Embedded Series Product Guide¶

Document Overview¶

This document lists the specifications for the Embedded Series Artificial Intelligence Radio Transceiver (AIR-T). Specifications are subject to change without notice. For the most recent device specifications, refer to http://docs.deepwavedigital.com.

Block Diagram¶

AirStack Software¶

The AIR-T comes pre-loaded with a full software stack, AirStack. AirStack includes all the components necessary to utilize the AIR-T, such as an Ubuntu based operating system, AIR-T specific device drivers, and the FPGA firmware. The operating system is based off of NVIDIA JetPack SDK and is upgraded regularly. Please check for the latest software at www.deepwavedigital.com.

For a full description of the AirStack software guide, see our documentation page here.

AIR-T Embedded Series Enclosure¶

The AIR-T may be purchased with or without an enclosure. This documentation applies to both configurations.

Mechanical Drawing¶

We provide a pdf file with the mechanical dimensions of the AIR-T enclosure below.

Processors¶

The Embedded Series AIR-T enables software defined radio for any signal processing application by utilizing three classes of tightly coupled processors:

• FPGA for strict real-time operations
• GPU for highly parallel processing and machine learning
• CPU for control, I/O, DSP, and software applications

General Purpose Processors¶

The AIR-T uses the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 System On Module (SOM) as its General Purpose Processor (GPP). The Jetson TX2 SOM contains two ARM processors (6 cores total), an NVIDIA Pascal GPU (256 cores), and 8 GBytes of memory. The CPUs and GPU all share a common pool of memory, which (along with a unified memory architecture) allows for a zero-copy capability. As illustrated in the figure below, zero-copy eliminates the host-to-device (or device-to-host) memory transfer that is required by SDRs with discrete GPUs, such as an SDR connected to an external laptop or computer. Because of this, an SDR with a discrete GPU will have increased latency that is prohibitive for many applications. By utilizing this zero-copy architecture to remove extra data transfers, the AIR-T enables a wide range of low-latency SDR applications.

For additional details on the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 please see the module datasheet URL below. Some of the information from that datasheet is reproduced below.

Jetson Modules Technical Specifications

Reconfigurable FPGA¶

The FPGA on the Edge Series AIR-T comes pre-loaded with the AirStack firmware to support transmit and receive functionality at continuously variable sample rates. Customers may choose to load custom firmware if needed by their application and Deepwave will provide the FPGA interface documentation. The interface documentation includes the pin constraints file and a document that outlines the various interfaces for the FPGA so that customers may develop their own custom IP cores from scratch, i.e., without leveraging any of the AirStack software or driver infrastructure. If customers wish to leverage the AirStack software and driver infrastructure, they are encouraged to purchase a license to the AIR-T FPGA development kit, AirStack Sandbox.

The high-level details regarding the FPGA on the AIR-T are shown below.

Networking¶

External Display¶

Peripheral Interfaces¶

NVIDIA Jetson TX2¶

Xilinx FPGA¶

Analog Devices 9371¶

Transceiver Specifications¶

The Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC) on the AIR-T is the Analog Devices AD9371. This RFIC uses two local oscillators (LO): one for both transmit channels and one for both receive channels. This means that the transmitters and receivers may be tuned to different frequencies at the same time, but both transmit ports will always utilize the same common transmit frequency and both receive ports will always utilize the same common receive frequency.

In addition, the Embedded Series AIR-T contains internal clocking circuitry to allow it to operate either with an internally-generated clock or by phase locking to an external clock signal provided by the user. When an external clock is selected, the clock signal provided must be a 10 MHz reference signal with parameters defined in Table 13.

The user may also choose to provide an external local oscillator for the transmitter or the receiver. This may be useful in beamforming or direction finding applications. The specifications for the external LO are found in Table 14. Additionally, the functionality may be enabled by following the instructions in Using an External LO.

For additional details on the AD9371 please see that datasheet:

Additional information: Using an External LO

Note: All AIR-T models perform automatic calibrations when the radio starts and periodically during operation. These calibrations are outlined in Tables 10 and 11. When the radio is initialized, calibration signals may be emitted from both the TX and RX ports. To ensure that connected equipment is not damaged, it is recommended to disconnect the AIR-T from any equipment and terminate with a resistance of 50 Ohms during the radio initialization.

Power¶

Mechanical¶

Proper Handling¶

The AIR7101-A and AIR7201-A are both exposed printed circuit boards with many exposed conductors. It is essential that no conductive material be left near or in contact with the system. Best practices include using an anti-static mat and other ESD procedures when handling sensitive electronic equipment, including low humidity and not exposing the radio to liquids.

Warranty¶

Deepwave Digital, Inc. warrants that the Product will be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of 12 months from the date of Deepwave Digital's shipment of the Product to the Customer. See the full warranty information here.