SDR (Software Defined Radio) » gr-gsm » OsmocomBB SDR PHY

h1. Setting up the software and running with use of Docker

It's possible to run the software in Docker containers. This way is recommended for beginners.

_Note:_ at the moment, there is a build script for GR-GSM TRX only.

The build script for [[gr-gsm:]] (i.e. Dockerfile) is shipped as a part of a separate project called "docker-playground". It's based on "base/archlinux" image, which provides the recent versions of both UHD and GNU Radio without tons of dependencies such as Xorg, GTK, fonts, etc.

h2. Building Docker image

You need to clone the "docker-playground" repository first:

<pre>

$ git clone git://git.osmocom.org/docker-playground/

</pre>

Then make sure you have stable Internet connection and enough disk space, and start building:

<pre>

$ cd docker-playground/

$ cd gr-gsm-master/

$ make build

</pre>

It will take a while...

As soon as the building process is finished, you should see the new images:

<pre>

$ docker image ls

REPOSITORY                TAG                 IMAGE ID            CREATED             SIZE

user/gr-gsm-master        latest              c5912ee7d6ae        About an hour ago   2.09GB

base/archlinux            latest              7477438791e3        28 hours ago        689MB

</pre>

Please note that *this container requires privileged access* to the host USB devices (USRPs).

h2. Running Docker image

Read the above part about [[SDR_PHY#Running|running]] first.

As soon as you build the image, feel free to start it:

<pre>

$ cd docker-playground/

$ cd gr-gsm-master/

$ make run

</pre>

The last command will drop you into a bash shell. As there are no build scripts for the higher layer applications of [[OsmocomBB:]], the following part assumes that you are running [[OsmocomBB:]] on the host side.

By default, Docker should create a network interface for interacting with containers:

<pre>

$ ip addr

# ...

5: docker0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default 

    link/ether 02:42:13:85:c2:c9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

    inet 172.17.0.1/16 scope global docker0

       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

</pre>

In this example, the host has 172.17.0.1 assigned. Remember this address.

_Note:_ make sure your firewall doesn't block the connections with Docker's interface.

The container itself should also have it's own address. You can check it:

<pre>

[root@f7e86148c1c2 tmp]# pacman -S net-tools

[root@f7e86148c1c2 tmp]# ifconfig

eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500

        inet 172.17.0.2  netmask 255.255.0.0  broadcast 0.0.0.0

        ether 02:42:ac:11:00:02  txqueuelen 0  (Ethernet)

        RX packets 40  bytes 139097 (135.8 KiB)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 32  bytes 2752 (2.6 KiB)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536

        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0

        loop  txqueuelen 1  (Local Loopback)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

</pre>

Now, make sure your hardware is available within the container:

<pre>

[root@f7e86148c1c2 tmp]# uhd_find_devices

# Device list will appear here

</pre>

And finally, start the transceiver:

<pre>

# You need to use IP address of the host

[root@f7e86148c1c2 tmp]# grgsm_trx --remote-addr 172.17.0.1

</pre>

and trxcon on the host side:

<pre>

$ cd osmocom-bb/src/host/trxcon/trxcon/

# You need to use IP address of the host

$ ./trxcon --trx-ip 172.17.0.2

</pre>

That's it!