So while we’re waiting for the first test run of the boards to be manufactured, I have been working on advancing the software side of things.

Check out the below video where Alexander walks through the development rig and demonstrates a “Hello World” app – using SPI to control the LMS7002M chip and generate a sine wave. While sounds easy, it actually requires the whole stack to work in coordination as control commands travel through Linux userspace => Linux kernel module => PCIe => FPGA => SPI => LMS7002M.

Next steps are now to get I/Q data transfer up using DMA transfer over PCIe. Stay tuned.

UPD: See pages 14-16 of the LMS7002M data sheet for the details of the LMS7 SPI interface.