GSM receiver using usrp-2901

[daniyel001]

Hello Everyone,

Recently I'm trying to analyze GSM signal by receiving with USRP 2901. can anyone help me with giving me proper instructions to do the VI in LabVIEW Communication System Design Software?
Thank you.

[yamadj]

Hey daniyel001,

I don't believe we have specific GSM functionality built into LabVIEW Communications.

If you are looking for alternatives we have a pretty good discussion about this in the LabVIEW forums.

Re: how to communicate with gsm using lab view [ New ] - https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/how-to-communicate-with-gsm-using-lab-view/m-p/1755502/highlight/tr...

Hope that helps!

[daniyel001]

Thank you yamadj for your reply! 

But what I want to know,

1) Is it possible to receive GSM signal with usrp-2901?

2) If possible then what will be the procedure to do it?

Please let me know if there are any VIs for GSM signal receiving and analysis.
Kind regards,
daniyel001

[yamadj]

Hey daniyel001,

The USRP-2901 is capable of taking in an RF signal and turning it into IQ data for use in LabVIEW Comms. As a result, it can take in a GSM signal as long as the GSM carrier frequency is within the frequency range of the USRP 2901 (70 MHz to 6 GHz).

However, the USRP itself will not do any demodulating or interpreting of the signal on its own. In this case, it acts as a RF front end. In LabVIEW Comms you can utilize the Modulation Toolkit to demodulate the IQ data you have gotten from your USRP.

I am not familiar with the kind of modulation used in GSM, but there a multitude of modulation schemes represented in Comms available in the help file. Below is a resource that could help.

Analog Demodulation Nodes - http://www.ni.com/documentation/en/labview-comms/2.0/mt-analog-node-ref/analog-demodulation-nodes/

Another path that might be closer to a solution, would be through using LabVIEW and RFmx GSM.

NI-RFmx GSM 2.2 - http://www.ni.com/download/ni-rfmx-gsm-2.2/6372/en/

There are more built out functions in this driver that might be a better fit for what you are looking for.

Hope this helps!

[daniyel001]

Hello yamadj,

Thank you for your help! I'll let you know if I get something useful or not. 

Kind Regards,

daniyel001

[yamadj]

Hey daniyel001,

Sounds good! Best of luck!

[daniyel001]

Hello  yamadj,

I've tried to solve the problem with gsm signal receiving by following those links that you gave me. What I found NI-RFmx GSM supports only NI-PXI  USRP series. Although I've tried NI-RFmx GSM examples by converting VIs compatible for LabVIEW comms. But I didn't find any useful resources. I think, I need to do this with openBTS in linux, though i don't know how to do it.

Thank you for your valuable time that you gave me to do the task. If you find something about GSM signal receiving and analysis with usrp 2901 in LabView comms please let me know.

Kind Regards,

daniyel001

[yamadj]

Hey daniyel001,

Sorry those resources weren't as helpful. From your last post it seems that NI might not have a built-in solution for what we're trying to do.

I did a bit of research and I think I've found some paths that might be good to look at. As a caveat some of these aren't a direct path but at least there are things he that we might be able to try.

It looks like in the USRP Software Radio NI forum some other users are trying to measure GSM signals as well. They talk about signal strength here so it may not be directly helpful, but you can probably reach out to some of the users and ask them what their software setup was.

receive GSM signals using USRP 2920  - https://forums.ni.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/500/thread-id/737/page/1

In addition,  it looks like another user is actually looking to use OpenBTS with one of our USRP-2953R devices. You may want to check out this thread to see if anything here is helpful. That specific device is going to be a bit different than your since it has an exposed (user-programmable) FPGA.

USRP-2953R with OpenBts  - https://forums.ni.com/t5/USRP-Software-Radio/USRP-2953R-with-OpenBts/td-p/3553578

Lastly, I found a github project about setting up OpenBTS on a NI USRP-2922 which is not the same as your device but I believe this setup should be pretty similar. If anything I might give you some good ideas to get started.

Setting up OpenBTS on National Instruments USRP 2922 - https://github.com/usamamuneeb/tech-guides/wiki/Setting-up-OpenBTS-on-National-Instruments-USRP-2922

Hopefully some of these leads might help. Also thanks again for posting as its always great to help with all the cool applications that our users come up with!

 Best,

[National_Burritos]

Hi Daniyel001,

RFmx is actually a library used for a different use case (more on testing chips on a production floor) than what you are looking to do.

Did you try the libraries in the Analysis>>Communications pallette? It has a lot of useful math. Also, you can try writing your own with either the math primitives available or the MathScript node to write in M.

There are a few examples of how to do this for FM in the Examples tab in the lobby (Getting Started >> FM Demodulation).

Rahul