fill up 18446744073709551615 missing channel(s) with null source(s).
This is being done to prevent the application from crashing
due to gnuradio bug #528.

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::invalid_argument'
  what():  destination port 2 out of range for source_impl(47)
Aborted

So, still something going on here, and any help appreciated.

As you work through the documentation please don’t hesitate to send along drafts you might want me to test / review. I used to work as a technical author writing telecom installation documents.

4

Great, looks like it’s detecting the board fine. So you built Lime Suite from source?

Here are the key sections from my ~/.config/gqrx/default.conf:

[input]
antenna=NONE
bandwidth=5000000
dc_cancel=true
device=“driver=lime,soapy=0”
frequency=95295000
gains=@Variant(\0\0\0\b\0\0\0\x3\0\0\0\x6\0T\0I\0\x41\0\0\0\x2\0\0\0Z\0\0\0\x6\0P\0G\0\x41\0\0\0\x2\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\x6\0L\0N\0\x41\0\0\0\x2\0\0\0\0)
hwagc=true
sample_rate=5000000

[receiver]
demod=5
filter_high_cut=80000
filter_low_cut=-80000
offset=48000

You could try these as I have it working with my board here.

Much appreciated, thanks!

5

Thanks for the GQRX config, that did the trick! I don’t know why the Lime entry that was auto-detected didn’t work, but using the more generic “other” with driver=lime does for some reason! I did try applying the GQRX settings to Windows just to see if that fixed things but that didn’t work.

As for installation, Kali is based on Ubuntu. So, it was just a matter of hacking my sources list and adding a couple GPG keys and I was able to follow the standard apt-get commands.

1 Like
6

Glad to hear that you are up and running!

7

I also tried your config file for gqrx but i get plenty of errors and it wont work.
https://pastebin.com/azbWxM7Z
main errors–>
[ERROR] SetFrequencyCGEN(640 MHz) failed
[ERROR] MCU error code(6): Invalid Rx path

8

@IgnasJ, could you take a look, please.

9

I’m unable to make my LimeSDR Mini work in windows using the installation even when setting the “driver=lime,soapy=0” configuration up in gqrx. When something happens, it’s always a single tone at the middle of the frequency graph.

10

Can you try using SDR Console and let me know how you get on:

http://www.sdr-radio.com/Software/Downloads

11

Okay, I’ll try tonight.
I was working on trying to get the LimeSuite to work with it the other night as well. It connected once, so I was able to see I was on the 1.22 firmware but trying to update it just gave me a message that the download failed. Is there a place I can download the 1.24 firmware from and update it manually? After the failed update, I had a hard time trying to connect to it again.