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NI-USRP 21.0 Readme

September 2021

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for NI-USRP.

You can find more release information on ni.com.

  • NI-USRP Release Notes: Known issues, bugs fixed since the last release, and other notes about this release
  • NI-USRP: New features, behavior changes, and other documentation

Overview

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Application Software Support

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

New Features

Supported Hardware

Behavior Changes

Accessing the Documentation

Finding Examples, Lessons, and Sample Projects

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Legal Information


Overview

This software installation provides support for customers using software defined radio (USRP) devices, software defined radio reconfigurable (USRP RIO) devices, and software defined radio stand-alone (USRP Stand-Alone) devices, as specified in the Supported Hardware section. To program your USRP, USRP RIO, or USRP Stand-Alone device, use the NI-USRP API or USRP RIO Instrument Design Library (IDL) included in the NI-USRP instrument driver.

The getting started guide for your device provides information about how to install, configure, test, and begin using a USRP, USRP RIO, or USRP Stand-Alone device.

System Requirements

NI-USRP 21.0 has the following requirements:

  • Processor—1 GHz or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • RAM— 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • A screen resolution of 1,024 x 768
  • Windows 10 with all available critical updates and service packs
  • Connector requirements shown in the following table
Device USB 2.0 or Higher Gigabit Ethernet PCI/MXI Express
USRP-2900/2901    
USRP-2920/2921/2922    
USRP-2930/2932    
USRP-2940/2942/2943/2944/2945   1
USRP-2950/2952/2953/2954/2955   1
Ettus USRP X410   2
1 Recommended PCIe Gen1 x4 Interfaces: PCIe-8371 or PXIe-8374
2 Recommended PCIe Gen3 x8 Interfaces: PCIe-8398 or PXIe-8394

Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for your version of LabVIEW.

Ethernet Support on USRP-294x/295x Devices

NI USRP-294x/295x devices support both 1G Ethernet (1 GbE) and 10G Ethernet (10 GbE) using the connectors on the device back panel. With the default FPGA image, port 0 is designated for 1G, and port 1 is designated for 10G. Users programming with LabVIEW can use Ethernet.

Note  The FPGA cannot be modified when the 294x/295x device is connected through Ethernet.

Ethernet Support on Ettus USRP X410 Device

Ethernet Support for the Ettus USRP X410 device depends on the utilized FPGA image.

Supported Operating Systems

NI-USRP 21.0 supports the following operating systems:

  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2019

Note: NI-USRP no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.1, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. NI-USRP 21.0 will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use NI-USRP 21.0 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing NI-USRP 21.0, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.

Application Software Support

NI-USRP 21.0 supports the following application software versions, including service packs. If you are using LabVIEW, you should install it before installing NI-USRP. To add support for application software installed after installing NI-USRP, modify your NI-USRP installation or launch the NI-USRP installer again.

Device LabVIEW 2018, 2019, 2020, or 2021 NI Linux RT
USRP-2900/2901  
USRP-2920/2921/2922  
USRP-2930/2932  
USRP-2940/2942/2943/2944  
USRP-2950/2952/2953/2954  
USRP-2945/2955  
Ettus USRP X410 √*
*The Ettus USRP X410 is only supported on LabVIEW 2020 and LabVIEW 2021.

Installation Instructions

Download the NI-USRP installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.

Notes

  • If Windows Update is enabled, the installation process might hang if Windows Update interferes with the installation of Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Run-Time. Visit ni.com/r/exjq43 for more information and steps to resolve this issue.

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.

New Features

NI-USRP 21.0 includes the following new features:

  • Support for Ettus USRP X410 for use with LabVIEW 2021 and LabVIEW 2020
  • Support for LabVIEW 2021

NI-USRP 20.5 adds performance and architectural enhancements.

NI-USRP 20.0 includes the following new features:

  • Support for LabVIEW 2020
  • Support for LabVIEW NXG 5.0 and LabVIEW Communications System Design Suite 5.0

Supported Hardware

The following hardware products are supported in all operating systems listed in the Supported Operating Systems section. Refer to the Application Software Support section for information regarding supported application software versions.

  • USRP-2900
  • USRP-2901
  • USRP-2920
  • USRP-2921
  • USRP-2922
  • USRP-2930
  • USRP-2932
  • USRP-2940 40 MHz
  • USRP-2940 120 MHz
  • USRP-2942 40 MHz
  • USRP-2942 120 MHz
  • USRP-2943 40 MHz
  • USRP-2943 120 MHz
  • USRP-2944
  • USRP-2945
  • USRP-2950 40 MHz
  • USRP-2950 120 MHz
  • USRP-2952 40 MHz
  • USRP-2952 120 MHz
  • USRP-2953 40 MHz
  • USRP-2953 120 MHz
  • USRP-2954
  • USRP-2955
  • Ettus Research USRP2*
  • Ettus Research N200*
  • Ettus Research N210*
  • Ettus Research X300*
  • Ettus Research X310*
  • Ettus USRP X410

*The NI-USRP instrument driver supports TwinRX, UBX, CBX, CBX-120, WBX, WBX-120, SBX, SBX-120, XCVR2450 daughterboards. Other daughterboards may also be compatible, but they have not been tested.

