Cellular Network Infrastructure » Radio Access Network » OsmoTRX

h1. [[OsmoTRX]]

{{>toc}}

[[OsmoTRX]] is a software-defined radio transceiver that implements the Layer 1 physical layer of a BTS comprising the following 3GPP specifications:

* TS 05.01 "Physical layer on the radio path"

* TS 05.02 "Multiplexing and Multiple Access on the Radio Path"

* TS 05.04 "Modulation"

* TS 05.10 "Radio subsystem synchronization"

[[OsmoTRX]] is based on the transceiver code from the [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] project, but setup to operate independently with the purpose of using with non-OpenBTS software and projects, while still maintaining backwards compatibility with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]]. Currently there are numerous features contained in [[OsmoTRX:]] that extend the functionality of the [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] transceiver. These features include enhanced support for various embedded platforms - notably ARM - and dual channel diversity support for the Fairwaves [[umtrx:]].

h2. OsmoTRX user manuals and documentation

User Manual can be found "here":https://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-usermanual.pdf.

VTY Reference can be found here for "osmo-trx-ipc":https://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-ipc-vty-reference.pdf, "osmo-trx-lms":https://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-lms-vty-reference.pdf, "osmo-trx-uhd":https://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-uhd-vty-reference.pdf and "osmo-trx-usrp1":https://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-usrp1-vty-reference.pdf

:http://ftp.osmocom.org/docs/latest/osmotrx-vty-reference.pdf.

h2. OsmoTRX in the Osmocom GSM architecture (old OsmoNITB case)

{{graphviz_link()

digraph G {

    rankdir = LR;

    SDR -> OsmoTRX [label="Raw Samples"];

    OsmoTRX -> OsmoBTS [label="bursts over UDP"];

    OsmoBTS -> OsmoNITB [label="Abis/IP"];

    OsmoBTS -> OsmoPCU [label="pcu_sock"];

    OsmoPCU -> OsmoSGSN [label="Gb/IP"];

    OsmoTRX [color=red];

}

}}

h2. OsmoTRX in the Osmocom GSM architecture (new OsmoBSC+OsmoMSC case)

{{graphviz_link()

digraph G {

    rankdir = LR;

    SDR -> OsmoTRX [label="Raw Samples"];

    OsmoTRX -> OsmoBTS [label="bursts over UDP"];

    OsmoBTS -> OsmoBSC [label="Abis/IP"];

    OsmoBSC -> OsmoMSC [label="AoIP"];

    OsmoBTS -> OsmoPCU [label="pcu_sock"];

    OsmoPCU -> OsmoSGSN [label="Gb/IP"];

    OsmoTRX [color=red];

}

}}

h2. RF Hardware support

Multiple RF devices are currently supported. These include USRP family products from Ettus Research, and the [[UmTRX:]] from Fairwaves, as well as LimeSDR devices from "Lime Microsystems":https://limemicro.com/ using "LimeSuite":https://github.com/myriadrf/LimeSuite.

more details (e.g. signal levels) are provided in the hardware specific pages:

{{child_pages(HardwareSupport)}}

h2. Embedded Platform Support

[[OsmoTRX]] has been tested on the multiple embedded platforms representing a wide range of device types. Low cost ARM devices are generally limited by memory and I/O as much CPU utilization.

Running a full or near full ARFCN configuration (7 simultaneous TCH channels with Combination V) may require running the GSM stack remotely, which can be configured at runtime on the command line. This limitation appears to be scheduling related more so than lack of CPU resources, and may be resolved at a later time.

|_.Platform|_.SoC*|_.Processor|_.SIMD/FPU|_.Testing Notes|

|ArndaleBoard|Samsung Exynos 5250|ARM Cortex-A15|NEON-VFPv4|7 TCH|

|BeagleBoard-xM|Texas Instruments OMAP3|ARM Cortex-A8|NEON|7 TCH, remote [[osmobts:]] stack|

|Ettus E100|Texas Instruments OMAP3|ARM Cortex-A8|NEON|7 TCH, remote [[osmobts:]] stack|

|Raspberry Pi|Broadcom BCM2835|ARM11|VFP|2 TCH, remote [[osmobts:]] stack|

|Shuttle PC|NA|Intel Atom D2550|SSE3|Dual channel, 15 TCH|

All embedded plaforms were tested with low-phase error modulator disabled. Use of the more accurate modulator on embedded platforms has not been extensively tested.

h2. Features

*Intel SSE Support*

* SSE3

* SSE4.1

On Intel processors, [[OsmoTRX]] makes heavy use of the Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) instruction set. Accelerated operations include pulse shape filtering, resampling, sequence correlation, and many other signal processing operations. SSE3 is the minimum requirement for accelerated use.

