SG90 Radio MDB Definitions

This page has the MDB definitions for the radio.

MDB Variables

INDEX	mdb Variable Name	Description	Affects RF Board	Status (Get) Only	Requires Reset
25	alarm	Alarm status variable. See Alarm Status		Y
23	ber	Bit Error Rate estimate in parts per million. Not currently implemented.		Y
3	bitrateHi	See BITRATELO description above.
2	bitrateLo	Radio Data Rate in units of bits per second. The value is a 32 bit value with the upper portion in BITRATEHI and the lower portion in BITRATELO.
39	broadcastAddrHi	Upper 16 bits of IP Broadcast address.
38	broadcastAddrLo	Lower 16 bits of IP Broadcast address. See IP Addresses
5	centerFreqHi	The Radio Center Frequency least significant portion.	Y
4	centerFreqLo	The Radio Center Frequency in units of Hz stored as a 32 bit number. CENTERFREQHI is the most significant portion of the number	Y
112	dbCpuAppsVersion	Digital Board CPU Apps tree version
57	dbCpuVersion	CPU Firmware Version Number		Y
56	dbSerialNumber	Digital Board Serial Number		Y
111	dbType	Digital Board Type. See Digital Board Types
105	debugLevel	Debug level or mask
48	ethAddressHi	Reports the Ethernet address. See Ethernet Address		Y
46	ethAddressLo	Reports the Ethernet address. See Ethernet Address		Y
47	ethAddressMid	Reports the Ethernet address. See Ethernet Address		Y
14	fecMode	Forward Error Correction (FEC) mode. See FEC Mode below.
42	flashUpdate	Setting any value to this variable causes the radio to attempt a code update via tftp to the server address above. The processor attempts to download a main.bin from the server.
58	fpgaVersion	FPGA Version Number		Y
37	fskDeviation	FSK Deviation as a percentage of symbol rate.
32	gatewayHi	Upper 16 bits of the gateway address.
31	gatewayLo	Lower 16 bits of the gateway address. IP Addresses.
28	ipAddressHi	Upper 16 bits of Static IP address for Ethernet Port.
27	ipAddressLo	Lower 16 bits of Static IP address for the Ethernet Port. The IP address is stored in network order. See IP Addresses.
90	modbusSlaveID	modbus Slave ID for the radio itself
30	netMaskHi	Upper 16 bits of the netmask.
29	netMaskLo	Lower 16 bits of the netmask. See IP Addresses.
132	ntpServerAddrHi	Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server Upper 16 bits of the address.
131	ntpServerAddrLo	Network Time Protocol (NTP) Server Lower 16 bits of the address. See IP Addresses.
52	presetConfigs	Preset Configurations for the radio including bit rates and filters. See Preset Configurations
70	radioBroadcastAddrHi	Radio Ethernet Interface Upper 16 bits of IP Broadcast address.
69	radioBroadcastAddrLo	Radio Ethernet Interface Lower 16 bits of IP Broadcast address. See IP Addresses
68	radioGatewayHi	Radio Ethernet Interface Upper 16 bits of the gateway address.
67	radioGatewayLo	Radio Ethernet Interface Lower 16 bits of the gateway address. IP Addresses.
64	radioIpAddressHi	Radio Ethernet Interface Upper 16 bits of Static IP address for Ethernet Port.
63	radioIpAddressLo	Radio Ethernet Interface Lower 16 bits of Static IP address for the Ethernet Port. The IP address is stored in network order. See IP Addresses.
66	radioNetMaskHi	Radio Ethernet Interface Upper 16 bits of the netmask.
65	radioNetMaskLo	Radio Ethernet Interface Lower 16 bits of the netmask. See IP Addresses.
60	radioSerialNumber	Overall Product Serial Number		Y
53	resetBoard	Reset the board
93	restartCount	Number of restarts for this radio. This variable can be written so that it can be set to 0 if desired.
44	restartNetwork	Setting any value to this variable causes a network restart. This can be used to force the radio to start using changes to the network settings above.
59	rfMcuVersion	RF Board MCU Firmware Version		Y
54	rfSerialNumber	RF Board Serial Number		Y
45	rfStatus	contains the status bits from the RF Board.
55	rfType	RF Board Type (Band of Operation). See Rf Type		Y
22	rssi	The Received Signal Strength Indication in dB. In the downlink, this is from the last packet received. In the uplink, this is from the last Block Sync word received.		Y
41	serverAddrHi	Upper 16 bits of IP Server address.
40	serverAddrLo	Lower 16 bits of IP Server address. IP Addresses
24	temp	Internal temperature measurement in degrees centigrade		Y
51	tempHiThreshold	Temperature Fault Hi Threshold in degress C.
50	tempLoThreshold	Temperature Fault Low Threshold in degrees C.
15	txPower	Radio Transmit Power Level in tenths of a dB (17.0 to 32.0 dBm). See Transmit Power Control below.	Y
43	xilinxUpdate	Setting any value to this variable causes the radio to attempt a xilinx code update via tftp to the server address above. The processor attempts to download a fpga.bin file from the server.

