(forwarding to the UmTRX mailing list)
On Fri, Oct 19, 2012 at 7:33 PM, Ivan Kluchnikov
<Ivan.Kluchnikov(a)fairwaves.ru> wrote:
> Just sketch :)
Nice idea. The last symbol would be better to have in the form of a
SIM-card, imho.
--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.
CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
http://fairwaves.ru
Hi all.
Here are two bad news.
I got two UmTRXv2 and both with the problems of inaccurate assembling.
1st Thomas sent to me and 2nd was new and clear (say, virgin).
Thomas said about power supply symptoms few days ago.
I fixed assembling error in DC/DC - power coil (L37) was 90 degrees rotated.
It was too big surprise for me, because I replaced all components around
coil before I saw that it soldered incorrect.
Anyhow,This board began to work, but LMS2 still didn't hears SPI and didn't
work.
Also I found that mashine lost one 0.1uF cap (C86-1) near LMS1, but it was
easily to fix.
LMS1 and all other parts, seems working fine.
Second board programmed and working, but FPGA too hot and 3.3V loaded a lot.
Seems, I have to find BGA reworking station to fix both boards finally.
Also needed new Spartan-6 FPGA for replace.
Alexander, do we have spare on hands?
Best regards,
Andrey Sviyazov.
> Decreasing power consumption to 10-11W would allow us to use lighter
> enclosure for the lab version, which is nice.
at 20w of power consumption, this comes to roughly 68btu of generated
heat -Is there a reason convection cooling in a sheetmetal enclosure
wouldent work for this board?
Hi Jean-Samuel.
As known, hardware developing impossible without soldering iron.
With UmTRXv2 I found that was used very infusible solder paste.
As I understand it is due to compliance to Pb-free.
Nevertheless, could you please to ask fab to use more fusible solder paste .
I ask, because lab users can easy damage PCB due to the local overheat.
For example, I was forced to use simultaneously soldering iron (300 deg C)
and air heater (350 deg C) to solder linear regulators.
Best regards,
Andrey Sviyazov.
Hi Andrey,
Do you think it will be possible to decrease the power consumption and to
keep the best possible performances for industrial applications ?
I know you cannot be sure about this but I would like to know how confident
you feel about this ?
Best regards.
Jean-Samuel.
:-)
On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 7:40 PM, Andrey Sviyazov <andreysviyaz(a)gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi Jean-Samuel, Alexander.
>
> Tomorrow I'll let you know what possible to make on time.
> And we should set time limit for this.
> For example, next morning.
>
> Best regards,
> Andrey Sviyazov.
> (Sent from my mobile client)
> 31.10.2012 22:24 пользователь "Jean-Samuel Najnudel - BJT PARTNERS SARL" <
> jsn(a)bjtpartners.com> написал:
>
> Hi Alexander,
>>
>> Thank you very much for your reply.
>>
>> Why skip/populate LMS power supply block ?
>> As I understand we always need the LMS power supply block. I probably
>> missed something. Could you explain this in more details to let me better
>> understand ?
>>
>> Thanks a lot for your help.
>>
>> Best regards.
>>
>> Jean-Samuel.
>> :-)
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 7:14 PM, Alexander Chemeris <
>> alexander.chemeris(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, lesser input voltage range makes sense only if it saves >$10
>>> and/or considerably increases power efficiency. I think this not the
>>> case, and then only these changes will be needed:
>>>
>>> * traditional power connector
>>> * MCX RF connector, because they sustain much more connect-disconnect
>>> cycles
>>> * lower power consumption mod
>>>
>>> I would appreciate if we could keep the same PCB for both versions and
>>> populate the proper version of power connector/RF connector and
>>> skip/populate LMS power supply block.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Jean-Samuel Najnudel - BJT PARTNERS
>>> SARL <jsn(a)bjtpartners.com> wrote:
>>> > Hi Alexander,
>>> >
>>> > This would be much easier to have the same board for both lab and
>>> > deployment. Only the UmSEL would make the difference.
>>> > For deployment, I really need wide input voltage range as I plan to
>>> power
>>> > the whole system (UmTRX + PA) with a single 28V supply.
>>> > Even if this can save a few euros, I would really prefer we do not
>>> make the
>>> > input voltage range smaller.
>>> > By the way, even for lab, it might be convenient and it can avoid
>>> damages in
>>> > case of wrong voltage supply.
>>> >
>>> > Best regards.
>>> >
>>> > Jean-Samuel.
>>> > :-)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 6:50 PM, Alexander Chemeris
>>> > <alexander.chemeris(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> Andrey, how much time do you need to create 2.1? If it's mire than a
>>> day,
>>> >> we should postpone this. I believe that enclosure is a much more
>>> important
>>> >> issue at this moment.
>>> >>
>>> >> I think we need following changes for the lab version:
>>> >> * traditional power connector
>>> >> * MCX RF connector, because they sustain much more connect-disconnect
>>> >> cycles
>>> >> * lower power consumption mod
>>> >> * smaller input voltage range (only if this makes things cheaper)
>>> >>
>>> >> Sent from my Android device.
>>> >>
>>> >> --
>>> >> Regards,
>>> >> Alexander Chemeris
>>> >> CEO, Fairwaves LLC
>>> >> http://fairwaves.ru
>>> >>
>>> >> 31.10.2012 14:05 пользователь "Andrey Sviyazov" <
>>> andreysviyaz(a)gmail.com>
>>> >> написал:
>>> >>
>>> >>> Hi Jean-Samuel.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> First of all, you didn't said about delay duration :)
>>> >>> I can't delay this batch just due to my wishes that each next batch
>>> >>> should work more and more ideally.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> These modifications looks interesting. I think it is a good idea.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Hope so.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> I just have a few question.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Why do you call this board revision 2.1 "a special batch for labs" ?
>>> >>>> Would these modifications make this revision 2.1 also more suitable
>>> for
>>> >>>> field deployment, at least as much as the revision 2.0 ?
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Because of I can fix only known issues.
>>> >>> Also not all really required improvements are known yet.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> Decreasing power consumption to 10..11 W would be great. Is there
>>> any
>>> >>>> drawbacks of this modification ? Would it decrease some
>>> performances ? If
>>> >>>> not, this modifiction to decrease power consumption is a
>>> significant very
>>> >>>> good modification.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Decreasing of performances it is only spurs with DC/DC conversion
>>> freq
>>> >>> ~500kHz.
>>> >>> Now I searching more good LC filter to suppress it better than
>>> TI2012U601
>>> >>> can.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> Do you have enough space on the board to replace some U_FL
>>> connectors
>>> >>>> with MCX connectors as you suggest ?
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Yes, but may be not all should be MCX.
>>> >>> Of course I did not insist, but just asking whether there is a
>>> reason to
>>> >>> do it or not.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> An external LNA would probably need around 5 Volts instead of 6V. A
>>> >>>> small PA would probably need a little bit higher voltage. Do you
>>> think it
>>> >>>> would be possible to have a variable voltage low power connector ?
>>> >>>
>>> >>> On my opinion, variable voltage is not good idea.
>>> >>> For example for LNA's better to place low noise LDO 6V to 5V near to
>>> IC's
>>> >>> to get Vcc clean too.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>> By the way, could you pelase also add the 2 LMS output matching
>>> >>>> capacitors we need to improve output power figures in the 1800 band
>>> ?
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Of course, because it is issue which should be fixed, but not
>>> >>> improvement.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Best regards,
>>> >>> Andrey Sviyazov.
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Regards,
>>> Alexander Chemeris.
>>> CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
>>> http://fairwaves.ru
>>>
>>
>>
Forwarding to the mailing list.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jean-Samuel Najnudel - BJT PARTNERS SARL <jsn(a)bjtpartners.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Subject: LNA and Noise Figure improvement
Hi Andrey,
I understand you plan to prepare the UmTRXv3.
