uhd

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UHD - Device Identification Notes

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.. contents:: Table of Contents

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Identifying USRPs

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Devices are addressed through key/value string pairs.

These string pairs can be used to narrow down the search for a specific device or group of devices.

Most UHD utility applications and examples have a --args parameter that takes a device address;

where the device address is expressed as a delimited string.

See the documentation in types/device_addr.hpp for reference.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Common device identifiers

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Every device has several ways of identifying it on the host system:

+------------+------------+--------------------------------------------+

| Identifier | Key        | Notes                                      |

+============+============+============================================+

| Serial     | serial     | globally unique identifier                 |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------------------+

| Address    | addr       | unique identifier on a network             |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------------------+

| Name       | name       | optional user-set identifier               |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------------------+

| Type       | type       | hardware series identifier                 |

+------------+------------+--------------------------------------------+

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Device discovery via command line

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Devices attached to your system can be discovered using the "uhd_find_devices" program.

The find devices program scans your system for supported devices and prints

out an enumerated list of discovered devices and their addresses.

The list of discovered devices can be narrowed down by specifying device address args.

::

    uhd_find_devices

Device address arguments can be supplied to narrow the scope of the search.

::

    uhd_find_devices --args="type=usrp1"

    -- OR --

    uhd_find_devices --args="serial=12345678"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Device discovery through the API

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The device::find() API call searches for devices and returns a list of discovered devices.

::

    uhd::device_addr_t hint; //an empty hint discovers all devices

    uhd::device_addrs_t dev_addrs = uhd::device::find(hint);

The hint argument can be populated to narrow the scope of the search.

::

    uhd::device_addr_t hint;

    hint["type"] = "usrp1";

    uhd::device_addrs_t dev_addrs = uhd::device::find(hint);

    -- OR --

    uhd::device_addr_t hint;

    hint["serial"] = "12345678";

    uhd::device_addrs_t dev_addrs = uhd::device::find(hint);

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Device properties

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Properties of devices attached to your system can be probed with the "uhd_usrp_probe" program.

The usrp probe program constructs an instance of the device and prints out its properties;

properties such as detected daughter-boards, frequency range, gain ranges, etc...

**Usage:**

::

    uhd_usrp_probe --args <device-specific-address-args>

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Naming a USRP

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For convenience purposes, users may assign a custom name to their USRPs.

The USRP can then be identified via name, rather than a difficult to remember serial or address.

A name has the following properties:

* is composed of ASCII characters

* is between 0 and 20 characters

* is not required to be unique

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Set a custom name

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Run the following commands:

::

    cd <install-path>/share/uhd/utils

    ./usrp_burn_mb_eeprom --args=<optional device args> --key=name --val=lab1_xcvr

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Discovery via name

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The keyword "name" can be used to narrow the scope of the search.

Example with the find devices utility:

::

    uhd_find_devices --args="name=lab1_xcvr"

    -- OR --

    uhd_find_devices --args="type=usrp1, name=lab1_xcvr"