Preset Configurations

For AWR operation as an SG90 Uplink Transmitter, set the following using the Maintenance tab of the EMS tool:

1. Set presetConfigs (52) to 11
2. Set presetConfigs (52) to 0
3. Set bitrate (2/3) to the desired SG90 bitrate
4. Set fecMode (14) to 10 (for no FEC) or 13 (for R1/2 FEC)
5. Set nodeType (18) to 1
6. Go to the SW/HW tab and click on the Reset Radio button.

HINT: It is often useful to have a background ping running to the radio so you can see when it resets and when it returns.

For AWR operation as an SG90 Uplink Receiver, set the following using the Maintenance tab of the EMS tool:

1. Set presetConfigs (52) to 12
2. Set presetConfigs (52) to 0
3. Set bitrate (2/3) to the desired SG90 bitrate
4. Set fecMode (14) to 10 (for no FEC) or 13 (for R1/2 FEC)
5. Set nodeType (18) to 1
6. Go to the SW/HW tab and click on the Reset Radio button.

For ATR operation as an SG90 Downlink Transmitter or Receiver without FEC, set the following using the Maintenance tab of the EMS tool:

1. Set presetConfigs (52) to 2
2. Set presetConfigs (52) to 0
3. Set nodeType (18) to 1
4. Go to the SW/HW tab and click on the Reset Radio button.

For ATR operation as an SG90 Downlink Transmitter with R1/2 FEC, set the following using the Maintenance tab of the EMS tool:

1. Set presetConfigs (52) to 3
2. Set presetConfigs (52) to 0
3. Set nodeType (18) to 1
4. Go to the SW/HW tab and click on the Reset Radio button.

Value	Description
0	Operational Startup
1	T200 Emulation
2	SG90 Downlink
3	SG90 Downlink w/FEC
4	Unused
5	Unused
6	Unused
7	CW Test Mode
8	Unused
9	2FSK Test Mode
10	Test Mode Startup
11	SG90 Uplink Transmitter
12	SG90 Uplink Receiver

Alarm Status

The alarm status bits are defined as

Bit	Description
0	VSWR Fault
1	PA Output Fault
2	Synthesizer Fault
3	RSSI Fault
4	Temperature Fault
5	Configuration Fault

Ethernet Address

The Ethernet address is reported in three consecutive mdb variables that are get only. It is reported as an array of bytes where the first byte of the Ethernet address is the first byte of the array and the first byte of the array is returned as the LSB of the ethAddressLo mdb variable. So for example, an Ethernet address of 00:24:4a:01:02:03 gets reported as:

ethAddressLo	0x2400
ethAddressMid	0x014a
ethAddressHi	0x0302

IP Addresses

IP addresses are stored in byte reversed order. Thus an IP address of 10.20.30.40 would be stored as 0x281e140a. This 32 bit unsigned integer is then stored in two mdb variables with the low portion holding the 0x140a or "10.20" piece and the hi portion holding 0x281e or "30.40" piece.

RF Type

The rfType field describes the band of operation.