SSE3 is present in the majority of Intel processors since later versions of the Pentium 4 architecture and is also present on low power Atom processors. Support is automatically detected at build time. For additional performance information, please see the performance and benchmarks section.

*ARM Support*

* NEON

* NEON-VFPv4

[[OsmoTRX]] runs on a variety of ARM processors with and without NEON coprocessors. Like SSE on Intel processors, NEON provides acceleration with SIMD vectorized instructions.

Tested popular architectures include ARM11 (Raspberry Pi), Cortex-A8 (!BeagleBoard), and Cortex-A15 (!ArndaleBoard). Loosely speaking, these platforms are representative of low cost embedded devices, mid-level handsets, and high-end smartphones respectively. Similarly, in order, these platforms include no NEON coprocessor, standard NEON, and NEON-VFPv4. The latter NEON variation, VFPv4, provides additional fused-multiply-accumulate (FMA) instructions useful for many DSP operations.

NEON support must be enabled by the user at build time. For additional information, please see the configuration and performance and benchmarks sections.

*Dual Channel (UmTRX and B210)*

Two dual channel modes are available: standard dual channel mode and diversity. In standard dual channel mode, each RF

path of the dual channel device supports a different ARFCN. Each path operates independently a

nd operates similarly to two separate devices. GSM channel capacity in this mode is doubled. This option can be configured at run time from the command line.

*Dual Channel Diversity (UmTRX, experimental)*

Diversity mode is similar to the standard dual channel mode except each antenna supports both ARFCN channels. In this case, the receiver sample bandwidth is widened to handle both ARFCN's and subsequently converted and demultiplexed into separate sample streams. Each GSM receive path is fed dual signals, where antenna selection diversity is performed by taking the stronger signal on a burst-by-burst basis. This diversity setup improves uplink reception performance in multipath fading environments.

Limitations are increased CPU utilization and that ARFCN spacing is restricted (currently at 400 kHz) by the receiver sampling bandwidth. Setting the ARFCN spacing beyond the sampling limit will disable the diversity path and operate in standard dual channel mode. This options can be configured at run time from the command line.

*Uplink Burst Detection*

[[OsmoTRX]] utilizes an updated receive burst detection algorithm that provides greater sensitivity and reliability than the original [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] approach, which relied on energy detection for the initial stage of burst acquisition.

The limitation of the previous approach was that it was slow to adapt to highly transient power levels and false burst detection in challenging situations such as receiver saturation, which may occur in close range lab testing. The other issue was that a high degree of level tuning was often necessary to operate reliably.

The current receiver code addressed those limitations for improved performance in a wider variety of environments.

*Low Phase Error Modulator*

The default GSM downlink signal is configured for low distortion using a linearized GMSK modulator. The implementation is based on a two pulse Laurent approximation of continuous phase modulated (CPM) signals. The baseband output signal measures with very low phase error and is capable of passing industry spectrum mask requirements. Please note that actual performance will depend strongly on the particular device in use.

Theoretical details can be found in the report on "GMSK":http://tsou.cc/gsm/report_gmsk.pdf. Octave / Matlab code for "pulse generation":http://tsou.cc/gsm/laurent.m is also available.

This option can be enabled or disabled at run time from the command line.

Very Low Phase Error (Ettus Research N200)

!osmo-trx-phase.gif!

Spectrum Mask (Ettus Research N200)

!osmo-trx-spectrum.gif!

h2. Mailing List / Forum

For development purposes, [[OsmoTRX:]] is discussed on the [[OpenBSC:]] mailing list at openbsc@lists.osmocom.org.

Subscription information is available at http://lists.osmocom.org/mailman/listinfo/openbsc/.  Please make sure to read our [[cellular-infrastructure:MailingListRules]] before posting.

