ADAR1000 and SDR Pluto

The LTC5552 mixer was used to frequency translate the Pluto's IF frequency to the ADAR1000's RF frequency. 

Many thanks for the reply.

So to confirm the SDR Pluto is used to feed the ADAR1000?

The Rasperry pi is used to program and control the ADAR1000? and this is done without using the AD proprietary software fore the ADAR1000?

Hi Zain,

Yes, the RPi controls the ADAR1000 with SPI writes.  And then Pluto is used like an RF Power detector to extract the peak signal strength at each of the ADAR1000's beam positions.  The Tx of Pluto applies a frequency to the LO of the mixer, such that the 10.5Ghz signal mixes down to 10.5G-PlutoTx, and that is what the Pluto Rx port receives.  There's more information, including a complete step by step guide here:

https://github.com/jonkraft/PhasedArray

I hope that helps!

Hi,

Thank you this is most helpful.

My final question (hopefully). Can I use an Arduino rather than the RPi?

You could control the ADAR1000 with arduino, but the Pluto needs an Rpi or Linux/Windows computer.  Or you could swap out Pluto for an RF power detector.  But any of these changes would require a lot of software work.  If you're just getting started, I would use the existing example and setup.  

You could control the ADAR1000 with arduino, but the Pluto needs an Rpi or Linux/Windows computer.  Or you could swap out Pluto for an RF power detector.  But any of these changes would require a lot of software work.  If you're just getting started, I would use the existing example and setup.  

Many thanks for the reply.

I was about to purchase a Pluto. I see they all ship with the AD9363 which outputs up to 3.8 GHz. I would require the AD9364 so that I can output up to 6 GHz. 

I see there is a post on how to update the Pluto to output 6 GHz. Can any Pluto be updated?

Yes, any version of Pluto can do the freq expansion hack.  It is detailed here:

https://wiki.analog.com/university/tools/pluto/users/customizing#updating_to_the_ad9364

Also, I have a video which shows how to access the 2nd Rx and Tx ports.  It also includes how to do the freq expansion hack, and walks through an example Python program using all the channels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph0Kv4SgSuI

Thank you for the reply.

My finally question is connecting the ADAR1000 to a PC. 

I will need to use either an SDP-S or SDP-B USB interface board.

I plan on using an SDP-S. Is there any disadvantage to this?

Many thanks,

Zain