Notes:¶

The -d option takes a device specifier string. See the bladerf_open() documentation for more information about the format of this string.

If the -d parameter is not provided, the first available device will be used for the provided command, or will be opened prior to entering interactive mode.

Commands are executed in the following order:

Command line options, -e <command>, script commands, interactive mode commands.

When running 'rx/tx start' from a script or via -e, ensure these commands are later followed by 'rx/tx wait [timeout]' to ensure the program will not attempt to exit before reception/transmission is complete.

calibrate¶

Usage: calibrate <operation> [options]

Perform the specified transceiver calibration operation.

Available operations:

•

LMS internal DC offset auto-calibrations

•

RX and TX I/Q DC offset correction parameter calibration

•

RX and TX I/Q balance correction parameter calibration

•

Generate RX or TX I/Q DC correction parameter tables

•

Generate RX or TX I/Q DC correction parameter tables for AGC Look Up Table

clear¶

Usage: clear

Clears the screen.

echo¶

Usage: echo [arg 1] [arg 2] ... [arg n]

Echo each argument on a new line.

erase¶

Usage: erase <offset> <count>

Erase specified erase blocks SPI flash.

•

<offset> - Erase block offset

•

<count> - Number of erase blocks to erase

flash_backup¶

Usage: flash_backup <file> (<type> | <address> <length>)

Back up flash data to the specified file. This command takes either two or four arguments. The two-argument invocation is generally recommended for non-development use.

Parameters:

•

<type> - Type of backup.

•

<address> - Address of data to back up. Must be erase block-aligned.

•

<len> - Length of region to back up. Must be erase block-aligned.

Note: When an address and length are provided, the image type will default to raw.

Examples:

•

flash_backup cal.bin cal

•

flash_backup cal_raw.bin 0x30000 0x10000

flash_image¶

Usage: flash_image <image> [output options]

Print a flash image’s metadata or create a new flash image. When provided with the name of a flash image file as the only argument, this command will print the metadata contents of the image.

The following options may be used to create a new flash image.

•

data=<file>

•

address=<addr>

•

type=<type>

•

serial=<serial>

flash_init_cal¶

Usage: flash_init_cal <fpga_size> <vctcxo_trim> [<output_file>]

Create and write a new calibration data region to the currently opened device, or to a file. Be sure to back up calibration data prior to running this command. (See the flash_backup command.)

•

<fpga_size>

•

<vctcxo_trim>

•

<output_file>

flash_restore¶

Usage: flash_restore <file> [<address> <length>]

Restore flash data from a file, optionally overriding values in the image metadata.

•

<address>

•

<length>

fw_log¶

Usage: fw_log [filename]

Read the contents of the device’s firmware log and write it to the specified file. If no filename is specified, the log content is written to stdout.

help¶

Usage: help [<command>]

Provides extended help, like this, on any command.

info¶

Usage: info

Prints the following information about an opened device:

•

Serial number

•

VCTCXO DAC calibration value

•

FPGA size

•

Whether or not the FPGA is loaded

•

USB bus, address, and speed

•

Backend (Denotes which device interface code is being used.)

•

Instance number

jump_to_boot¶

Usage: jump_to_boot

Clear out a FW signature word in flash and jump to FX3 bootloader.

The device will continue to boot into the FX3 bootloader across power cycles until new firmware is written to the device.

load¶

Usage: load <fpga|fx3> <filename>

Load an FPGA bitstream or program the FX3’s SPI flash.

xb¶

Usage: xb <board_model> <subcommand> [parameters]

Enable or configure an expansion board.

Valid values for board_model:

•

100

•

200

•

300

Common subcommands:

•

enable

XB-200 subcommands:

•

filter [rx|tx] [50|144|222|custom|auto_1db|auto_3db]

XB-300 subcommands:

•

<pa|lna|aux> [on|off]

•

<pwr>

•

trx <rx|tx>

Examples:

•

xb 200 enable

•

xb 200 filter rx 144

•

xb 300 enable

•

xb 300 lna on

•

xb 300 pa off

mimo¶

Usage: mimo [master | slave]

Modify device MIMO operation.

IMPORTANT: This command is deprecated and has been superseded by "print/set smb_mode". For usage text, run: “set smb_mode”

open¶

Usage: open [device identifiers]

Open the specified device for use with successive commands. Any previously opened device will be closed.

The general form of the device identifier string is:

<backend>:[device=<bus>:<addr>] [instance=<n>] [serial=<serial>]

See the bladerf_open() documentation in libbladeRF for the complete device specifier format.

peek¶

Usage: peek <rfic|pll|dac|lms|si> <address> [num_addresses]

The peek command can read any of the devices hanging off the FPGA. This includes the:

•

bladeRF 1: LMS6002D transceiver, VCTCXO trim DAC, Si5338 clock generator

•

bladeRF 2: AD9361 transceiver, VCTCXO trim DAC, ADF4002 frequency synthesizer

If num_addresses is supplied, the address is incremented by 1 and another peek is performed for that many addresses.

Valid Address Ranges:

Example:

•

peek si ...

poke¶

Usage: poke <rfic|pll|dac|lms|si> <address> <data>

The poke command can write any of the devices hanging off the FPGA. This includes the:

•

bladeRF 1: LMS6002D transceiver, VCTCXO trim DAC, Si5338 clock generator

•

bladeRF 2: AD9361 transceiver, VCTCXO trim DAC, ADF4002 frequency synthesizer

Valid Address Ranges:

Example:

•

poke lms ...

print¶

Usage: print [parameter]

The print command takes a parameter to print. Available parameters are listed below. If no parameter is specified, all parameters are printed.

