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bladeRF Source

This repository contains all the source code required to program and interact with a bladeRF platform, including firmware for the Cypress FX3 USB controller, HDL for the Altera Cyclone IV FPGA, and C code for the host side libraries, drivers, and utilities. The source is organized as follows:

Directory Description
firmware_common Source and header files common between firmware and host software
fx3_firmware Firmware for the Cypress FX3 USB controller
hdl All HDL code associated with the Cyclone IV FPGA
host Host-side libraries, drivers, utilities and samples

Quick Start

  1. Clone this repository via: git clone https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF.git
  2. Fetch the latest pre-built bladeRF FPGA image. See the README.md in the hdl directory for more information.
  3. Fetch the latest pre-built bladeRF firmware image. See the README.md in the fx3_firmware directory for more information.
  4. Follow the instructions in the host directory to build and install libbladeRF and the bladeRF-cli utility.
  5. Attach the bladeRF board to your fastest USB port.
  6. You should now be able to see your device in the list output via bladeRF-cli -p
  7. You can view additional information about the device via bladeRF-cli -e info -e version.
  8. If any warnings indicate that a firmware update is needed, run:bladeRF-cli -f <firmware_file>.
  • If you ever find the device booting into the FX3 bootloader (e.g., if you unplug the device in the middle of a firmware upgrade), see the recovery command in bladeRF-cli for additional details.
  1. See the overview of the bladeRF-cli for more information about loading the FPGA and using the command line interface tool

For more information, see the bladeRF wiki.

Build Variables

Below are global options to choose which parts of the bladeRF project should be built from the top level. Please see the fx3_firmware and host subdirectories for more specific options.

Option Description
-DENABLE_FX3_BUILD=<ON/OFF> Enables building the FX3 firmware. Default: OFF
-DENABLE_HOST_BUILD=<ON/OFF> Enables building the host library and utilities overall. Default: ON