SDS100/SDS200: "Mystery of The USB1 Port" by Franklin W. Dixon

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EricCottrell

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Hello,

Some SDS100 users want to know about the mysterious USB1 port. Why does the SDS100 have both a Mini-USB and a Micro-USB port? It was obvious to me as to one possible use.

I do not expect any comment from UPMan until any future feature is released. I was involved in product development several times where included hardware was never used or years went by before it was supported. I do not work for Uniden, so any comment I make is speculation and not a commitment by Uniden to provide any additional features. I put this message in the tavern since it is wild speculation. It maybe a dead end.

When I attached a USB cable to USB1, it enumerates as a serial port. There is output indicating the SDS-100 Sub-processor. If you type a lower-case ASCII charactor from a limited set (dhlmoqrwz), several lines of formatted ASCII numbers are sent from the scanner. This looks like engineering debugging output rather than a customer feature.

The sub-processor appears to be a NXP LPC4370. This is an interesting chip with one ARM Cortex-M4F processor and two ARM Cortex-M0 co-processors. It includes a 80MSPS 12 bit ADC. I speculate this chip is involved in digitizing the IF and demodulation.

A dedicated USB port would be needed by the sub-processor for high data rates, like an IQ output. The IQ port on the AOR and Icom radios are a separate USB port from the USB port used to control the radio. That is why the two USB ports peaked my interest.

I do not think the future feature will turn the SDS-100 into a RTL-SDR. A Uniden provided driver on the PC will likely be needed and the functionality may be limited. We will have to wait and see if anything using the mysterious USB1 port is officially released.

73 Eric
 

jonwienke

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Frank & Joe. And their buddy Chet Morton. Who should have been played by Chris Farley...
 

EricCottrell

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Hello,

More clues...
SDS100 Spectrum Display Waterfall -- what am I missing?

I got several Hardy Boys Mysteries as a kid. I found out much later on that several ghost authors were involved in writing them for a syndicate that also published Nancy Drew. The books followed a formula and debuted in 1927. The stories were revised starting in 1959 and I got the revised books. I also watched the TV series.

73 Eric
 

rbn_rr

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SDS100 Micro-USB initial testing

Hello,

Some SDS100 users want to know about the mysterious USB1 port. Why does the SDS100 have both a Mini-USB and a Micro-USB port? It was obvious to me as to one possible use.

...

When I attached a USB cable to USB1, it enumerates as a serial port. There is output indicating the SDS-100 Sub-processor. If you type a lower-case ASCII charactor from a limited set (dhlmoqrwz), several lines of formatted ASCII numbers are sent from the scanner. This looks like engineering debugging output rather than a customer feature.

Cool find, Eric!

I played with this a little bit (manually) after reading your post, and found a set of uppercase chars, lowercase chars and symbols that yielded output. I've attached a PDF with those raw results.

Later (likely tomorrow -- today is the Jurassic World double-feature) I'll write some code that steps through all char values (00 -- FF) to get a more complete picture of which single-char values yield a response. Of course, I invite anyone reading this to write the code first and share their results! :)

-rbn

(Note: This brute-force 'try all possibilities' approach is the same way I stumbled across the placeholder/demo 'sdr' command in the SDS100 -- programmatically sending all 3-character values from 'aaa' to 'ZZZ' and generating a list of the commands that yield a responce other than 'ERR' from the radio. I tend to run this when I update firmware on my (5!) 436's and/or my 536 to see if there are new commands (like when the menu commands were added), changed commands or commands no longer available. It's been an interesting way to "get to know" what's inside the radios.)
 

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  • SDS100_microUSB.pdf
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EricCottrell

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Hello,

You need to be careful as some of the single character commands also set variables and will affect reception. Several characters set variables without feedback. This is very much engineering debugging stuff.

@ Toggle RF Gain Mode between Auto and Manual
^ Toggle through LNA Gain 1 settings (default is Auto).
* Toggle through LNA Gain 2 settings (default is Auto).
# Toggle through VGA Mode settings (default is Auto).
/ Toggle through MixerGain settings (default is Auto).

CIC = cascaded integrator–comb filter
FIR = finite impulse response filter
NCO = numerically controlled oscillator

73 Eric
 

RF23

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I think Upman has already mentioned that USB2 port is where the GPS goes.

Since it also can charge, supply power to monitor, and communicate to a PC it is one busy port.
 

SCPD

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Hello,

Some SDS100 users want to know about the mysterious USB1 port. Why does the SDS100 have both a Mini-USB and a Micro-USB port? It was obvious to me as to one possible use.

I do not expect any comment from UPMan until any future feature is released. I was involved in product development several times where included hardware was never used or years went by before it was supported. I do not work for Uniden, so any comment I make is speculation and not a commitment by Uniden to provide any additional features. I put this message in the tavern since it is wild speculation. It maybe a dead end.

When I attached a USB cable to USB1, it enumerates as a serial port. There is output indicating the SDS-100 Sub-processor. If you type a lower-case ASCII charactor from a limited set (dhlmoqrwz), several lines of formatted ASCII numbers are sent from the scanner. This looks like engineering debugging output rather than a customer feature.

The sub-processor appears to be a NXP LPC4370. This is an interesting chip with one ARM Cortex-M4F processor and two ARM Cortex-M0 co-processors. It includes a 80MSPS 12 bit ADC. I speculate this chip is involved in digitizing the IF and demodulation.

A dedicated USB port would be needed by the sub-processor for high data rates, like an IQ output. The IQ port on the AOR and Icom radios are a separate USB port from the USB port used to control the radio. That is why the two USB ports peaked my interest.

I do not think the future feature will turn the SDS-100 into a RTL-SDR. A Uniden provided driver on the PC will likely be needed and the functionality may be limited. We will have to wait and see if anything using the mysterious USB1 port is officially released.

73 Eric

Come to think of past sdr projects i worked on with the LPC4370 with ARM CORTEX M4 microprocessor would pick up like 450k to 22mhz...just saying without any i or q filtering..Just using the I Branch.. It allowed me to use the I branch for HF and MW... just saying... It doesnt mean anything as far as i know with the sds100... but very familiar with it.. I remember making and tuner on that chip with a potentiometer and digital counter to tune in lots of stuff on the I branch alone... :) Wroked relatively good with like.7vdc going into its agc which is another chip similar to another tuner mentioned....
 
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