This version (08 Apr 2022 01:34) was approved by Mark Thoren.The Previously approved version (08 Apr 2022 01:32) is available.
Table of Contents
CN0566 Software
There are several pieces of software used with the CN0566 Phaser, including a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a number of command-line utilities. These are located in the pyadi-iio examples folder. Assuming the pyadi-iio repository has been cloned to user analog's home directory, the path to the cn0566 examples is:
analog@phaser:~/pyadi-iio/examples/cn0566 $
Configuration and Calibration files
There are several calibration and configuration files that the software uses. Calibration files are generated as described in CN0566 Calibration, and are as follows:
hb100_freq_val.pkl - Measured frequency of microwave source gain_cal_val.pkl - Gain calibration coefficients phase_cal_val.pkl - Phase calibration offsets
While these are intended to be generated once and re-used each time a program is run, they are easy to recreate as the physical surroundings change - microwave reflective surfaces, distance between the phaser array and source, changing between the onboard transmitter or independent microwave source, etc. If these files are deleted (or not present in the first place), default values will be used.
The config.py file contains parameters for the operation of the phaser, including signal frequencies, sample rates, bandwidths, etc. This file can be edited directly, after which any software using it must be restarted.
As a convenience for staying consistent with the Pyadi-iio Git repository, the config.py file can be copied to config_custom.py*. If present, software will use config_custom.py - this file can be edited without affecting the Git repository.
===== GUI operation =====
The GUI can be launched either from the command line or from the Thonny IDE. From the command line, run the following command:
<code>
python3 cn0566_gui.py
</code>
which will print debug information to the console as shown below. In this case, gain and phase calibration files were not present, but a frequency measurement file for an HB100 was found.
Typical console output:**
analog@phaser:~/pyadi-iio/examples/cn0566 $ python3 cn0566_gui.py file not found, loading default (all gain at maximum) file not found, loading default (no phase shift) Gain cal: [1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0] Phase cal: [0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0] Didn't find custom config, looking for default. Found signal freq file, 10495859375.0 Running on Linux, connecting to ip:localhost and ip:192.168.2.1
The GUI will launch and display an FFT of the incoming signal, with the beam set to maximum gain, steering angle of zero.
Figure 1. GUI overview (FFT plot)
If no signal is present, this indicates that the frequency is not set properly, or if you are using an antenna connected to J1, the “Transmit Disabled” is selected. If using an HB100, run the cn0566_find_hb100.py script again.
Switch to the Rectangular Plot and select “Enable All” in the drop-down menu. An uncalibrated beam pattern will be displayed, which typically appears as a distorted SINC1 pattern.
Figure 2. Uncalibrated Beam Pattern
Close the GUI, Run the calibration routine to generate calibration files:
python3 cn0566_examples.py cal
Then re-start the GUI. The beam should be much closer to ideal, with first side lobes approximately 13dB below the main lobe.
Figure 3. Beam Pattern After Calibration
Much more detail on each control panel, walk through each experiment.
CLI example operation
A command line example is also provided. The main purpose for this script is to provide a template for developing additional custom programs (CLI, GUI, or other), as well as interacting directly with the CN0566 from the Python console. Run:
python3 cn0566_examples.py
The script will continuously take beam pattern measurements, and plot a representative time-domain and frequency-domain plot at mechnical boresight. This is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. CLI plots
Detail on CL options, interactive operation from the Python console, calibration, etc.
resources/eval/user-guides/circuits-from-the-lab/cn0566/software.txt · Last modified: 08 Apr 2022 01:34 by Mark Thoren