Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Interfacing Spartan-3AN FPGA starter kit with BasicRX

[Elvis Dowson]

Hi Catalin,
                       Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply. 

On Jun 17, 2010, at 7:27 PM, Catalin Patulea wrote:

> Can you clarify, by "FM Radio" do you mean broadcast FM (87.5-108 MHz)?

Yes, I thought I'd start with something simple, and implement a FM radio 
receiver.

> In terms of bandwidth, 3Msps sounds sufficient, but you'll have to
> implement an FPGA design which communicates with GNU Radio. Instead of
> starting from scratch, you can try to start from the USRP2 sources
> (http://code.ettus.com/redmine/ettus/projects/fpga/repository/revisions/master/show/usrp2)
> and apply modifications for your particular board.

The interesting thing is that the USRP2 is based on the Spartan-3 FPGA. On the 
USRP2, they've used an LTC2284 Dual 14-Bit, 105Msps Low Power 3V ADC, whereas 
the ADC used on the Spartan 3-AN starter kit is a LTC1407A-1 Serial 14-Bit, 
3Msps Simultaneous Sampling ADC.

So, they replaced the ADC with a better one. 

Where can I find the Xilinx ISE/EDK 10.1 project files that were used to build 
the system for the MicroBlaze and associated IP cores?

What else would I need apart from the ADC's? Can I directly hook the ADC to the 
BasicRX and complete the RF front-end? I'm guessing that the remaining parts 
would more or less be compatible, since I have the ethernet port on the 
Spartan-3AN starter kit. Its just the ADC that would be different. 

Are there any other circuits that need to be put in between the ADC and the 
BasicTX?

Best regards,

Elvis Dowson