Common parameters:

BladeRF1-only parameters:

BladeRF2-only parameters:

probe¶

Usage: probe [strict]

Search for attached bladeRF device and print a list of results.

Without specifying strict, the lack of any available devices is not considered an error.

When provided the optional strict argument, this command will treat the situation where no devices are found as an error, causing scripts or lists of commands provided via the -e command line argument to terminate immediately.

quit¶

Usage: quit

Exit the CLI.

recover¶

Usage: recover [<bus> <address> <firmware file>]

Load firmware onto a device running in bootloader mode, or list all devices currently in bootloader mode.

With no arguments, this command lists the USB bus and address for FX3-based devices running in bootloader mode.

When provided a bus, address, and path to a firmware file, the specified device will be loaded with and begin executing the provided firmware.

In most cases, after successfully loading firmware into the device’s RAM, users should open the device with the “open” command, and write the firmware to flash via “load fx3 <firmware file>”

run¶

Usage: run <script>

Run the provided script.

rx¶

Usage: rx <start | stop | wait | config [param=val [param=val [...]]>

Receive IQ samples and write them to the specified file. Reception is controlled and configured by one of the following:

Running rx without any additional commands is valid shorthand for rx config.

The wait command takes an optional timeout parameter. This parameter defaults to units of milliseconds (ms). The timeout unit may be specified using the ms or s suffixes. If this parameter is not provided, the command will wait until the reception completes or Ctrl-C is pressed.

Configuration parameters take the form param=value, and may be specified in a single or multiple rx config invocations. Below is a list of available parameters.

Example:

•

rx config file=/tmp/data.bin format=bin n=10K

•

rx config file=mimo.csv format=csv n=32768 channel=1,2

Notes:

•

The n, samples, buffers, and xfers parameters support the suffixes K, M, and G, which are multiples of 1024.

•

An rx stop followed by an rx start will result in the samples file being truncated. If this is not desired, be sure to run rx config to set another file before restarting the rx stream.

•

For higher sample rates, it is advised that the binary output format be used, and the output file be written to RAM (e.g. /tmp, /dev/shm), if space allows. For larger captures at higher sample rates, consider using an SSD instead of a HDD.

•

The CSV format produces two columns per channel, with the first two columns corresponding to the I,Q pair for the first channel configured with the channel parameter; the next two columns corresponding to the I,Q of the second channel, and so on.

trigger¶

Usage: trigger [<trigger> <tx | rx> [<off slave master fire>]]

If used without parameters, this command prints the state of all triggers. When and <tx | rx> and supplied, the specified trigger is printed.

Below are the available options for :

Note that all three of the above options map to the same logical port on all devices (mini_exp[1]). Multiple options are provided for reverse compatibility and clarity.

The trigger is controlled and configured by providing the last argument, which may be one of the following:

A trigger chain consists of a single or multiple bladeRF units and may contain TX and RX modules. If multiple bladeRF units are used they need to be connected via the signal specified by and a common ground.

The following sequence of commands should be used to ensure proper synchronization. It is assumed that all triggers are off initially.

1.

Configure designated trigger master

2.

Configure all other devices as trigger slaves

3.

Configure and start transmit or receive streams.

4.

Set fire-request on master trigger

5.

Finish the transmit and receive tasks as usual

6.

Re-configure the master and slaves to clear fire requests and re-arm.

7.

Disable triggering on all slaves

8.

Disable triggering on master

Notes:

•

Synchronizing transmitters and receivers on a single chain will cause an offset of 11 samples between TX and RX; these samples should be discarded. This is caused by different processing pipeline lengths of TX and RX. This value might change if the FPGA code is updated in the future.

tx¶

Usage: tx <start | stop | wait | config [parameters]>

Read IQ samples from the specified file and transmit them. Transmission is controlled and configured by one of the following:

Running tx without any additional commands is valid shorthand for tx config.

The wait command takes an optional timeout parameter. This parameter defaults to units of milliseconds (ms). The timeout unit may be specified using the ms or s suffixes. If this parameter is not provided, the command will wait until the transmission completes or Ctrl-C is pressed.

Configuration parameters take the form param=value, and may be specified in a single or multiple tx config invocations. Below is a list of available parameters.

Example:

•

tx config file=data.bin format=bin repeat=2 delay=250000

•

tx config file=mimo.csv format=csv repeat=0 channel=1,2

Notes:

•

The n, samples, buffers, and xfers parameters support the suffixes K, M, and G, which are multiples of 1024.

•

For higher sample rates, it is advised that the input file be stored in RAM (e.g. /tmp, /dev/shm) or on an SSD, rather than a HDD.

•

The CSV format expects two columns per channel, with the first two columns corresponding to the I,Q pair for the first channel configured with the channel parameter; the next two columns corresponding to the I,Q of the second channel, and so on. For example, in the mimo.csv example above, -128,128,-256,256 would transmit (-128,128) on TX1 and (-256,256) on TX2.

•

When providing CSV data, this command will first convert it to a binary format, stored in a file in the current working directory. During this process, out-of-range values will be clamped.

•

When using a binary format, the user is responsible for ensuring that the provided data values are within the allowed range. This prerequisite alleviates the need for this program to perform range checks in time-sensitive callbacks.

set¶

Usage: set <parameter> <arguments>

The set command takes a parameter and an arbitrary number of arguments for that particular parameter. In general, set <parameter> will display more help for that parameter.

Common parameters:

BladeRF1-only parameters:

BladeRF2-only parameters:

version¶

Usage: version

Prints version information for host software and the current device.