bladeRF + GNU Radio on OS X

installation.md

Installing bladeRF and gnuradio using Brew

Attempted 2016-04-25 on OS X 10.11.4, mix and match as needed.

Thanks to pengi

Install dependencies

$ brew install libusb pkgconfig cmake libtecla

Build bladeRF

Build according to: https://github.com/Nuand/bladeRF/wiki/Getting-started:-Mac-OSX#Homebrew

But with: cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local ..

Install gnuradio

$ brew tap robotastic/hackrf
$ brew install --with-qt gnuradio

Extra conf for gnuradio

Contents of ~/.gnuradio/config.conf :

[grc]
  global_blocks_path=/usr/local/share/gnuradio/grc/blocks

Install gr-osmosdr

$ brew install gr-osmosdr

Verify gr-osmosdr working

Must contain the bladerf support tag amongst the built-in source types. Will show osmocom_fft window if device is connected and working (might need to have the fpga loaded).

$ osmocom_fft 
Mac OS; Clang version 7.0.2 (clang-700.1.81); Boost_106000; UHD_003.009.001-0-unknown

gr-osmosdr v0.1.4-72-g164a09fc (0.1.5git) gnuradio 3.7.9.1
built-in source types: file fcd rtl rtl_tcp uhd hackrf bladerf rfspace redpitaya 
Opening nuand bladeRF with device identifier string: "*:instance=0"
 Serial # f036...d46f
 FW v1.9.0 FPGA v0.5.0
[INFO @ bladerf.c:773] Clamping bandwidth to 1500000Hz
Using Volk machine: avx_64_mmx

Device parameters in gnuradio

bladerf=0,fpga="path to bitstream file"

If getting warnings regarding nchan when trying to open the device

Patch: /usr/local/Cellar/gr-osmosdr/HEAD/share/gnuradio/grc/blocks/osmosdr_source.xml

with: numchan => nchan (possibly also for sink)