Type	Band
15	145 - 225 MHz
16	210 - 320 MHz
24	210 - 320 MHz
25	137.5 - 225 MHz
28	450 - 698 MHz
29	225 - 380 MHz

Digital Board Types

Value	Type
0	ADR - out of production
1	ATRV1
2	AMRV1
3	AWRV1
7	ATRV2
8	AMRV2
11	AWR_SG90

Left Justified Unsigned Fractions

Left Justified Unsigned Fractions are given as the fraction of a full scale 16 bit number. It is defined by multiplying the desired fraction by 65536. For example a fraction of 0.25 is given by 0.25*65536=16384.

FEC Mode

Value	Mode
10	SG90 No FEC
11	SG90 R7/8
12	SG90 R3/4
13	SG90 R1/2

Transmit Power

• Bits 8-0: Transmit Power Level - This sets the transmit power level. It is an unsigned integer in units of tenths of a dBm. For instance, to set the radio for 2 Watts (33 dBm) of transmit power, one would load this variable with 330. The valid range for AxR radios is 10 to 36 dBm.

MDB Variables for radio statistics

The radio statistics are available as status (read-only) variables beginning at index 256. The statics are all in the form of 32 bit counters with the low portion stored at even indices and the high portion stored at odd indices. A read to any index in this statistics range causes all the counts to be reset so it is best to do a multi-register read beginning at 256 with a count of 48 to get all of them. The following table lists the counters.

MDB Indices	Name	Description	SG90 Uplink?
256-257	tx_good	successful packet transmitted of any type
258-259	tx_control_packet	control packets transmitted (used for controlling access to the channel)
260-261	tx_raw_packet	raw packets transmitted (non-Ethernet)
262-263	tx_eth_packet	Ethernet packets transmitted
264-265	tx_count	count of all attempted transmit packets
266-267	tx_complete	successful packet transmitted of any type (currently identical to tx_good)
268-269	tx_dropped	transmit packet dropped for any reason
270-271	rx_good	packets received without error of any type	Y
272-273	rx_control_packet	Preamble Frames received	Y
274-275	rx_raw_packet	Streaming frames received	Y
276-277	rx_eth_packet	TCPIP or UDPIP frames received	Y
278-279	rx_los_count	the number of times the radio has experienced a loss of sync	Y
280-281	rx_crc_errors	not currently used
282-283	rx_dropped	received packet dropped for any reason	Y
284-285	rx_resource_errors	no memory available to store received packet	Y
286-287	rx_overrun_errors	not currently used
288-289	rx_short_frames	Management (DMF or LMF) frames received	Y
290-291	rx_too_long_frames	An illegal frame length was received	Y
292-293	rx_symbol_errors	not currently used
294-295	interrupts	counts all interrupts for transmit or receive	Y
296-297	rx_count	counts all packets received before error processing is done
298-299	rx_deliver	counts all packets delivered to any upper layer	Y
300-301	rx_resource	not currently used
302-303	rx_restart	not currently used

Software Upgrades

Download the software images to your computer from the attachments below. If you are upgrading both the CPU and FPGA images, upgrade the CPU image first. Set up a continuous ping of the radio you are upgrading so you can easily tell when the radio resets following the upgrade.

To upgrade the CPU code using the EMS tool:

1. Start the ping.
2. Go to the SW/HW tab.
3. Choose the "Using EMS" update method.
4. Select the "CPU" component
5. Browse to where you stored the CPU software image on your computer and select the image.
6. Click on the Start button.
7. Observe the download progress in the lower left corner of the EMS tool
8. After the download is complete, the radio will flash the image and reset. Use the ping to tell when the unit resets.
9. Press the Get button and check the CPU and Apps version numbers to make sure the upgrade was successful.

To upgrade the FPGA code using the EMS tool:

1. Start the ping.
2. Go to the SW/HW tab.
3. Choose the "Using EMS" update method.
4. Select the "FPGA" component
5. Browse to where you stored the FPGA software image on your computer and select the image.
6. Click on the Start button.
7. Observe the download progress in the lower left corner of the EMS tool
8. After the download is complete, the radio will flash the image and reset. Use the ping to tell when the unit resets.
9. Press the Get button and check the FPGA version numbers to make sure the upgrade was successful.

CAUTION:
If you upgrade the CPU with an FPGA image, you will make the radio inoperable. The only way to recover the unit is to send it back to KTS.

-- LarryKoos - 27 Jul 2022