LimeSDR Mini 2.0: The Upgrade You Didn’t Know You Needed

It’s the end of an era: the original LimeSDR Mini is officially being retired. However, there is nothing to mourn as a drop-in replacement is being launched in its wake. The LimeSDR Mini 2.0 is the exact same physical form factor with the same reliable RF performance while boasting an upgraded FPGA from its predecessor in not only size, but also support in the FPGA developers community as well as open source tools available for it.

The LimeSDR is a staple in the radio engineering community for hobbyists and industry professionals alike. Tens of thousands of LimeSDR Minis have shipped since it launch 5 years ago and there is no signs of slowing in its demand. However, the original LimeSDR Mini was built on the Intel MAX10 FPGA, which unfortunately has fallen victim to the ongoing silicon shortage and supply chain purgatory.

As a quick pivot to avoid the death of the LimeSDR Mini, Lime MicoSystems managed to pull off a clever respin of the PCB replacing pretty much only the Intel MAX10 with the Lattice ECP5 FPGA.

Check out the Crowd Supply project page for the LimeSDR Mini 2.0 for a more detail comparison chart of how it stacks up to its predecessor and other popular SDR hardware options on the market.

As per their standard of openness, Lime Microsystems will also be release all of the Mini 2.0's source files prior to going into production including schematics, board layout + manufacturing files, FPGA gateware, USB 3.0 firmware, host software, documentation, and toolchain configuration. Which this makes the switch from Intel to Lattice even more fitting because Lattice Semiconductor also supports the open source community by making the toolchain for some of their FPGAs open source, including the Lattice ECP5.

Sign up and subscribe to the campaign on Crowd Supply to get notifications of when the LimeSDR Mini 2.0 will be available!