This week Lime Microsystems launched the LimeSDR XTRX which is a compact and powerful software-defined radio (SDR) board in a mini PCIe form factor. At its core, the board features an AMD Artix 7 FPGA and the Lime Microsystems LMS7002M RF transceiver to serve as a platform for developing logic-intensive digital and RF designs.

According to the Crowdsupply campaign page, the LimeSDR XTRX board integrates the AMD Artix7 XC7A50T-2CPG2361I in a 236-pin CSBGA package: 

• AMD Artix 7 XC7A50T — 52160 LUTs, 2700 Kb RAM blocks, 600Kb distributed RAM, 120x18x18-bit multipliers, 5x PLL, 4x DLL, 106x IOs

LimeSDR XTRX block diagram
(click image to enlarge)

The Lime Microsystems RF transceiver offers a bandwidth of 120 MHz, sample depth of 12 bits, and a sample rate of 120 MSPS SISO or 90 MSPS MIMO. The board also enables MIMO (2xTX, 2xRX) configurations and covers a broad frequency range from 30 MHz to 3.8 GHz. The maximum transmit power is 10 dBm, depending on the frequency used.

LimeSDR XTRX interfaces
(click images to enlarge)

The LimeSDR XTRX’s clock system includes an onboard VCTCXO (26.00 MHz or 30.72 MHz) that can be fine-tuned by an onboard DAC, along with a reference clock input and output connector (U.FL).

   
LimeSDR XTRX top and bottom view
(click images to enlarge)

Lime Microsystems has mentioned that the LimeSDR XTRX is based on the Fairwaves XTRX Rev 5 and that they have open sourced the design files which are available on the LimeSDR XTRX GitHub repository.

The company also indicates that “As a full-fledged member of the LimeSDR family, LimeSDR XTRX benefit from the same support as other LimeSDR products, which means any existing LimeSDR-family application can work on LimeSDR XTRX once it is rebuilt with the latest version of any library that supports LimeSDR. In addition, the legacy gateware and driver for the original XTRX is still available to aid in the transition to LimeSDR XTRX, though the legacy versions will not be actively maintained.”

Specifications listed for the LimeSDR XTRX include:

• Memory/Storage:
  • 128 Kb EEPROM for LMS MCU firmware (optional)
  • 128 Kb EEPROM for FPGA data (optional)
  • 256 Mb Flash memory for FPGA configuration
• R/F Transceiver:
  • Lime Microsystems LMS7002M
• I/O Interfaces:
  • Coaxial RF connectors
  • FPGA GPIO (8-pin FPC connector)
  • RF baseband (15-pin FPC connectors)
  • Mini PCIe (edge connector)
  • 2x User LEDs
• Other Features:
  • FPGA JTAG connector (unpopulated)
  • 1x Temperature sensor (TMP1075NDRLR)
• USB:
  • 1x Micro-B USB 2.0
• Power:
  • 5V DC (via USB port)
  • 3.3V DC (via Mini PCIe)
• Operating Temperature:
  • 0℃ to 70℃
• Mechanical: 
  • 50.8mm x 20.97mm 
  • Mini PCIe form factor

Further information