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authorMartin Braun <martin.braun@ettus.com>2014-03-23 15:11:26 +0100
committerMartin Braun <martin.braun@ettus.com>2014-04-09 17:25:09 +0200
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+/*! \page page_transport Transport Application Notes
+
+\tableofcontents
+
+\section transport_intro Introduction
+
+A transport is the layer between the packet interface and a device IO
+interface. The advanced user can pass optional parameters into the
+underlying transport layer through the device address. These optional
+parameters control how the transport object allocates memory, resizes
+kernel buffers, spawns threads, etc. When not spcified, the transport
+layer will use values for these parameters that are known to perform
+well on a variety of systems. The transport parameters are defined below
+for the various transports in the UHD software:
+
+\section transport_udp UDP Transport (Sockets)
+
+The UDP transport is implemented with user-space sockets. This means
+standard Berkeley sockets API using send()/recv().
+
+\subsection transport_udp_params Transport parameters
+
+The following parameters can be used to alter the transport's default
+behavior:
+
+- `recv_frame_size:` The size of a single receive buffer in bytes
+- `num_recv_frames:` The number of receive buffers to allocate
+- `send_frame_size:` The size of a single send buffer in bytes
+- `num_send_frames:` The number of send buffers to allocate
+
+<b>Notes:</b>
+- `num_recv_frames` does not affect performance.
+- `num_send_frames` does not affect performance.
+- `recv_frame_size` and `send_frame_size` can be used
+ to increase or decrease the maximum number of samples per packet. The
+ frame sizes default to an MTU of 1472 bytes per IP/UDP packet and may be
+ increased if permitted by your network hardware.
+
+\subsection transport_udp_flow Flow control parameters
+
+The host-based flow control expects periodic update packets from the
+device. These update packets inform the host of the last packet consumed
+by the device, which allows the host to determine throttling conditions
+for the transmission of packets. The following mechanisms affect the
+transmission of periodic update packets:
+
+- `ups_per_fifo:` The number of update packets for each FIFO's
+ worth of bytes sent into the device
+- `ups_per_sec:` The number of update packets per second (defaults
+ to 20 updates per second)
+
+\subsection transport_udp_sockbufs Resize socket buffers
+
+It may be useful to increase the size of the socket buffers to move the
+burden of buffering samples into the kernel or to buffer incoming
+samples faster than they can be processed. However, if your application
+cannot process samples fast enough, no amount of buffering can save you.
+The following parameters can be used to alter socket's buffer sizes:
+
+- `recv_buff_size:` The desired size of the receive buffer in
+ bytes
+- `send_buff_size:` The desired size of the send buffer in bytes
+
+<b>Note:</b> Large send buffers tend to decrease transmit performance.
+
+\subsection transport_udp_latency Latency Optimization
+
+Latency is a measurement of the time it takes a sample to travel between
+the host and device. Most computer hardware and software is bandwidth
+optimized, which may negatively affect latency. If your application has
+strict latency requirements, please consider the following notes:
+
+<b>Note1:</b> The time taken by the device to populate a packet is
+proportional to the sample rate. Therefore, to improve receive latency,
+configure the transport for a smaller frame size.
+
+<b>Note2:</b> For overall latency improvements, look for "Interrupt
+Coalescing" settings for your OS and ethernet chipset. It seems the
+Intel ethernet chipsets offer fine-grained control in Linux. Also,
+consult:
+
+- <http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.prftungd/doc/prftungd/interrupt_coal.htm>
+
+\subsection transport_udp_linux Linux specific notes
+
+On Linux, the maximum buffer sizes are capped by the sysctl values
+`net.core.rmem_max` and `net.core.wmem_max`. To change the maximum
+values, run the following commands: :
+
+ sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=<new value>
+ sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=<new value>
+
+Set the values permanently by editing `/etc/sysctl.conf`.
+
+\subsection transport_udp_windows Windows specific notes
+
+**UDP send fast-path:** It is important to change the default UDP
+behavior such that 1500 byte packets still travel through the fast path
+of the sockets stack. This can be adjusted with the
+FastSendDatagramThreshold registry key:
+
+- FastSendDatagramThreshold registry key documented here:
+
+ - <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/optimize_web.aspx#appendix_e>
+
+- Double click and run
+ `<install-path>/share/uhd/FastSendDatagramThreshold.reg`
+- A system reboot is recommended after the registry key change.
+
+<b>Power profile:</b> The Windows power profile can seriously impact
+instantaneous bandwidth. Application can take time to ramp-up to full
+performance capability. It is recommended that users set the power
+profile to "high performance".
+
+\section transport_usb USB Transport (LibUSB)
+
+The USB transport is implemented with LibUSB. LibUSB provides an
+asynchronous API for USB bulk transfers.
+
+\subsection transport_usb_params Transport parameters
+
+The following parameters can be used to alter the transport's default
+behavior:
+
+- `recv_frame_size:` The size of a single receive transfers in
+ bytes
+- `num_recv_frames:` The number of simultaneous receive transfers
+- `send_frame_size:` The size of a single send transfers in bytes
+- `num_send_frames:` The number of simultaneous send transfers
+
+\subsection transport_usb_udev Setup Udev for USB (Linux)
+
+On Linux, Udev handles USB plug and unplug events. The following
+commands install a Udev rule so that non-root users may access the
+device:
+
+ cd <install-path>/lib/uhd/utils
+ sudo cp uhd-usrp.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
+ sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
+ sudo udevadm trigger
+
+\subsection transport_usb_installwin Install USB driver (Windows)
+
+A driver package must be installed to use a USB-based product with UHD
+software:
+
+- Download the driver from the UHD wiki page
+ <a href="http://files.ettus.com/binaries/misc/erllc_uhd_winusb_driver.zip">here</a>.
+- Unzip the file into a known location. We will refer to this as the `<directory>`.
+- Open the device manager and plug in the USRP device. You will see an
+ unrecognized USB device in the device manager.
+- Right click on the unrecognized USB device and select update/install
+ driver software (may vary for your OS).
+- In the driver installation wizard, select "browse for driver",
+ browse to the `<directory>`, and select the `.inf` file.
+- Continue through the installation wizard until the driver is
+ installed.
+
+*/
+// vim:ft=doxygen: