Epiq Solutions Sidekiq X2 User manual

Sidekiq™X2 / X4 PDK
GETTING STARTED GUIDE
INTRODUCTION
ES024-513-A
RF Transceiver High Performance
The Sidekiq X2 / X4 PDK includes either a Sidekiq X2 or X4 FMC card mounted on an FPGA carrier card and
PCIe Gen3 x4 interface all hosted in a Thunderbolt™ 3 (TB3) PCIe carrier card chassis. The chassis connects
to a TB3 enabled Linux laptop via the included TB3 cable. A USB cable is also included to connect the
laptop with the GPS USB port to provide GPS configuration and raw data. The PDK laptop is pre-loaded with
Epiq Solutions’ libsidekiq API, test applications, ERA (Spectrum Analyzer), and device drivers. All support-
related questions, product documentation, software, and FPGA reference designs are managed through Epiq
Solutions’ private web-based support forum* available at epiqsolutions.com/support.
PROPER CARE AND HANDLING
Each Sidekiq X2 or X4 PDK is fully tested by Epiq Solutions before shipment, and is guaranteed functional at
the time it is received by the customer.
Improper use of Sidekiq can cause it to become non-functional. In particular, a list of actions that may cause
damage to the hardware include the following:
• Handling the unit without proper electrostatic precautions (ESD protection) when the housing is
removed or opened up
• Inserting or removing Sidekiq from a host system when power is applied to the host system
• Connecting a transmitter to the RX port without proper attenuation – refer to Sidekiq X2 or X4
Hardware Users Manual for additional information.
• Executing custom software and/or an FPGA bitstream that was not developed according to our
guidelines
*Registration is required to use the Epiq Solutions Customer Support Center. You can register at epiqsolutions.com/support
AVAILABLE DOCUMENTATION
Documentation for Sidekiq X2/X4 can be accessed at epiqsolutions.com/docs. After providing the product’s
serial number and a valid email address, you will be granted immediate access to documentation, so you can
get started even before your access to our support forums has been approved.

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Sidekiq X4 PDK Assembled *see RF PORTS to locate GPS connector on Sidekiq X2
• The Sidekiq X2 and X4 Hardware User’s Manuals provide an overview and usage details of the
multichannel RF transceiver card.
• The Sidekiq Software Development Manual provides the details required to enable a software
developer to develop software applications utilizing the Sidekiq SDR.
• The Sidekiq API Manual provides an overview and usage details of libsidekiq - Sidekiq Library
• The Sidekiq X2 / X4 FPGA Development Manual provides an overview of the FPGA reference design,
with the intention of empowering the user to build upon the design to create custom applications.
• The ERA Manual provides an overview of ERA (Epiq RF Analyzer) Lite, a cross-platform compatible
spectrum analyzer, when used in conjunction with the full line of Epiq Solutions’ software defined
radios (SDR)
SETUP
1. Connect the Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) chassis power supply and cable from the TB3 chassis’ DC barrel
connector to the wall outlet.
2. Connect the laptop power supply and cable to the laptop’s DC barrel connector.
3. Connect the TB3 chassis Thunderbolt-3 port to the laptop’s TB3 port with the provided TB3 cable.
4. If you are using the GPS disciplined oscillator (GPSDO): Connect the GPS antenna to J8 for the Sidekiq
X2 or J11 for the Sidekiq X4 (a). Also connect the USB cable to the USB-B port on the chassis and a
USB-A port on the laptop (b); for more details, see “RF Ports” on the next page.
5. Connect an antenna or RF source to RXA1, J2 for the Sidekiq X2 or J2 for the Sidekiq X4, before using
any of the test applications or ERA; for more details, see “RF Ports” on the next page.
1
2
3
4a
4b
After you have removed and verified that all the package contents are present as outlined in the Sidekiq X2/
X4 PDK Package Contents, setup the system as follows:
*

