xMASS SDR: Modular MIMO Transceiver for 4G/5G Applications
After releasing the uSDR last year, Wavelet Lab is following it up by launching a low-cost MIMO with the xMASS SDR.
Wavelet Lab, the same company that released the uSDR last June, has announced the launch of a new SDR development board with the xMASS SDR. The xMASS SDR is a high-performance MIMO transceiver in a modular form factor.
The xMASS board is a carrier board with slots to hold up to four SDR boards which provides eight transmit and eight receive channels capable of approximately up to 60 MSPS per eight channels and 100 MSPS per four channels. This makes the xMASS ideal for 4G/5G application development.
The xSDR is a new variant of the uSDR using the LMS7002 versus the LMS6002D transceiver chip. The main difference between the LMS7002 over the LMS6002D is that the LMS7002 contains a dual transceiver architecture.
This gives you two independent transceiver channels (two transmit channels and two receive channels) for every one xSDR over just one transceiver channel on the uSDR.
The xSDR is still in the same super-compact M.2 2230 form factor and controlled by an AMD Artix XC7A35T FPGA, which allows it and the xMASS carrier board to share the same code base as the uSDR.
While the Crowd Supply page for the xMASS SDR doesn't currently list a specific price, the description implies that it will be competitive within the inexpensive MIMO systems. Furthermore, the xMASS SDR is expected to stand out in this market because it is capable of transmitting signals as well as receiving them.
The xMASS SDR system can act as four independent transceivers allowing users to run up to four different SDR applications at once. For example, 2 transceivers could implement a 4G application while another transceiver runs a two-way radio application (aka PMR - professional mobile radio), and the remaining transceiver is dedicated to spectrum monitoring.
In the simplified block diagram of the xMASS SDR above, the device operates by streaming data to/from each xSDR module from a host machine via a PCIe packet switch. Each xSDR's system clock is synced via GPS or an externally provided one PPS sync.
Wavelet Lab provides software for the uSDR and xMASS SDR via their GitHub, as well as pre-built packages hosted on Launchpad. Furthermore, a collaboration with Lime Microsystems also added LimeSuite support for the xMASS and xSDR boards.
The campaign for the xMASS SDR is currently in pre-launch, sign up here to be notified when it goes live. I'm personally a big fan of the uSDR, and I think the evolution of it with the xSDR and xMASS is a great addition to Wavelet's lineup!