Device-specific information about these modules is included in the NI-USRP Help.

Behavior Changes

The following are the behavior changes in NI-USRP 21.0 from NI-USRP 20.5:

  • Dropped support for LabVIEW NXG 5.0 and LabVIEW Communications System Design Suite 5.0.

The following are the behavior changes in NI-USRP 18.5 from NI-USRP 18.0:

  • The SDR Basic Elements IDL is obsolete in instrument driver version 18.5.

Accessing the Documentation

Documentation for NI-USRP is located at Start»National Instruments»NI-USRP»Documentation and online at ni.com/manuals. The documentation set is composed of the following documents.

Document Format Location Description
NI-USRP 21.0 Readme HTML (this document) Start»National Instruments»NI-USRP»NI-USRP Documentation and online at ni.com/manuals Contains information about supported hardware and operating systems, new features, fixed issues, and legal notices.
NI-USRP Help HTML/Windows Help Start»National Instruments»NI-USRP»NI-USRP Documentation and online at ni.com/manuals The primary document for most USRP products used in LabVIEW. The help is an installed and online version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
  • An introduction to USRP
  • How to get started with application development
  • A complete programming reference for all NI-USRP programming functions and VIs in LabVIEW
NI-USRP Manual Online Help Online at ni.com/manuals The primary document for most USRP products. The help is an installed and online version of a traditional user manual that includes the following information:
  • An introduction to USRP
  • How to get started with application development
Getting started guide for your device Printed and PDF Online at ni.com/manuals Contains software and hardware installation, configuration, signal connection, and troubleshooting information for your device.
Specifications for your device PDF Online at ni.com/manuals Lists technical specifications for your device.
Manual for your device Online Help Online at ni.com/manuals Contains information about supported hardware, including pinouts, block diagrams, and specifications.

For the most recent revisions of documentation and for newly released documentation, visit ni.com/manuals.

Note  To view PDFs, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. You can install the viewer from www.adobe.com/reader.

Finding Examples, Lessons, and Sample Projects

NI-USRP examples, lessons, and sample projects are available in the following locations.

Content Type Description LabVIEW
Examples NI-USRP includes several example applications that serve as interactive tools, programming models, and building blocks in your own applications. NI-USRP includes examples for getting started and other software-defined radio (SDR) functionality.

Note  You can access additional examples from the Code Sharing Community at ni.com/usrp.
  • From the Start menu at Start»National Instruments»NI-USRP»Examples.
  • From the LabVIEW Functions palette at Instrument I/O»Instrument Drivers»NI-USRP»Examples.
Lessons NI-USRP includes lessons that guide you through the process of identifying and demodulating an FM signal with your device. N/A
Sample Projects USRP RIO includes several sample projects that serve as starting points to build a USRP RIO streaming application. From the Create Project dialog, select Sample Projects in the left pane and navigate to the NI-USRP Simple Streaming project.
Ettus USRP X410 Reference FPGA Project NI-USRP includes a LV FPGA reference project that generates default bitfiles designed for the Ettus USRP X410. The reference project also serves as a starting point to customize the FPGA of the Ettus USRP X410. For detailed information on the Ettus USRP X410 Reference Project, visit ni.com/r/x410refproj.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.

If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.6.2, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.6.2 separately before you install NI software.

For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to Automating an Installer in the NI Package Manager manual.

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.


Legal Information

Copyright

©2011–2021 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved.

Under the copyright laws, this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storing in an information retrieval system, or translating, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of National Instruments Corporation.

NI respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. NI software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Where NI software may be used to reproduce software or other materials belonging to others, you may use NI software only to reproduce materials that you may reproduce in accordance with the terms of any applicable license or other legal restriction.

End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices

You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:

  • Notices are located in the <National Instruments>\_Legal Information and <National Instruments> directories.
  • EULAs are located in the <National Instruments>\Shared\MDF\Legal\license directory.
  • Review <National Instruments>\_Legal Information.txt for information on including legal information in installers built with NI products.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

If you are an agency, department, or other entity of the United States Government ("Government"), the use, duplication, reproduction, release, modification, disclosure or transfer of the technical data included in this manual is governed by the Restricted Rights provisions under Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.227-14 for civilian agencies and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement Section 252.227-7014 and 252.227-7015 for military agencies.

IVI Foundation Copyright Notice

Content from the IVI specifications reproduced with permission from the IVI Foundation.

The IVI Foundation and its member companies make no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The IVI Foundation and its member companies shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Trademarks

Refer to the NI Trademarks and Logo Guidelines at ni.com/trademarks for information on NI trademarks. Other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

Patents

For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.

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