This quick start guide is meant to be a concise introduction to OSSIE. While it assumes general computer knowledge, it tries not to assume extensive familiarity with Linux or OSSIE. If you are interested in more in-depth coverage, we recommend you fully read the OSSIE 0.6.2 User Guide.
The VMware Player application is needed to run the OSSIE demonstration waveform using our VMware image.
Unless VMware Player is already installed on your system, download it from http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ and install it.
Next, download the OSSIE VMware image from http://ossie.wireless.vt.edu/trac/wiki/Downloads. When the download is complete, unzip the image to another directory. We recommend you keep the original zip file. It can serve as a useful backup should you want to start from a fresh install. This backup can save time and bandwidth.
Once the image is unpacked, boot it up in VMware Player. This quick start guide will walk you though the process of running OSSIE and our demonstration waveform. The demonstration waveform simulates a very basic QPSK communication system. It consists of three components: a transmitter, a channel, and a receiver. The transmitter generates bursts of 512 QPSK symbols that are sent through an AWGN channel and decoded by the receiver. The number of errors per burst will be printed out on the screen while the waveform runs.
Once the OSSIE VMware image has booted up, open a terminal window by navigating to Applications→System Tools→Terminal. The first thing that needs to be started is the naming service. Type as root:
# omniNames.sh
The terminal should look like Figure 1.
The next service that needs to be started is the Node Booter. Open a new tab or a completely new terminal and type the commands in the listing below. You can press tab after the first couple of letters of a command, directory or filename to have it automatically completed, saving time and perhaps avoiding typos.
$ cd /sdr/
$ nodeBooter -D -d nodes/default_GPP_node/DeviceManager.dcd.xml
The terminal should look like Figure 2.
Now load the waveform using wavLoader. In a third tab or terminal, type in:
$ cd /sdr/waveforms/ossie_demo
$ wavLoader.py ossie_demo_DAS.xml
The terminal should look similar to Figure 3.
Select the first listing of the OSSIE demonstration waveform, //waveforms/ossie_demo/ossie_demo.sad.xml
Selection: 1
The tab or terminal window in which nodeBooter was started should now contain the output of the demonstration waveform. The lines will update with output similar to this:
RxDemo errors: X / 1024
The X denotes the number of QPSK bit errors out of 1024 that have been detected by the RxDemo component. Figure 4 is an example output.
Congratulations! You have just run the QPSK demonstration waveform for OSSIE new to version 0.6.2. From here you may be interested in learning how to create your own waveforms using the OSSIE Waveform Developer (OWD) described in Section 5 of the user guide.