This Docker image will help you to quickly dive into RF world with ADALM-PLUTO SDR without worrying about Linux complexity. It is going to download, compile and install the latest version of available drivers. Everything required will be in the Docker image, so you don't need to worry about adding unnecessary stuff to your beloved Linux system.
Please ensure that you have the following installed in your Linux system:
- GIT
- Docker
Use the following commands to create Docker image for GNU Radio Companion.
git clone git@github.com:va1da5/docker-gnuradio-pluto.git
cd docker-gnuradio-pluto
docker build -t gnuradio .
There are two common ways to communicate with ADALM-PLUTO: via USB or network connection. The repository contains two run scripts for this matter:
- run-over-network.sh
- run-over-usb.sh
# Start container with network support
./run-over-network.shWhen attached to a host computer ADALM-PLUTO disguises itself as a network interface. The default IP address of the PlutoSDR is 192.168.2.1. This is later used in GNU Radio when defining the device URI ip:192.168.2.1.
# Start container with USB support
./run-over-usb.shAnother way to connect to the PlutoSDR is over USB. This option has a bit better data throughput (Performance Metrics). The USB ID changes each time when the PlutoSDR is attached to a host machine. In order to find the ID you need to attach to the container and execute the following command. Moreover, root privileges are required (--user root) when accessing PlutoSDR over USB.
> docker exec -it gnuradio bash
root@thinkpad:~# iio_info -s
Library version: 0.15 (git tag: ea597c4)
Compiled with backends: local xml ip usb
Available contexts:
0: 0xx6:bxxx (Analog Devices Inc. PlutoSDR (ADALM-PLUTO)), serial=1044xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [usb:2.4.5]In this case device URI would be usb:2.4.5.
PlutoSDR USB ID will be presented when starting the container using run-over-usb.sh script.
Presented docker image works with windows host system. Communication over network is used. To make it working X server and PulseAudio server must be installed.
X server can be downloaded from this link: https://sourceforge.net/projects/vcxsrv/
Pulseaudio for windows can be downloaded using link: http://bosmans.ch/pulseaudio/pulseaudio-1.1.zip
It needs some changes in configuration files.
File: /etc/pulse/default.pa
Line 61: #load-module module-native-protocol-tcp
Line 61 should be uncommented to enable network protocol.
We need to allow anonymous connections by adding auth-anonymous=1, or ip address for connection can be specified: auth-ip-acl=192.168.3.10.
After modification complete line should be like this:
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-anonymous=1
or
load-module module-native-protocol-tcp auth-ip-acl=192.168.2.10
Second modification is to disable timeout.
File: /etc/pulse/daemon.conf
Line 31: ; exit-idle-time = 20
After modification:
Line31: exit-idle-time = -1
Then /bin/pulseaudio.exe can be ran.
Image can be ran using following command:
docker run --rm -d --add-host pluto.local:192.168.2.1 --volume C:\Users\filluser\path\docker-gnuradio-pluto-master\gnuradio:/home/gnuradio -e DISPLAY=host.docker.internal:0 -e PULSE_SERVER=tcp:192.168.2.10 --network host --name gnuradio gnuradioWhere ip address 192.168.2.1 is pointing to pluto. Address 192.168.2.10 points to host. These addresses are default for pluto.