We now also have a "2G RAN category on our discourse forum":https://discourse.osmocom.org/c/cni/geran

h2. GPRS support

* [[OsmoTRX]] supports the GPRS (and EGPRS/EDGE) features of [[osmoPCU:]] and [[osmoBTS:]] as well as the remaining Osmocom stack, such as [[OsmoSGSN:]] and [[OpenGGSN:OsmoGGSN]]

* [[OsmoTRX]] does not support GPRS in combination with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]].  For that, please use the transceiver supplied with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]].

h2. Source code

The source code is available from gitea.osmocom.org (module osmo-trx).

Public read-only access is available via

<pre>

$ git clone https://gitea.osmocom.org/cellular-infrastructure/osmo-trx.git

</pre>

You can browse it via gitea: https://gitea.osmocom.org/cellular-infrastructure/osmo-trx

h2. Dependencies

Install libusb-1.0 and libbost dev packages. On debian 8.4:

<pre>

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends libusb-1.0-0-dev libboost-dev

</pre>

h3. UHD

Unless using USRP1, you will need the Universal Hardware Driver (UHD),

which is available from Ettus Research or Fairwaves; the UHD implementation

must match your hardware:

* Ettus Research UHD for USRP devices

* Fairwaves UHD with [[UmTRX:]]

* USRP1 does not use the UHD driver, it is supported through the legacy libusrp driver provided in GNU Radio 3.4.2.

h3. UHD for Debian

When you are reading this, Debian packages for UHD may be sufficient for running osmo-trx and osmo-bts-trx.

here are some of the packages that need to be installed:

<pre>

sudo apt-get install libuhd-dev uhd-host

</pre>

*Troubleshooting:*

At the time of writing this (2016-12), for Debian 8 aka jessie you need to use the jessie-backports packages:

<pre>

sudo -s

echo "deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/uhd.list

apt-get update

apt-get -t jessie-backports install libuhd-dev uhd-host

</pre>

It may also be possible to use the pothos PPA instead:

<pre>

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:guruofquality/pothos

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt install libboost-dev uhd

</pre>

h3. Firmware

You also need to download the firmware using a script provided by the UHD package.

Instructions suggest running the script as root, but this way is less dangerous:

<pre>

sudo mkdir /usr/share/uhd

sudo chown $USER: /usr/share/uhd

/usr/lib/uhd/utils/uhd_images_downloader.py

</pre>

You can flash the FPGA data you just downloaded with the following command, setting type and other parameters accordingly to your hw. For instance for an Ettus B200:

<pre>

uhd_image_loader --args="type=b200"

</pre>

The uhd_image_loader claims it can update the firmware too, but at least on some versions it does nothing when asked to update firmware. If you see no output of firwmare being flashed, you can use this other command line to flash the firmware, adapting it to the firmware file of your HW:

<pre>

/usr/lib/uhd/utils/b2xx_fx3_utils --load-fw /usr/share/uhd/images/usrp_b200_fw.hex

</pre>

h3. Group

You may need to add yourself to the usrp group:

<pre>

sudo gpasswd -a $USER usrp

# and re-login to acquire the group

</pre>

h3. Verify

run uhd_find_devices to make sure b200 is available:

<pre>

$ uhd_find_devices 

linux; GNU C++ version 4.9.1; Boost_105500; UHD_003.007.003-0-unknown

--------------------------------------------------

-- UHD Device 0

--------------------------------------------------

Device Address:

    type: b200

    name: MyB210

    serial: 1C0FFEE

    product: B210

</pre>

h2. Configuration and Build

First, run autoreconf to remake the build system files.

<pre>

$ autoreconf -i

...

</pre>

*Intel Platforms (All)*

Intel SSE support is automatically detected on Intel x86 platforms. No user intervention is necessary. The general configuration defaults to the low phase error modulator. Atom users may wish to use the low-CPU utilization modulator, which can be later enabled from the command line at runtime.

<pre>

$ ./configure

...

checking whether mmx is supported... yes

checking whether sse is supported... yes

checking whether sse2 is supported... yes

checking whether sse3 is supported... yes

checking whether ssse3 is supported... yes

checking whether sse4.1 is supported... yes

checking whether sse4.2 is supported... yes

...

</pre>

*ARM Platforms with NEON*

Many popular ARM development boards fall under this category including BeagleBoard, PandaBoard, and Ettus E100 USRP. This option will disable the low phase error modulator, which can be re-enabled at runtime. NEON support must be manually enabled.

<pre>

$ ./configure --with-neon

</pre>

*ARM Platforms with NEON-VFPv4*

Currently very few development platforms support this instruction set, which is seen mainly in high end smartphones and tablets. Available development boards are ArndaleBoard and ODROID-XU. This option will disable the low phase error modulator, which can be re-enabled at runtime. NEON-VFPv4 support must be manually enabled.

