How to set up and test an Ettus USRP N200 using Windows 10 or 11

[jmr007]

Hi
I've just acquired a box of old and unloved Ettus USRP N200 SDRs here. I think they could be well over 10 years old.

I don't know if any of them still work, but there are several with UHF daughterboards fitted and one without any daughterboard. Some have Firefly GPSDO boards and some don't. Getting these N200 modules to work has been a bit of a challenge. These are all the network version with the GB Ethernet connector (not USB) and I know the static IP address from reading the internal serial port.

However, I'm not getting much luck in getting any signs of life from any of them. So far I've only been using the Windows version of GNU radio. Has anyone here used these before? Is there a reliable and quick way to find out which ones still function? I suspect they all still work but I'm not having much luck so far.

I'm using the network version with the GB ethernet interface (not USB) so I'm not sure if I need to install any drivers. I have tried installing uhd_4.6.0.0-release_Win64_VS2019.exe but this doesn't seem to have made much difference. I can successfully ping the N200 at its address 192.168.10.2 and that's about as far as I can get. Ultimately, I'd like to use the N200 with Win10/11 and GNU radio.

I know Linux is the preferred OS but it does appear that Win10/11 can be used. However, I really have no idea what steps to take to find out if these units still work or not. I've used GNU radio with another SDR type with success and I'd really like to use the N200 as it appears to be quite powerful.

Thanks in advance for any replies...

[mikiofuku]

Hi, 

You might had better read to this.

This document describes how to do this on Linux, but it is the same on Windows. Just the path is different.

https://kb.ettus.com/Verifying_the_Operation_of_the_USRP_Using_UHD_and_GNU_Radio

uhd_find_devices

c:\Program Files\UHD\bin

examples

c:\Program Files\UHD\lib\uhd\examples

You should copy uhd.dll from c:\Program Files\UHD\bin to examples folder for execution.

[jmr007]

Thanks!

I'll give it a try this weekend. I also managed to find another Ettus N200 that was connected up to a NI PXI rack system at work. The owner of this is away at the moment but I think he will also be able to help me as he clearly has a working N200 USRP connected in the system. Maybe he can try swapping the USRPs that I have into his NI system to see if they work.

Regards

Jeremy

[jmr007]

I managed to find some time to play with this and I've made some progress (but not much).

I've managed to connect to the USRP but I think there's an FPGA image issue where my USRP is compatibility 10 but the system is expecting compatibility 11.

It tells me to run some command line stuff as admin and presumably this will update the FPGA in the N200. I'm not sure what to do here and run the risk of bricking it. I'm not sure anyone really cares if I brick these devices but it would be nice to know if it is easy and safe to attempt to update the FPGA in the USRP. Has anyone done this before?

I've been to the Ettus site here:

USRP Hardware Driver and USRP Manual: Firmware and FPGA Images (ettus.com)

Ettus seem to like to type out lots of individual (unconnected?) statements on their web pages as little packets of info. But this is not helpful.

Thanks!

[jmr007]

Could this actually be something to do with compatibility with Windows 10 and 11? I'm currently trying to do this with my new Dell XPS Win 11 PC (Intel i9).

[mikiofuku]

Hi
Windows version is irrelevant in this case.

You can use uhd_image_loader tool for updating FPGA images.

https://files.ettus.com/manual/page_usrp2.html#usrp2_loadflash

No need to worry. I've been using USRP for over 10 years and have never bricked it.

[jmr007]

Thanks. I've now succeeded in updating both the FW and the FPGA. I found the relevant command line info to use and I found the 3.11.0 FPGA and FW files. 

It now runs fine with GNU radio. Hurrah! I've managed to get a waterfall display up at UHF. I'm using one of the SBX 400MHz-4400MHz variants of the N200. This one doesn't have a GPSDO so I had to turn off the 1PPS selection in GNU radio. 

I'll see if I can get the other N200 devices upgraded and working. There are another six of them left in the box to evaluate. I think most of them are also SBX 400MHz-4400MHz variants and some have a GPSDO fitted.

Thanks very much for your help!