LimeSDR Mini Information

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Full details of the LimeSDR Mini can be found on MyriadRF's web pages. Some key points are summarised here, together with links to useful MyriadRF web pages.

Hardware Specification

The BATC Shop-provided LimeSDR Minis are of hardware version v1.2. This is printed on the PCB near the mounting hole next to the USB connector. The full hardware specification can be found here: LimeSDR Mini v1.2 hardware description.

Earlier LimeSDR Minis may be of hardware version v1.1 described here: LimeSDR Mini v1.1 hardware description.

Indication LEDs

The LimeSDR Mini has a red/green LED near the SMA connectors; the meanings of the indications are:

Indication Meaning Example
Either LED steady, no blinking TCXO Clock not present Powered, but no USB data connection
Both LEDs steady, Amber TCXO Clock not present Powered, USB data connection lost
Either LED blinking TCXO Clock detected Connected to USB, drivers loaded
Red/green blinking At least one PLL not locked Connected to USB, drivers loaded
Green only blinking Both PLLs locked Transmitting

LimeSDR Mini FPGA Gateware

The LimeSDR Mini FPGA Gateware description can be found here LimeSDR Mini Gateware_Description V01r00

Standard Gateware is used for Portsdown 2019.

Custom LimeSDR Mini FPGA Gateware

Custom LimeSDR Mini FPGA Gateware for DVB transmissions is available at https://github.com/natsfr/LimeSDR_DVBSGateware. To drive this gateware, F5OEO's limesdr_dvb.cpp software should be used with the -F flag: https://github.com/F5OEO/limesdr_toolbox

This gateware will be incorporated into Portsdown Buster 2020.

Accelerated Spectrogram Gateware

Custom gateware for spectrum analysis is described here: https://limemicro.com/community/limesdr-mini-fpga-accelerated-real-time-spectrogram/ The gateware is on GitHub here: https://github.com/gasparka/LimeSDR-Mini_GW and the software to drive it here: https://github.com/gasparka/spectrogram

LimeSDR Command Line Utilities

A number of LimeSDR utilities are available from the Linux command line in the Portsdown software build:

Function Command Returns
Check LimeSDR Connected LimeUtil --find List of Devices
Check LimeSDR Firmware LimeUtil --make Hardware, firmware and gateware Versions
Update Firmware LimeUtil --update Progress report
Software version LimeUtil --info Installed LimeUtil SW Version
Self-test LimeQuickTest Results of tests

Other Application Software for the LimeSDR Mini

SDRAngel runs on Windows 10 and Linux and can be used to demodulate voice and DATV signals: https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel

SDRConsole runs on Windows 10 and will receive and transmit using the LimeSDR: https://www.sdr-radio.com/

The experimental "DVB-S GUI" program runs on Windows 10 (with high-end hardware) and will receive DVB-S and DVB-S2 using a Lime SDR. Notably, it applies LDPC error correction to DVB-S2 signals: http://v.1337team.tk/dvb-s_gui_amsat.zip