Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Suggestion for improvement on USRP

[Brian Padalino]

Are there plans to update the hardware significantly?

> > Another suggestion is that USB 2.0 is not fast enough for some application.
> > Maybe in the future, It can be replaced by faster interface such as
> > Gigabits Ethernet, 1394 or even PCI iterface.

Firewire 800 or gigabit ethernet would probably just be a marginal
improvement over the current USB2.0 implementation, but I've noticed
some real neat developments in PCI-Express bridges.  Specifically, PLX
offers a localbus-to-PCI-Express interface that could easily couple
over to an FPGA.  Morever, everything is pretty open - down to the
gerbers.

http://www.plxtech.com/products/expresslane/pex8311.asp

The downside is that it's a BGA package.  I know Ettus does this stuff
all himself, but I have seen some successful BGA placements using the
toaster-oven-reflow technique.

If BGA's are in the mix, I might also suggest moving from an Altera
device to a Xilinx device for a few reasons.  First, the Xilinx
WebPack software is free to run under windows or under linux.
Secondly, the SRL16 structure in the Xilinx FPGA's really bode well to
streaming applications without using flops.  Using those can really
give a 4x reduction in flop usage in heavily streamed applications.

So really - are there plans for a new and improved USRP?

Brian