<pre>

$ ./configure --with-neon-vfpv4

</pre>

*ARM Platforms without NEON*

This configuration mainly targets the Raspberry Pi. ARM platforms without NEON vector units are almost always very slow processors, and generally not very suitable for running [[OsmoTRX]]. Running [[OsmoTRX]] on a Raspberry Pi, however, is possible along with limited TCH (voice) channel support. Currently this configuration requires minor code changes.

Coming soon...

*Choosing your target device*

Different SDR boards are managed using different software or libraries, usually provided by the vendor. As a result, different @osmo-trx@ binaries can be built based on which device one targets. For instance, if support for LimeSDR is required, one must use the @osmo-trx-lms@ binary, whereas if a UHD device is targeted, @osmo-trx-uhd must be used, and so on. Build of different @osmo-trx@ binaries is controlled at configure time:

<pre>

      --with-uhd              enable UHD based transceiver

      --with-usrp1            enable USRP1 gnuradio based transceiver

      --with-lms              enable LimeSuite based transceiver

</pre>

*Build and Install*

After configuration, installation is simple.

<pre>

$ make

$ sudo make install

</pre>

h2. Running

Normally simply start @osmo-trx-uhd@ or similar, based on your target device. You only need to remember to pass a suitable config file.

[[OsmoTRX]] can be configured with a variety of options. You can find examples for several different devices under @doc/examples@ of @osmo-trx.git@ directory.

See section [[OsmoTRX#OsmoTRX-user-manuals-and-documentation|"OsmoTRX user manuals and documentation"]] where you can find links to the VTY reference.

<pre>

$ osmo-trx-uhd -C default.cfg

linux; GNU C++ version 5.3.1 20151219; Boost_105800; UHD_003.009.002-0-unknown

opening configuration table from path :memory:

Config Settings

   Log Level............... NOTICE

   Device args............. 

   TRX Base Port........... 5700

   TRX Address............. 127.0.0.1

   Channels................ 1

   Tx Samples-per-Symbol... 4

   Rx Samples-per-Symbol... 1

   EDGE support............ Disabled

   Reference............... Internal

   C0 Filler Table......... Disabled

   Multi-Carrier........... Disabled

   Diversity............... Disabled

   Tuning offset........... 0

   RSSI to dBm offset...... 0

   Swap channels........... 0

-- Detected Device: B200

-- Loading FPGA image: /usr/share/uhd/images/usrp_b200_fpga.bin... done

-- Operating over USB 2.

-- Detecting internal GPSDO.... No GPSDO found

-- Initialize CODEC control...

-- Initialize Radio control...

-- Performing register loopback test... pass

-- Performing CODEC loopback test... pass

-- Asking for clock rate 16.000000 MHz... 

-- Actually got clock rate 16.000000 MHz.

-- Performing timer loopback test... pass

-- Setting master clock rate selection to 'automatic'.

-- Asking for clock rate 26.000000 MHz... 

-- Actually got clock rate 26.000000 MHz.

-- Performing timer loopback test... pass

-- Setting B200 4/1 Tx/Rx SPS

-- Transceiver active with 1 channel(s)

</pre>

Remember OsmoTRX binaries provide a VTY interface like other osmocom programs, where you can for instance set up logging as desired. VTY is available by default under @localhost@ port @4237@.

h2. [[OsmoTRX]] with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]]

[[OsmoTRX]] is fully compatible with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] for voice and SMS services. Due to differences in handing of GPRS, [[OsmoTRX]] does not support GPRS when used with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]], however, GPRS with the Osmocom stack is supported.

For use with [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]], enable the filler table option "Enable C0 filler table", which enables [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] style idle bursts and retransmissions.

<pre>

$ osmo-trx-uhd -C default.cfg -f

</pre>

The [[OsmoTRX]] transceiver should be started before running [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]]. No symbolic link to './transceiver' should exist in the [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] directory. This prevents [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] from starting its own transceiver instance.

h2. Authors

The code is derived from the [[OsmoBTS:OpenBTS]] project, which was originally developed by David Burgess and Harvind Samra at Range Networks.

It was subsequently maintained by Tom Tsou and Alexander Chemeris, while more recently sysmocom has taken over the role of maintainer.

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