wiki:Hardware/FR3

FR3 SDRs

This setup is designed for advanced wireless research and prototyping in FR3 frequency bands, supporting next-generation 5G/6G air interface and 2×2 MIMO experimentation.

As can be seen in the block diagram, the COSMOS FR3 experimental setup consists of two units each using a combination of USRP-2974 (Krypton) SDRs and Pi-Radio FR3 SDR front-end hardware. The Pi-Radio FR3 SDR units can be configured to operate across the entire 6 GHz to 24 GHz range, supporting experimentation in the full FR3 band.

Pi-Radio FR3 SDR

The Pi-Radio FR3 front-end includes a wideband RF transceiver board capable of two-stage up- and down-conversion to meet stringent out-of-band (OOB) and adjacent channel rejection (ACLR) requirements, as well as strict spectral masks. Each FR3 front-end supports 2×2 MIMO via connections to a pair of Vivaldi antennas for transmit (Tx1, Tx2) and receive (Rx1, Rx2). The digital baseband board allows the FR3 front-end to be connected via SMA cables to any sub-6 GHz SDR (e.g., USRP, Xilinx RFSoC, Pluto), providing maximum flexibility for rapid prototyping and experimentation in upper mid-band/FR3 spectrum. The platform supports advanced research use cases such as end-to-end 5G/6G Open Air Interface (OAI) links, O-RAN compliant radio units, and channel sounding for propagation and spatial studies.

USRP-2974 (Krypton):

The USRP-2974 is an integrated software-defined radio platform with a quad-core Intel i7 processor, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, and embedded X310 radio supporting wideband operation. It supports high-throughput data movement either via the internal PCI Express bus or external 10 GbE, providing a flexible and powerful baseband processing environment for advanced wireless prototyping.

The USRP-2974 connects to the Pi-Radio FR3 SDR front-end module through a set of 20 dB attenuators, which perform up/down-conversion between sub-6 GHz and FR3 frequencies. The units are interconnected via dual sub-6 GHz RF paths with variable attenuation, enabling flexible RF experimentation and emulation of over-the-air links.

The FR3 RF front-ends are configured over Ethernet at addresses rfdev-sdr1-piradio.sb1.cosmos-lab.org and rfdev-sdr2-piradio.sb1.cosmos-lab.org, while the two baseband USRPs can be accessed via sdr1-piradio.sb1.cosmos-lab.org and sdr2-piradio.sb1.cosmos-lab.org.

Controlling the Pi-Radio FR3 SDRs

The Pi-Radio front-end exposes a browser UI with collapsible panels for Frequency, Filters, Gain, LO Suppression, Control, and Information. The landing view shows these sections and provides quick navigation for common RF tasks.

Pi-Radio FR3 Web-based Control Interface

Collapsible panels for: Frequency, Filters, Gain, LO Suppression, Control, and Information. Use these to tune LOs, select per-chain filters and gains, adjust LO leakage nulling, and toggle board-level options.

  • Frequency settings panel: Two entries with sliders set the mixer local oscillators:
    • Low LO Frequency (GHz) — sets the “low-side” LO used in the two-stage up/down-conversion chain.
    • High LO Frequency (GHz) — sets the “high-side” LO.

Use the numeric box for fine increments and the slider for coarse moves. Together, these LOs place the desired FR3 RF channel while keeping IF in the supported sub-6 GHz range.

  • Filters panel: Per-chain drop-downs select the active RF/IF path for RX0, RX1, TX0, and TX1. The bypass option routes around the filter network; select a non-bypass entry to engage the appropriate bandpass path for that chain.

  • Gain panel: ndependent gain controls (in dB) for RX0, RX1, TX0, and TX1. Adjust with the slider or type a value in the numeric box. Use modest steps to avoid clipping or over-driving the front-end.
  • LO Supression: DC bias trims for the I and Q paths on each TX chain (TX0 I/Q bias, TX1 I/Q bias, in volts). Small adjustments here null residual LO feed-through and balance IQ, reducing the tone at the carrier when the transmitter is idle. Start near 0 V and sweep slowly while observing the carrier leakage.

  • Unit controls:
    • Use Internal Reference — lock synthesizers to the on-board reference; clear this if using an external reference.
    • Use Internal Reference for Low Side — apply the internal ref to the low-side LO as well.
    • Disable Input 20 dB Attenuator — toggles the on-board input pad; uncheck to insert 20 dB of protection when measuring strong signals.
    • Reset LMX button — re-initializes the LO synthesizer(s) to recover from configuration changes.

Tutorials

Last modified 2 weeks ago Last modified on Aug 16, 2025, 10:44:06 AM

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