3
6. Power on the laptop; this will also power-on the connected TB3 chassis. The laptop will indicate that it
is starting up Ubuntu Linux and then it will show a login page. A blue LED (on the Sidekiq card, behind
the front RF connector panel) will turn on when the chassis is completely on.
7. Log into Ubuntu with the user credentials:
• Username: sidekiq
• Password: sidekiq
8. Launch a terminal window (can be launced by pressing Ctrl-Alt-T)
9. Verify that the TB3 / PCIe connection to the Sidekiq X2 / X4 is established by running the lspci
command the PCI identifier for the Sidekiq X2 or X4 is 19aa:5832.
$ lspci -d 19aa:
xx:00.0 Signal processing controller: Device 19aa:5832 (rev 04)
10. If running lspci -d 19aa: returns no results, power everything down and repeat steps 5 – 9. If
the PCIe interface is still not seen with lspci, please contact Epiq Solutions for further assistance at:
epiqsolutions.com/support.
RF PORTS
TxA2
RxA1
RxA2
TxA1
TxB2
RxB1
RxB2
TxB1
PPS IN
EXT10M
GPS IN
Sidekiq X2 RF Ports Sidekiq X4 RF Ports
RxA2
RxA1
RxB1
TxA1
TxA2
EXT 10M
PPS IN
GPS IN
SMA Label X2 RF Ports X2 Software Handle X4 RF Ports X4 Software Handle
J1 Rx A2 skiq_rx_hdl_A2 Tx A2 skiq_tx_hdl_A2
J2 Rx A1 skiq_rx_hdl_A1 Rx A1 skiq_rx_hdl_A1
J3 Rx B1 / ORBX skiq_rx_hdl_B1 Rx A2 / ObsRx A skiq_rx_hdl_A2
J4 Tx A1 skiq_tx_hdl_A1 Tx A1 skiq_tx_hdl_A1
J5 Tx A2 skiq_tx_hdl_A2 Tx B2 skiq_tx_hdl_B2
J6 External 10 MHz Rx B1 skiq_rx_hdl_B1
J7 PPS Input Rx B2 / ObsRx B skiq_rx_hdl_B2
J8 GPS Input Tx B1 skiq_tx_hdl_B1
J9 N/A PPS Input
J10 N/A External 10 MHz
J11 N/A GPS Input

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Input Level Ranges
10 MHz Input ( EXT 10M ): +2.5 dBm to +8.5 dBm
GPS Input ( GPS IN ): +15 dBm (max). This port also provides 3V at 50mA for powering an active antenna.
PPS Input ( PPS IN ): 0 to 5V ( V_HIGH min. ~1.5V )
Sidekiq X2
RF full scale input ( at max gain ): -30 dBm ( up to 3 GHz ) and ~-21 dBm @ 6 GHz
Max RF input signal ( without damage ): +25 dBm
Sidekiq X4
RF full scale input ( at max gain ): -20 dBm ( frequency dependent )
Max RF input signal ( without damage ): +27 dBm
GPS DISCIPLINED OSCILLATOR
The Sidekiq X2/X4 TB3 platform includes a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) add-on card which is
based on a uBlox LEA-M8F GNSS module (www.u-blox.com/en/product/lea-m8f-module). The GPS module is
capable of using GNSS (9BeiDou, GLONASS, GPS/QZSS), external 10 MHz frequency sources, and an internal
VCTCXO as its disciplining source. GNSS, if present, will always be used and if GNSS is lost, then the module
has 2 options to fallback on: 1) an external 10 MHz frequency source (if present), and 2) the internal VCTCXO.
The GPS module has been set up to always use the 10 MHz source as the disciplining source if it is
present on EXT_10M. GNSS, if present, will be used if the external 10 MHz is not present. If GNSS is
lost, then the M8F will fallback to the internal VCTCXO.
Connect the GPS antenna to the GPS_IN SMA connector (see RF PORTS) if you wish to use GPSDO or
connect a 10 MHz reference to the EXT_10M SMA connector.
Note: Once a GPS fix has been acquired, a 1PPS signal is also provided. The 1PPS persists after a GPS
fix has been lost.
The NMEA data stream can be viewed by connecting the USB A-Male to B-Male cable from the host
computer’s USB port to the X2/X4 TB3 chassis’ (USB for NMEA data). USB Port (Ubuntu): /dev/ttyUSB0 is
the NMEA data stream. Dierent serial & GPS drivers might name the port dierently.
sudo screen /dev/ttyUSB0
INCLUDED APPLICATIONS
Several applications are included with the PDK in order to help you test and verify your setup, such as our
standard Sidekiq command-line test applications and ERA, a spectrum analyzer.

