RTL2832 GNU Radio Source block now in gr-baz

[Balint Seeber]

Hi folks,



I've just added RTL2832 support to gr-baz
<http://wiki.spench.net/wiki/Gr-baz> with support for both tuners (Elonics
E4000 and Fitipower FC0013).



I've taken rtl-sdr <http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr> and created a
fully-featured GNU Radio Source block
<http://wiki.spench.net/wiki/Gr-baz#rtl_source_c> 'baz.rtl_source_c' (with
GRC block) that outputs complex values, and allows adjustment of frequency,
sample rate and LNA gain. There is also an optional automatic tuner mode
control for the E4000. The Source block performs internal multi-threaded
buffering for smoother performance (this might be over-engineered, but it
seemed to help with the ExtIO plugin
<http://wiki.spench.net/wiki/USRP_Interfaces> I mentioned in my previous
post here).



You can get the source code from my SVN <http://svn.spench.net/main/gr-baz/>
or github <https://github.com/balint256/gr-baz> (though please visit the
info page <http://wiki.spench.net/wiki/Gr-baz#rtl_source_c> first for more
info/pre-reqs - e.g. libusb-1.0, etc). It's experimental, and not the
prettiest because I actually ported it back from the ExtIO plugin, but it
works for me and if you want to help test/clean it up then that would be
very much appreciated!



To see it in action, have a peek here:

Balint @spenchdotnet <http://twitter.com/spenchdotnet>

[mad]

Hi Balint, hi list!

Nice work creating a gnuradio source out of rtl-sdr, thank you for that.
But I've tested it using a Dexatek DVB-T Dongle which uses a FC0013 tuner and there are two issues I ran into.
First, there is the wrong handling of a return value when setting the frequency on the FC0013.
The attached patch integrates the Dexatek and fixes that issue.

But the second one isn't as easy to fix because I guess you would need some more insight into how a Gnuradio block is constructed to do that.
The following python std::runtime_error exception is thrown in grc everytime a graph using the RTL2832 source is started.

[...]
Wait delay: 11,130 ms

gr_fir_fff: using SSE

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/mad/gr/top_block.py", line 109, in <module>
tb = top_block()
File "/home/mad/gr/top_block.py", line 82, in __init__
self.connect((self.rtl2832_source_0, 0), (self.blks2_wfm_rcv_0, 0))
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/top_block.py", line 124, in connect
self._connect(points[i-1], points[i])
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/top_block.py", line 129, in _connect
self._tb.primitive_connect(src_block.to_basic_block(), src_port,
AttributeError: 'baz_rtl_source_c_sptr' object has no attribute 'to_basic_block'

Perhaps you have some idea about that.
BTW, I'm using 3.5.2.1 Gnuradio with 2.7.2+ Python, your feaf6c commit of gr-baz and using stand-alone rtl-sdr the stick works well.


Regards,
Mad

[Balint Seeber]

Dear Mad,

Thank you very much for identifying this bug, adding a new device and
sending the patch!
I have added it all to the code on SVN, githib and the Windows plugin.

As for the second issue, I can't shed any light on that. I'm actually still
on 3.3 and 3.4 - I need to get with the 'program' :)

Kind regards,
Balint

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, 31 March 2012 10:44 AM
To: Balint Seeber
Subject: Re: RTL2832 GNU Radio Source block now in gr-baz
Hi Balint, hi list!
Nice work creating a gnuradio source out of rtl-sdr, thank you for that.
But I've tested it using a Dexatek DVB-T Dongle which uses a FC0013 tuner
and there are two issues I ran into.
First, there is the wrong handling of a return value when setting the
frequency on the FC0013.
The attached patch integrates the Dexatek and fixes that issue.
But the second one isn't as easy to fix because I guess you would need
some more insight into how a Gnuradio block is constructed to do that.
The following python std::runtime_error exception is thrown in grc
everytime a graph using the RTL2832 source is started.
[...]
Wait delay: 11,130 ms

gr_fir_fff: using SSE

File "/home/mad/gr/top_block.py", line 109, in <module>
tb = top_block()
File "/home/mad/gr/top_block.py", line 82, in __init__
self.connect((self.rtl2832_source_0, 0), (self.blks2_wfm_rcv_0, 0))
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/top_block.py",
line 124, in connect
self._connect(points[i-1], points[i])
File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/gnuradio/gr/top_block.py",
line 129, in _connect
self._tb.primitive_connect(src_block.to_basic_block(), src_port,
AttributeError: 'baz_rtl_source_c_sptr' object has no attribute 'to_basic_block'
Perhaps you have some idea about that.
BTW, I'm using 3.5.2.1 Gnuradio with 2.7.2+ Python, your feaf6c commit of
gr-baz and using stand-alone rtl-sdr the stick works well.
Regards,
Mad