Index

Ettus X310 Hardware Notes

September 03, 2016

Other References

• Ettus Research X310 Knowledgebase

Physical

Weight is 1.7kg. Dimensions ??

Sides and rear need to have airflow.

Power

Power connector is a Kycon KPPX-4P, which is a locking 4-pin mini DIN. It is rated for 7.5A @ 20V and has a pretty complex assembly procedure, but can be assembled onto fairly large wire (e.g. unjacketed 12AWG silicone).

Nominal supply voltage is 12V.

Power requirement for the X310 running in receive-only at 100MSPS using the stock FPGA image and no extra RFNoC blocks seems to be about 36W.

Connectors

Rear:

• Power: locking 4-pin mini-DIN
• Ethernet: two SFP+ cages
• PCIe: National Instruments called this an "MXI-Express" cable, but it's also available from other vendors
• GPS: SMA
• Clock in/out: SMA

Front:

• GPIO: DB-25
• RF: SMA (connected via internal cables to daughterboards)

PCIe Interface

Ettus supplies a kit to connect the X310 directly to PCIe, but it's pricey. This hardware also reportedly works:

• PCIe x4 Cable - Datasheet
• PCIe x4 Gen2 Host Cable Adapter - Datasheet

GPSDO

The GPSDO from Ettus is a Jackson Labs LC_XO, which is a 20ppb OCXO. The GPSDO recommended for use with the B200/B210 is also compatible, as described here.