Issue with LimeSDR Mini

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Andrew Back andrew at carrierdetect.com
Sun Jun 6 10:51:22 UTC 2021


Hi Harald,

On 04/06/2021 20:15, Harald Welte wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> On Fri, Jun 04, 2021 at 02:38:06PM +0000, Andrew Back wrote:
>>> limesdr mini does not have a onboard-clock which is good (precise)
>>> enough for gsm requirements.
>>> there is no input which can easily be used with an external source like
>>> a gpsdo.
>>> thus there is no realistic way to reliably do gsm with the -mini, sorry.
>>
>> External clock can be enabled with LimeSDR Mini, but requires moving
>> (soldering) a 0R link and then you always have to use external clock.
>
> yes,that is possible.  I tried that, too, some years ago.  The bigger problem,
> as far as I recall, are the extremely stringent clock jitter requirements
> at this input.  There's no on-board PLL anymore, but it was directly the
> sampling clock of the ADC, right?

Yes, there is no phase detector and ideally the input should be a square
wave. There are some more details on the MyriadRF wiki:

https://wiki.myriadrf.org/LimeSDR-Mini_v1.2_hardware_description#Clock_Distribution


> In any case, at least as I recall, I didn't manage to get a spec
> compliant GSM signal out of the LineSDR-mini with that approach using
> the clocks I had at my disposal at the time.
>
> But in any case, that jitter / phase noise is mostly a conformance
> related topic and  the signal definitely would be good enough to be
> properly decoded by commercial UE, particularly in a lab setup with
> otherwise near ideal conditions.

Sure, for best performance would recommend using the larger LimeSDR-USB
or a LimeNET Micro, as Joachim suggested. However, you can use an
external reference with LimeSDR Mini and this may provide some
performance improvement, but with caveats.

Regards,

Andrew




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