Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] GNURADIO HW Interface

[Tom Rondeau]

On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 2:57 PM, My Radio <address@hidden> wrote:
> While many HW solutions interfacing with GNURADIO has evolved but we dont
> see any of them listed under GNURADIO HW interface page. For example here is
> the link http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki#VI-Hardware
>
> Is GNURADIO limited to a particular h/w?. Although we do not think so but
> still there seems to be a Gap.
>
> Can anyone take us to a platform where any new HW can be plugged and played
> independent of UHD with a standard source and sink of IQ data. We do not
> oppose UHD but we see it is more related to USRP.
>
> However, if anyone can create a template to throw in there API' there and
> compile with GNURADIO. That would be great start many h/w with GNURADIO.
> Like GNURADIO, SDRSHARP is a simple example out there but provides a great
> flexibility in terms of interfacing new hardware's.

I wanted to address this in hopefully the least controversial way possible...

In short, no, GNU Radio is not limited to any particular hardware, but it's a
bit up to the hardware vendors to work with us to interface to GNU
Radio. Similarly, the wiki is a place where anyone can get access to
update it, so if someone wants to offer their hardware solution on the
page, it's not very difficult.

But this issue has a long history. It seems various platforms come and
go and don't necessarily have a strong connection to our community.
On the other hand, Ettus Research, both Matt in the early days of GNU Radio and
now his team of engineers, has been a major contributor to GNU Radio
and has had a sustained business of shipping and supporting SDR
hardware for, what is it now, almost 10 years? So sure, it seems like
there is a bias on GNU Radio's part to Ettus products, but that's
because of a strong and sustained effort from them to work with and
contribute to the community.

But that does not prevent others from doing the same.

As I said, there's a pretty long history here of different hardware
products and a lot of emotions that surround it. I expect that
answering this question publicly will draw a lot of comments and
criticisms, but there you have it.

There's another issue on the table here about a hardware abstraction
layer or a general/global API for SDR front ends. That, too, is an
incredibly complicated problem that I haven't seen any real solutions
for.

Tom