What is the difference between NI and Ettus USRPs

NI and Ettus Research USRP SDRs have two main hardware differences: How the hardware is delivered, and which hardware options are available.

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NI USRP SDRs are sold preassembled inside an enclosure, whereas some of the Ettus Research USRP SDRs are sold modularly as kits with the RF daughterboard and motherboard sold separately. For example, the USRP- from NI is the same hardware as an X310 motherboard plus two TwinRX daughterboards. Refer to Table 2 to compare the equivalent USRP models from NI and Ettus Research:

NI Part NumberEttus Research Part Numbern/aB200mini/B205miniUSRP-B200USRP-B210USRP-N210 and WBXUSRP-N210 and XCVRUSRP-N210 and SBXUSRP-N210 and WBX and GPSDOUSRP-N210 and SBX and GPSDOn/aN310n/aN320/N321USRP-USRP-USRP-X310 and WBXUSRP-X310 and SBXUSRP-X310 and CBXUSRP-X310 and UBXUSRP-X310 and TwinRXUSRP-X310 and WBX and GPSDOUSRP-X310 and SBX and GPSDOUSRP-X310 and CBX and GPSDOUSRP-X310 and UBX and GPSDOUSRP-X310 and TwinRX and GPSDOn/aE310/E312/E313/E320X410/X440X410/X440

Table 2. NI versus Ettus Research SDR Model Numbers

One of the benefits of a preassembled USRP SDR is that, prior to shipping, the device undergoes production testing as an assembled unit; but, when it is sold as a kit, each component is tested individually. However, purchasing the motherboard and daughterboard separately offers more flexibility, as some combinations are not available as a single, preassembled device. Some of the latest, most advanced radios sold under the Ettus Research name—such as the USRP N310, USRP N320, USRP N321, Ettus USRP X410, and the Ettus USRP X440—are solely sold as preassembled radios.

While the various USRP models from NI and Ettus Research are based on the same radio hardware, the software support and user preferences vary. NI USRP devices have been predominantly adopted by LabVIEW users with the NI-USRP LabVIEW driver. Ettus Research devices are supported by a common open-source UHD. In addition to these two options, both NI and Ettus Research radios have options to leverage the powerful MathWorks MATLAB®design environment.

USRP LabVIEW Tool Flow Benefits

The abstracted LabVIEW design environment helps accelerate wireless system design and makes FPGA programming accessible to those without HDL design expertise. If you have third-party IP that you want to incorporate, such as MathWorks MATLAB software or VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) code, you can import it directly from LabVIEW to provide a higher-level starting point and accelerate your application design. 

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USRP Open-Source Tool Flow Benefits

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All Ettus Research USRP SDRs and NI USRP SDRs are supported by the UHD, which is published by NI under open-source licenses. This driver facilitates application development on USRP hardware in C/C++ and offers crossplatform support for multiple industry-standard development environments and frameworks, such as RF Network-on-Chip (RFNoC), GNU Radio, HDL Coder, and MathWorks MATLAB, Simulink®, and Wireless Testbench™ software. As dual-licensed software, the UHD is available under the open-source GNU General Public License version 3 and an alternative, less-restrictive license for volume OEM customers deploying Ettus Research hardware.

While NI USRP SDRs are natively supported by the UHD, you also can provision Ettus Research USRP SDRs with an NI equivalent to use the LabVIEW workflow. 

Despite the native UHD support of all NI USRP SDRs, the FPGA image shipped with the unit may not be compatible with the latest version of the driver. Please check the firmware and FPGA image of each device to ensure that the UHD works properly.

Learn more about how you can use this open-source software with Ettus software defined radios to prototype multichannel wireless communication systems. 

See Table 3 for a summary of supported software.

USRP Hardware DriverNI-USRPOSWindows
Linux
Mac OSWindows
NI Linux Real-TimeProgramming Languages―HostGNU Radio
C/C++
MATLAB/Simulink/Wireless Testbench
PythonLabVIEW and NewerProgramming Languages―FPGAVHDL
Verilog
RFNoC (Open-Source FPGA Framework)LabVIEW FPGA

Table 3. NI and Ettus Research Driver Software Support Comparison

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