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Libsidekiq Test Applications
Test Applications are located in /home/sidekiq/sidekiq_image_current/test_apps. Launch a
terminal window from Dash (search for “Terminal”) or by pressing Ctrl-Alt-T.
cd /home/sidekiq/sidekiq_image_current/test_apps/
A user can scan the system for Sidekiq cards, displaying version information for one or all card(s) upon
detection by running the version_test application by executing the command:
./version_test
The applications should return results that look something like the following:
1 card(s) found: 0 in use, 1 available!
Card IDs currently used :
Card IDs currently available: 0
Info: initializing 1 card(s)...
SKIQ[9326]: <INFO> libsidekiq v4.9.2 (g36ae80d0)
version_test[9326]: <INFO> Sidekiq card 0 is serail number-####...
version_test[9326]: <INFO> Sidekiq card 0 FPGA vM.m.p...
version_test[9326]: <INFO> Sidekiq card 0 is configured for an internal reference...
version_test[9326]: <INFO> Loading calibration data for Sidekiq X4, card 0
******************** libsidekiq v4.9.2 *******************
******************** Sidekiq Card 0 *******************
Card
accelerometer present: false part type: X4
part info: ES024201-B0-01 serial: ####
xport: PCIe
FPGA
version: 3.11.1
git hash: 0x1f4f2374
build date (yymmddhh): 19022521 tx fifo size: 64k samples
RF
reference clock: internal
reference clock frequency: 10000000 Hz last calibration year: 2019
last calibration week number: 7 recalibration interval: 0 years
version_test[9326]: <INFO> Unlocking card 0
A user can perform an RF capture of I/Q samples using the default configuration by executing the
rx_samples application as follows:
Raw I/Q Capture
Sidekiq X2
./rx_samples -b 25000000 --rate=30720000 -c 0 -d /tmp/out -f 1000000000
--handle=A1 –words=25000000
This command will save I/Q samples to a file named /tmp/out.a1 using values for 30.72 Msps sample rate, 25
MHz channel bandwidth, 1 GHz tune frequency. The data is stored in the file as 16-bit I/Q pairs with ‘I’ samples
stored in the upper 16-bits of each word, and ‘Q’ samples stored in the lower 16-bits of each word. Additional
available options are described by executing:
./rx_samples -h

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Running ERA
To run ERA, choose the Ubuntu icon in the top-left corner of the desktop and type “ERA”; the icon should
appear in the “Applications” section.
Note: The ERA User’s manual available on support forum (epiqsolutions.com/support), gives
instructions on the features and operation of ERA; some of these features described in the manual
require the purchase of an ERA Pro license, which is not currently supported with the X2 or X4.
EPIQ RF Analyzer (ERA) is installed on the Sidekiq X2 / X4 PDK laptop. ERA is an application that provides
a realtime view of spectrum and allows you to configure radio frequency, sample rate, and filtering
configuration of an Epiq radio. ERA documenation can be found on the support forum, available at
epiqsolutions.com/support.
ERA - Epiq RF Analyzer
ERA Release Information
• The included version does not provide “Pro” features of ERA for X2 or X4 (e.g. recording, see
User Manual for all Pro-only features). Future releases of ERA will be posted on the support forum
(epiqsolutions.com/support) for download.
• ERA support for Sidekiq X2/X4 hardware is preliminary; supported sample rates are limited to:
• 30.72 Msps - X2
• 61.44 Msps - X4
Sidekiq X4
./rx_samples -b 50000000 --rate=61440000 -c 0 -d /tmp/out -f 1000000000
--handle=A1 --words=25000000
This command will save I/Q samples to a file named /tmp/out.a1 using values for 61.44 Msps sample rate,
50 MHz channel bandwidth, 1 GHz tune frequency. The data is stored in the file as 16-bit I/Q pairs with ‘I’
samples stored in the upper 16-bits of each word, and ‘Q’ samples stored in the lower 16-bits of each word.
Additional available options are described by executing:
./rx_samples -h
Note: It is highly recommended that a user profile their system by running the benchmark test
applications (more details in the Sidekiq SDK Manual, Appendix 8 - Assessing Throughput
Performance)