"New Protocol" explained...
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:11 pm
The "new protocol", aka Protocol 2, is a complete re-spin of the original firmware, with a new and substantially improved interface specification. You can find the specification well documented.
It implements Gigabit Ethernet (only--no support for 100BASE-T at all at the radio Ethernet connector). The higher speed of GigE is exploited to provide IF sample rates of up to 1.5Msps, with a much larger number of IF streams being simultaneously possible (limited by how many DDCs can fit in an FPGA, which has not changed). This latter improvement allows PureSignal to be used at any combination of sample rates. There are a lot of other "under the hood" improvements.
In order to use Protocol 2 you need a client that supports it. As of the time of this posting, that would be Thetis (basically PowerSDR modified to run the new protocol, plus a few other interesting features), SDR Console, and piHPSDR.
All of this is is late alpha/very early beta, and therefore is not recommended for the faint of heart , nor those who are not comfortable with HPSDR Bootloader!
To move from Protocol 1 to Protocol 2 you can use either HPSDR Programmer or HPSDR Bootloader. To move from Protocol 2 to Protocol 1 you must use HPSDR Bootloader or the new Protocol 2 programmer.
I strongly recommend that you be comfortable and familiar with HPSDR Bootloader before making the leap. If you brick your radio with Protocol 2 firmware then HPSDR Bootloader will be the only way to reload firmware in your radio.
It implements Gigabit Ethernet (only--no support for 100BASE-T at all at the radio Ethernet connector). The higher speed of GigE is exploited to provide IF sample rates of up to 1.5Msps, with a much larger number of IF streams being simultaneously possible (limited by how many DDCs can fit in an FPGA, which has not changed). This latter improvement allows PureSignal to be used at any combination of sample rates. There are a lot of other "under the hood" improvements.
In order to use Protocol 2 you need a client that supports it. As of the time of this posting, that would be Thetis (basically PowerSDR modified to run the new protocol, plus a few other interesting features), SDR Console, and piHPSDR.
All of this is is late alpha/very early beta, and therefore is not recommended for the faint of heart , nor those who are not comfortable with HPSDR Bootloader!
To move from Protocol 1 to Protocol 2 you can use either HPSDR Programmer or HPSDR Bootloader. To move from Protocol 2 to Protocol 1 you must use HPSDR Bootloader or the new Protocol 2 programmer.
I strongly recommend that you be comfortable and familiar with HPSDR Bootloader before making the leap. If you brick your radio with Protocol 2 firmware then HPSDR Bootloader will be the only way to reload firmware in your radio.