[srsran-users] srsUE not attaching to real eNB - bladeRF 2.0 micro xA5

[Antonio Albanese]

Hey fellas,

I am having quite some trouble connecting to a real eNB using a bladeRF 2.0
micro xA5.

*Disclaimer*: when I use a USRP B210 with exactly the same ue.conf file,
srsue decodes MIB and SIBs, and attempts to attach. At the moment the
authentication fails but that is intended as I am using a random IMSI
(including the correct PLMN digits for my *desired* operator).

On the other hand, whenever I use a bladeRF I cannot get any attach attempt.

I thought about clock instability issues, so I am using an external GPSDO
applied to the REFIN U.FL connector of the bladeRF. I checked and I can
successfully get the PLL to lock, so the VCTCXO should be super stable at
this point.

I tried using both bladerf and soapy drivers. WIth the bladerf driver,
srsue reaches SYNC state CAMPING but then it detects a radio overflow and
tries to resync SFN in an infinite loop.
With soapy drivers, I have even worse luck since srsue never synchronizes
(this might be due to a missing setting for soapy indicating that the
bladeRF should use the REFIN clock signal, I have not looked into that yet).

If the USRP did not work, I would think of some CPU bottleneck, which would
generate RF overflows. However, the USRP works perfectly and all my
problems appear only with the bladeRF.

I am attaching here both debug logs, with soapy and bladerf drivers.

Any suggestion is highly appreciated and would save a fellow srsRAN user
from desperation.

Thank you so much!
Bye!
ᐧ
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