I would need to discuss about the Rx Noise Figure improvement.
With UmSEL, according to your calculations, NF would be around 0.7 dB
(excluding duplexer IL) with the MGA-13116.
It would be interesting to try to improve this figure with a very
first stage LNA based on the MGA-633P8. This would let us reach a NF
as low as about 0.4 dB.
Adding this very first stage LNA in the Rx path brings a few questions.
1/ To improve isolation with the other RF parts, would we need to have
this LNA in a separate shielded enclosure ?
If yes, we would need a 5V power supply for this LNA. To have a better
shielding between the voltage regulator circuitery and the LNA, it
should be nice to have the 5V voltage regulator outside of the LNA
enclosure. To make this possible, it would be very useful to add a 5V
voltage regulator and connector on the UmTRXv3.
If not, we do not need specific modifications on the UmTRXv3 but we
would need to add an MGA-633P8/634P8 as a very first stage in the
UmSEL.
2/ Whatever external or on the UmSEL, this extra LNA will increase the
total gain. Considering your calculation, the UmSEL IIP3 is already as
low as around 1 dBm. If we add a very first stage LNA, this IIP3 will
go down to about -15 dBm. This could be a problem for inband blockers.
Even if, in real life situation in the field, I am not sure it will be
a very big problem, it will be a problem to pass the spec.
Would you have another idea to improve the NF ?
If not, could you please let me know what NF we could expect with the
current design (UmSEL with MGA-13116/13216) in both 900 and 1800 bands
?
Best regards.
Jean-Samuel.
:-)
--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.
CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
http://fairwaves.ru
Hi Thomas,
Could you please describe symptoms which you observe on your UmTRX? We
have to figure out the reason for the improper behavior and if this is
a manufacturing issue - make sure this won't happen for the next
batch.
--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.
CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
http://fairwaves.ru
Hi Alexander,
Thank you very much for your reply and detailled explainations.
Now I understand.
My point of view is we do not really care of a few watts power consumption
saving for the lab version. At worst, we can still add a fan in the lab
enclosure, as for the USRP which also dissipate up to about 15 Watts.
On the other side, it makes a lot of sense to save some power consumption
for the industrial version as, on the field, every watt counts and we also
need to dissipate the heat without fan for better reliability.
Considering this, I believe as follow.
Either we are able to decrease the power consumption and keep good enough
performances for industrial applications. In this case, we should make this
modification for both lab and industrial versions.
Either decreasing the power consumption will decrease the performances. In
this case, I do not think this worth making this modification at all.
In both cases, I would suggest we keep the same design for both lab and
industrial versions, either with or without the modification.
Moreover, if both lab and industrial versions are the same, except
connectors may be, debug from lab users may help industrial users and debug
from industrial users may help lab users. This would be really easier to
get a reliable single board for both lab and industrial applications.
Best regards.
Jean-Samuel.
:-)
On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 7:30 PM, Alexander Chemeris <
alexander.chemeris(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 10:23 PM, Jean-Samuel Najnudel - BJT PARTNERS
> SARL <jsn(a)bjtpartners.com> wrote:
> > Why skip/populate LMS power supply block ?
> > As I understand we always need the LMS power supply block. I probably
> missed
> > something. Could you explain this in more details to let me better
> > understand ?
>
> If I understand correctly, this is the modification which Andrey is
> testing - avoid additional power conversion near LMS. We may need it
> for better performance for industrial version, but we most likely do
> not need it for the lab version.
>
> Decreasing power consumption to 10-11W would allow us to use lighter
> enclosure for the lab version, which is nice.
>
> PS I'd love to move this discussion to the public UmTRX mailing list.
> Is it fine with you? Actually, if you feel fine, you could start such
> discussion at the public UmTRX mailing list from the beginning.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Alexander Chemeris.
> CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
> http://fairwaves.ru
>