Why Mathworks SDR Firmware is unable to read FRU/EEPROM information on 'ZedBoard and FMCOMMS2/3/4'

I am using 'ZedBoard and FMCOMMS2/3/4' hardware with 'Zynq SDR Support from Communications System Toolbox'. The setup is done by following instructions of 'targetupdater' command.

When the ZedBoard is powered on, the UART output at the end of booting process is as following:

---------------------------------------
----- Mathworks SDR Firmware ----------
----- Build: Apr  4 2016 17:06:10 -----
---------------------------------------

----- System Init ------
DMA Channel Configuration
bytes_per_ring = 131072
total rings = 512
length = 67108864
interrupts period for receive = 16384
desc_length = 131072
DMA Channel Configuration
bytes_per_ring = 131072
total rings = 512
length = 67108864
interrupts period for receive = 16384
desc_length = 131072
DMA Channel Configuration
bytes_per_ring = 131072
total rings = 512
length = 67108864
interrupts period for receive = 16384
desc_length = 131072
----- INFO: Ctrl Manager Thread PID: -1378311056  ------
----- RX/TX Control Manager Ready------
----- System Start ------
----- Initialising RF ------
ad9361_init : AD9361 Rev 2 successfully initialized

Reading FRU Information: RF card: No EEPROM information available
----- System Running ------

As the DCXO tuning paramaeters are in EEPROM, I am unable to tune the RF card properly and there is an unwanted offset in IF of RX path output.

I am able to set tuning parameters as per FMC FRU EEPROM Utility instructions. But with Matlab SDR Firmware it becomes useless.

• What could be the problem in reading the FRU information?
• Is there any other way to tune DCXO with the Matlab package?

[kasraghu]

Is the source code of Mathworks SDR Firmware available online?

Answer 1

[Neil MacEwen]

Hi,

In the MathWorks SDR firmware, the FRU information is read only to identify the RF card to set the correct maximum number of channels (to distinguish between the FMCOMMS2/3 and the FMCOMMS4). I'm afraid currently there is no way to tune the DCXO from the support package, although this is a feature we are investigating. Our parsing software performs a very simple search for the board identifier, as seen in the part number field in the FRU board information. If that has been corrupted, or is not present, you will get the message "No EEPROM information available".

You could consider putting together a small application yourself using ADI’s platform drivers , which would allow you to read and write the DCXO registers on the AD9361 directly.

I'm afraid the MathWorks SDR firmware source code is not available. If you require more detailed help, please contact tech support.

Kind regards,

Neil