Avnet RFSoC User manual
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RFSoC Development Kit
Getting Started Guide
Version 1.6
November 26, 2019
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 2
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................3
Avnet RFSoC Development Kit Overview...................................................................3
Objectives ...................................................................................................................4
Requirements..............................................................................................................4
Tools Setup.................................................................................................................5
Hardware Setup ..........................................................................................................6
Booting ZCU111..........................................................................................................9
Ethernet TCP/IP Connection to ZCU111 ...........................................................................................10
Qorvo Card Control...................................................................................................12
Experiment 1: Generating a CW Tone through the TX Path .....................................14
Frequency Planning...........................................................................................................................15
Configuring the RF-ADC in the DPD observation path......................................................................18
Configuring the RF-DAC in the transmit path ....................................................................................23
Experiment 2: Generating an LTE signal through the TX Path..................................27
Appendix A: Installation of USB UART Driver ..........................................................33
Download and Install the Required Software.....................................................................................33
Determining the Virtual COM Port .....................................................................................................35
Appendix III: Getting Support ....................................................................................37
Avnet Support ....................................................................................................................................37
MathWorks Support ...........................................................................................................................37
Regulatory Compliance Information..........................................................................38
Revision History ........................................................................................................39
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 3
Introduction
This tutorial serves as an introduction to the Avnet Zynq®UltraScale+TM RFSoC Development Kit with
Qorvo RF Front End. Using the Avnet RFSoC Explorer®graphical user-interface in MATLAB, you will
control the ZCU111 development board, generate and acquire signals through the Qorvo front-end card.
DISCLAIMER: This tutorial is provided for reference/educational purposes only and may not reflect
results observed with other test equipment.
Avnet RFSoC Development Kit Overview
The Avnet Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Development Kit with Qorvo RF Front End enables system
architects to explore the entire signal chain from antenna to digital using tools from MathWorks and
industry-leading RF components from Qorvo. We extend the functionality of the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+
RFSoC ZCU111 Evaluation Kit by adding the Qorvo 2x2 Small Cell RF front-end card, plus native
connection to MATLAB®& Simulink®with Avnet's RFSoC Explorer®application.
Please consult www.avnet.com/rfsockit or contact your local Avnet FAE for further details.
Figure 1 - Avnet Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Development Kit with Qorvo RF Front End
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 4
Objectives
This tutorial is intended to help you:
Gain familiarity with the Avnet RFSoC Development Kit with Qorvo RF Front End
Use the Avnet RFSoC Explorer GUI to control the hardware, generate and acquire signals into
MATLAB through the RF signal chains of the Qorvo card
Explore the Avnet RFSoC Explorer user API for automated scripting and interface to MATLAB
Requirements
Laptop or PC with the following software installed:
MATLAB R2019b (Free MATLAB Trial Package for Wireless Communications available)
i
oDSP System Toolbox
oFixed-Point Designer
oCommunications Toolbox
oCommunications Toolbox Support Package for Xilinx Zynq-Based Radio
oSignal Processing Toolbox
oLTE Toolbox (optional)
o5G Toolbox (optional)
Avnet Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Development Kit with Qorvo RF Front End
USB cable (Type A to Micro-USB Type B)
CAT5 Ethernet cable
Xilinx Vivado software is not required.
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 5
Tools Setup
RFSoC Explorer installs easily in the MATLAB APPS tab without modifying your registryor other applications.
1. From MATLAB Add-Ons, search for Avnet RFSoC Explorer and click install.
2. From MATLAB Add-Ons, search for Communications Toolbox Support Package for
Xilinx Zynq-Based Radio and click install.
After installation, choose Configure later if prompted.
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 6
Hardware Setup
The Avnet RFSoC Development Kit includes the Xilinx Zynq ZCU111 Evaluation Kit. There are many
jumpers and switches on the board, shipped with default states, which do not need to change for this
tutorial. In the following steps we describe the minimal configuration. For a comprehensive setup guide,
refer to the online ZCU111 Xilinx Wiki (ZCU111 RFSoC RF Data Converter Evaluation Tool Getting
Started Guide).
1. Set the ZCU111 DIP switches (SW6) as shown in the figure below, which allows the ZCU111
board to boot from the SD card.
Figure 2 - ZCU111 SD boot switch settings
2. Remove the SD card from the ZCU111 and insert into your PC. Use an SD formatter tool to
create a FAT partition, https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/
Figure 3 - SD card formatter
3. Download the file avnet_rfsocX_zcu111_boot_v1_0.zip from www.avnet.com/RFSockit.
a. Direct link http://avnet.me/rfsocX-zcu111-boot-v1.0
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 7
Figure 4 - SD Card Download
This archive contains the software for the ZCU111 evaluation board.
Unzip the archive to a convenient location on your hard disk, then copy the files to the root level
of the SD card. Safely eject the SD card from the PC and replace into ZCU111.
Figure 5 - SD Card Root Directory with Boot Files
4. To enable your PC to make a serial connection to the ZCU111 USB-UART, you must install the
Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers. For step-by-step instructions see
Appendix A: Installation of USB UART Driver later in this document.
5. Connect the Qorvo RF card, ZCU111, antennae, and cables as shown in Figure 6. Although no
over-the-air transmission and reception is involved in this tutorial, the antennae provide
convenient 50-Ohm termination to the PA.
1
6. Plug Ethernet and USB cables into your host PC
1
The Qorvo 2x2 Small Cell RF Front-end 1.8GHz Card is designed for LTE Band-3 small cell applications in
FDD mode. Transmission in the downlink is centered at 1842 MHz; reception in the uplink at 1747 MHz. It is
not intended for over-the-air loopback of TX to RX through the same card, hence the use of DPD observation
path for this tutorial.
For a comprehensive description of the functionality of the RF front-end, see Qorvo 2x2 Small Cell RF Front-
end 1.8 GHz Card Hardware User Guide at www.avnet.com/rfsockit
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 8
Figure 6 –Qorvo card mounted on ZCU111
Figure 7 - Block diagram of Avnet RFSoC Development Kit
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 9
Booting ZCU111
1. Turn the ZCU111 power switch ON (near the 12V connector)
From your PC launch a terminal program with 115200/8/n/1/n settings. For the example output shown
here, Tera Term was used. For information on setting up Tera Term to use with the ZCU111 USB-
UART port, see Appendix A: Installation of USB UART Driver later in this document.
2. You should observe terminal output from U-Boot and then Linux output appear in the Tera Term
window. After the final boot message ‘Server Init Done’, press enter to generate a carriage
return and command-line prompt from ZCU111.
RFSoC Development Kit Getting Started Guide Page 10
Ethernet TCP/IP Connection to ZCU111
Upon booting to Linux the ZCU111 Ethernet port should have an IP address. Discover it by running the
ifconfig command.
The ZCU111 Ethernet IP in this example is 192.168.0.105
Set a static IP for your host PC's Local Ethernet adapter. Make sure your PC and the board are on the same
subnet, gateway, etc.
Laptop Ethernet IP: IP 192.168.0.106
Subnet 255.255.255.0
From the host PC, open a Windows command prompt and ping the ZCU111 board to verify Ethernet
connectivity.
C:\> ping 192.168.0.105
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