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Ethernet
Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:57 am
by JimmyDXer
I hope SDRplay will consider adding an ethernet port to future SDR's. The advantages of ethernet are fairly obvious: much higher bandwidth, less latency, and makes the SDR accessible to the network (either locally on the LAN or remotely over the internet with a VPN). Remote operation is becoming more popular as cities get noisier. Anyway, just a suggestion.
Re: Ethernet
Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:06 am
by F1BJB
Only gigabit Ethernet is better than USB2 and the difference is not very big.
And if you have to use POE it gets complicated.
Re: Ethernet
Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 3:51 am
by JimmyDXer
@ F1BJB: The big problem with USB2 is latency. SDR radios that use USB2 have a delay or latency of up to 500 milliseconds. That doesn't matter if you are only listening. But if you want to use an SDR along with a transmitter, that TX to RX switchover is too slow. Ethernet latency is much less. The Apache Labs SDR transceivers, which are ethernet based, have a latency of less than 50 milliseconds, only slightly more than a superhet transceiver.
Bandwidth for gigabit ethernet has a theoretical max of 125 MB/sec, while USB2 has a theoretical max of 60 MB/sec. So, gigabit Ethernet is about twice as fast.
Ham radio manufacturers were very slow to adopt USB and now it is commonplace. We are now seeing the same thing with ethernet, the new radios are just now coming out with RJ-45's on the back, such as the Icom 7610 and the Flex 6700.