Hey Jeff,

Thanks for the detailed info. The N310 and the E320 both use the LTE-Lite
from Jackson Labs for their GPSDOs, so it's conceivable that the same
rework is applicable to both, but I'm not positive - I wasn't directly
involved in the hardware investigation.  I'll reach out to you off the
mailing list and get some of that additional information / screenshots.

Best,

Sam Reiter

On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 4:06 PM Long, Jeffrey P. <[email protected]> wrote:

> Sam-
>
>
>
> So I am actually using a gps satellite simulator(Labsat). This plays back
> previously recorded data and there are a number of test scenarios on there
> for me to use. Currently I am using a simple static one recorded in the UK
> I think. To protect the output I insert a DC block in. For the GPS rxrs in
> the E310, and X310 this has worked great and they lock up pretty quickly
> although the X310 does take longer than the E310. That E310 Ublox receiver
> is really fast.
>
>
>
> I will send my serial numbers to Ettus support but given what you said
> about the E320 I decided to go back to basics and see if I could get the
> N310 I have to reliably lock and I learned some interesting things about it
> and its GPS. After extensive debugging all day using gpsmon I have learned
> that the N310 GPS (Jackson Labs LTE Lite) is very finicky it would seem.
>
>
>
> I found the following kind of works:
>
>
>
> 1)Power up the N310 from a cold start (unplugged at first because it seems
> the board gets power even before you hit the switch).
>
> 2)Run a uhd_usrp_probe –args “time_source=gpsdo,clock_source=gpsdo” to
> force it to switch the daughtercards over
>
> 3)set the system date and time to be close to the signal coming from the
> labsat. (Maybe this does not matter but then TOFF is not so out of wack.
>
> 3)Then run gpsmon and watch it acquire. Almost immediately SNR is good
> (45-50) and TPV shows lat and long, quality is 2 and it has 8 sats. Then we
> wait.
>
> 4)Eventually it will acquire(takes 7-8 mins) meaning that the GPS light
> will turn on and when I run the sensor query it reports back locked.
>
>
>
> While this seems to take forever it is repeatable. Now the fun starts. If
> after I have got it to lock up and then one of two things happens, either
> the labsat file rolls over or I disconnect the signal from the jack, gpsmon
> will show low SNR and eventually it will unlock. This makes sense I
> although the rollover thing is weird because ublox does not have an issue
> with that. What is really annoying is that when I plug the signal back in
> or restart the labsat the GPS never seems to try to re-acquire and there
> seems to be no way to restart it. A reboot does not fix it. Only a complete
> power down and disconnect from power seems to restart the GPS. It gets in
> some messed up state and that’s it. Does that seem normal? My N310s are
> fairly old. Did they have some GPS recall at some point? By the way I
> noticed in its screwed up state it no longer sends GSV strings and if you
> decide to do a N310 bist gpsdo it will totally wipe out the GPS module and
> it seems to no longer output pps or the ref too. Probably not intended
> behavior?
>
>
>
> I have some screenshots of gpsmon if you are interested. I did not want to
> blast the list with images. Let me know and I can send them.
>
>
>
> I am going to do some experimenting with the E320 and see if it behaves
> similarly. I bought my E320s very recently so I would be surprised if they
> needed that fix (Serial #31C8CC6). I did notice in the VHDL top for the
> E320 that there are some pin controls to the GPS module which I did not see
> in the N310 top. This could mean that there is more control over the E320
> GPS?? I was thinking of chipscoping those pins maybe too and see how they
> change with UHD startup etc..
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Sam Reiter <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 24, 2020 9:48 AM
> *To:* Long, Jeffrey P. <[email protected]>
> *Cc:* [email protected]
> *Subject:* [EXT] Re: [USRP-users] E320 GPS staying locked?
>
>
>
> Hey Jeff,
>
>
>
> What type of GPS antenna are you using? 3.3V or 5V? If it's compatible
> with X310 & other USRPs, I would imagine you'll be good to go with the
> E320... Do you see the locked / unlocked status change between consecutive
> runs of something like gpsmon on the E320?
>
>
>
> There were some early-ish runs of the E320 that are eligible for a GPSDO
> rework, feel free to send [email protected] a direct email with your
> E320's serial number and I can see if yours is one of the affected units.
>
>
>
> Sam Reiter
>
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 4:27 PM Long, Jeffrey P. via USRP-users <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
> Has anyone had issues with the E320 GPS locking or staying locked? I have
> a LabSat GNSS simulator that I am reliably able to get a E310, X310, and
> even a N310 to lock to however the E320 I just got will occasionally lock
> and then fall out almost immediately. I used mender to up it to 3.15LTS and
> everything else works pretty well. I run the e320bist on the gpsdo and it
> reports it mostly being unlocked but occasionally it will lock for a minute
> or so. When it does lock I can run the query gpsdo immediately after and it
> will report locked but again it only lasts for a min or so.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Jeff
>
> _______________________________________________
> USRP-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.ettus.com/mailman/listinfo/usrp-users_lists.ettus.com
>
>
_______________________________________________
USRP-users mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.ettus.com/mailman/listinfo/usrp-users_lists.ettus.com

Reply via email to