Reference Information for NI USRP Radio Setup Wizard

The Radio Setup wizard of the Wireless Testbench™ Support Package for NI™ USRP™ Radios leads you through steps to connect and set up your radio for use in Wireless Testbench. Use this section as a reference to get more information about how to perform these steps. For more information about how to start the wizard, see Start Radio Setup Wizard.

SD Card Image Creation

For NI USRP radios with an SD card, the host computer must have at least one microSD card reader and one writable microSD card. The radio takes a microSD card, and if the host has a standard SD card reader, you can use an adapter. If the host computer does not have an integrated card reader, use an external USB SD card reader.

If your host computer has a Linux^® operating system (OS), your SD card must have a FAT32 partition with a minimum of 14.8 GB of free space.
If your host computer has a Windows^® OS, your SD card must have a formatted partition and a minimum of 14.8 GB of free space.
Note
If you previously used your SD card with a USRP radio on a Windows OS, your SD card can show up as a disk containing multiple partitions in the Drive dropdown.

Radio Device Connection

The Ethernet connection is often referred to as a network connection. You can use an integrated network interface card (NIC) with a Gigabit Ethernet cable. This connection is necessary for transmitting data, such as the field programmable gate array (FPGA) image or firmware image, from the computer to the radio. It is also necessary for sending and receiving signals to and from the radio. For NI USRP radios, the host computer must contain at least one dedicated 1 or 10 Gigabit NIC for connecting to the radio. If you have a single NIC that is required for internet access, consider using a USB3/Ethernet adapter dongle. However, using an adapter can reduce data transfer speed between the computer and the radio. You can use the small form-factor pluggable (SFP) network interface with a Gigabit Ethernet cable.

Network Configuration

The network configuration of the host IP address is persistent on Windows. However, on Linux systems, unless you make the changes in your network connection persistent, a system reboot resets the network connection changes and loses the host-to-radio connection.

To retain the host-to-radio connection during a computer reboot on Linux systems, make the network connection changes to the host computer persistent by editing the /etc/network/interfaces file.

Edit /etc/network/interfaces to define settings for eth1.
Use an IP address on the same subnet as your radio (that is, with three initial octets that match those of your radio) and a unique value for the fourth octet. For example:
```
auto eth1 
iface eth1 inet static 
    address 192.168.30.1 
    netmask 255.255.255.0
```

Validate Radio Connection

Host and Radio Configuration

During the first three validation tests, the Radio Setup wizard validates the host and the radio configuration. You can progress to the next wizard step by passing these tests.

If the host IP address configuration test fails, check that the host IP address that you selected in the Select Link Configuration wizard step matches the host OS network configuration.
If the host-radio connection test fails:
- Check that the physical connection between the radio and host is through the correct ports.
- Check that the radio is on or try powering the radio off then on again.
- Go back to the Set Up SD Card step in the wizard and set up the SD card again with a compatible image.
If the radio SD card image version test fails (applies only to NI USRP radios with an SD card reader):
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Go back to the Set Up SD Card step in the wizard and set up the SD card again with a compatible image.
If the version test fails for the image of the radio filesystem (applies only to NI USRP X410 radios):
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Update the radio filesystem manually. For instructions, see Update Radio Filesystem.

OS Optimization and Data Transfer

During the last two validation tests, the Radio Setup wizard validates the OS optimization setting and the data transfer. Any validation failure that occurs during these steps does not stop you from progressing to the next wizard step. However, to optimize the transfer speed between the host computer and the radio and to ensure that your radio can transmit and receive signals, consider fixing all validation failures.

If the host OS optimization test fails, update your OS settings. For instructions, see Data Transfer Optimization.
If the radio transmit and receive test fails:
- Fix any OS optimization test failure that occurs in the previous validation test.
- Disable any OS firewall for the host network interface that is connected to the radio.
- Check that you have attached an antenna or a loopback cable to the correct port.

Update Radio Filesystem

If the version validation of the NI USRP X410 radio filesystem image fails, you must update the filesystem manually.

Follow the steps in the wizard to download, extract, and validate the correct filesystem image file.
Update your radio filesystem by using a Windows PowerShell or Linux terminal. By default, the radio IP address is 192.168.10.2. If in the network configuration step of the wizard you configured your radio with a different IP address, specify that IP address instead of 192.168.10.2 in these commands.
1. Copy the extracted .mender filesystem image file onto the radio. If necessary, provide the full path to the image file.
  $ scp -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no <mender_filesystem_image> root@192.168.10.2:/tmp/wt-uhd-image.mender
2. Log in to the radio.
  $ ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.10.2
3. Install the new filesystem image. Then restart your radio. These steps take several minutes.
  # mender install /tmp/wt-uhd-image.mender # reboot
4. Log in to the radio.
  $ ssh -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.10.2
5. Make the filesystem changes permanent on the radio.
  # mender commit
For more information on updating the radio filesystem, see Installing the Mender Artifact on the hardware vendor website.
Return to the Radio Setup wizard and follow the instructions to revalidate your radio setup.

Data Transfer Optimization

To optimize the transfer speed between the host computer and the radio, you must update the FastSendDatagramThreshold registry key on Windows or the wmem and rmem network buffer sizes on Linux systems. To automatically update your OS with this setting, click Press here to set in the Validate step of the Radio Setup wizard. If you encounter issues during this update, follow these steps to manually update your OS.

Windows

Locate the FastSendDatagramThreshold.reg file at UHD_INSTALL/win64 path by running these commands.
```
>> uhd_install_location = getUHDInstallLocation
>> cd(fullfile(uhd_install_location,'win64'))
```
Double-click and run the FastSendDatagramThreshold.reg file.
Restart your computer.

Linux

Run these commands in a terminal.

`echo "net.core.rmem_max=2500000" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf`
`echo "net.core.wmem_max=2500000" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf`
`sudo sysctl -p`