AD9361/AD9364 no-OS Example Project

See projects/ad9361 (doxygen) for the Doxygen documentation.

The AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS3-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS4-EBZ and AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ are high-speed analog FMC modules designed to showcase the AD9361, a high-performance, highly integrated RF Agile Transceiver intended for use in 3G and 4G base station, test equipment, and software defined radio (SDR) applications. The AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ is optimized for RF engineers and targets 2.4 GHz operation with high-performance discrete external components, while the AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ hosts dual AD9361 devices enabling 4x4 MIMO configurations for advanced beamforming, angle-of-arrival, and multi-channel SDR prototyping. Both boards are powered through the FMC connector from the host Xilinx carrier board and provide SMA RF connectors for TX and RX paths, as well as digital control via the SPI and GPIO lines routed through the FMC interface.

Applications

Point to point communication systems
Femtocell/picocell/microcell base stations
General-purpose radio systems

Hardware Specifications

Power Supply Requirements

The AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS3-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS4-EBZ and AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ boards are powered entirely through the FMC connector from the host carrier board; no separate external power supply is needed for the FMC module itself. Internally, the AD9361 requires three supply rails: the analog supply at 1.3 V (VDDD1P3_DIG / VDDAx), the interface supply at 1.8 V (VDD_INTERFACE), and the GPO supply at 3.3 V (VDD_GPO). On-board voltage regulators derive these rails from the 3.3 V and 12 V supplies available on the FMC connector. For optimal noise performance, it is recommended that the 1.3 V analog rail be sourced from a low-noise, low-dropout (LDO) regulator rather than directly from a switching supply.

Board Connectors

J1 -- FMC LPC connector (AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ), VITA 57.1-compliant
J1A / J1B -- Dual FMC LPC connectors (AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ)
J2, J3 -- SMA connectors for TX Channel 1 (TX1A, TX1B)
J4, J5 -- SMA connectors for RX Channel 1 (RX1A, RX1B)
J6, J7 -- SMA connectors for TX Channel 2 (TX2A, TX2B)
J8, J9 -- SMA connectors for RX Channel 2 (RX2A, RX2B)
J10 -- SMA connector for external reference clock input

No-OS Build Setup

Please see: No-OS Build Guide

No-OS Supported Examples

The initialization data used in the examples is taken from the Project Source Path.

This project supports six build variants selectable via --variant:

Demo Example (FMComms2)

The demo example (variant demo) demonstrates basic initialization and bring-up of the AD9361 transceiver via AXI ADC/DAC cores and DMAC, targeting the FMCOMMS2/3/4 board. It configures the AD9361 for a specified carrier frequency, sample rate, and channel bandwidth.

DMA Example (FMComms2)

The DMA example (variant dma-example) demonstrates high-speed data transfer between the AD9361 transceiver and DDR memory using the AXI DMA core. The example configures the AD9361, then initiates a DMA transfer to capture a block of I/Q samples from the receive path into a memory buffer, allowing the user to verify the data path without requiring an operating system or IIO client.

DMA-IRQ Example (FMComms2)

The DMA-IRQ example (variant dma-irq-example) extends the DMA example by enabling interrupt-driven DMA transfers. Rather than polling for DMA completion, the firmware registers an interrupt service routine (ISR) triggered by the DMA controller upon completion of each transfer. This approach allows the processor to perform other tasks while a DMA transfer is in progress.

IIO Example (FMComms2)

The IIO example (variant iio) launches an IIOD server on the carrier board so that the user may connect to it via an IIO client. Using the IIO Oscilloscope application, users can access AD9361 device settings such as LO frequency, sampling rate, channel bandwidth, RF gain, and TX/RX path configuration, facilitating seamless data management and real-time streaming of I/Q samples to and from the transceiver through the AXI DMA infrastructure.

If you are not familiar with ADI IIO Application, please take a look at: IIO No-OS

If you are not familiar with ADI IIO Oscilloscope Client, please take a look at: IIO Oscilloscope

Demo Example (FMComms5)

The FMComms5 demo example (variant demo_fmcomms5) demonstrates basic initialization and bring-up of the dual AD9361 transceiver on the FMCOMMS5 board for 4x4 MIMO configurations.

IIO Example (FMComms5)

The FMComms5 IIO example (variant iio_fmcomms5) provides an IIOD server for the dual AD9361 transceiver on the FMCOMMS5 board, enabling host-side data capture and playback for 4x4 MIMO configurations.

If you are not familiar with ADI IIO Application, please take a look at: IIO No-OS

If you are not familiar with ADI IIO Oscilloscope Client, please take a look at: IIO Oscilloscope

Note for AD-FMCOMMS4-EBZ: This board carries the AD9364 (single transceiver) rather than the AD9361. In app_config.h, set AD9364_DEVICE=1 and AD9361_DEVICE=0 before building.

No-OS Supported Platforms

Xilinx

Used Hardware

AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS3-EBZ, AD-FMCOMMS4-EBZ, or AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ
One of: ZedBoard, ZC706, ZC702, ZCU102, or KCU105 carrier board

Connections

The AD-FMCOMMS2-EBZ/3-EBZ/4-EBZ connects to the Xilinx carrier board via its FMC LPC connector. The AD-FMCOMMS5-EBZ requires a dual FMC slot (available on ZC706 and ZC702).

Connect a USB cable to the carrier board USB-UART port and the host PC for serial console access at 115200 baud, 8N1.

Board and variant availability:

Board	Supported variants
zed	demo, dma-example, dma-irq-example, iio
zc702	demo, dma-example, dma-irq-example, iio, demo_fmcomms5, iio_fmcomms5
zc706	demo, dma-example, dma-irq-example, iio, demo_fmcomms5, iio_fmcomms5
zcu102	demo, dma-example, dma-irq-example, iio, demo_fmcomms5, iio_fmcomms5
kcu105	demo, dma-example, dma-irq-example, iio

Build Command

The Xilinx platform uses the CMake/Ninja build system via the no_os_build.py helper script.

For toolchain setup and prerequisites, see the Xilinx CMake build guide.

# Source the Vitis toolchain environment (adjust version as needed)
source ~/.xilinx/2025.1/Vitis/settings64.sh

cd no-OS

# build the demo example on ZedBoard
python tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
   --project ad9361 --variant demo --board zed \
   --hardware /path/to/system_top.xsa

# build and flash
python tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
   --project ad9361 --variant demo --board zed \
   --hardware /path/to/system_top.xsa \
   --probe openocd --flash

# build the IIO example on ZCU102
python tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
   --project ad9361 --variant iio --board zcu102 \
   --hardware /path/to/system_top.xsa

# build the FMComms5 demo on ZC706
python tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
   --project ad9361 --variant demo_fmcomms5 --board zc706 \
   --hardware /path/to/system_top.xsa

# build the DMA-IRQ example on KCU105
python tools/scripts/no_os_build.py build \
   --project ad9361 --variant dma-irq-example --board kcu105 \
   --hardware /path/to/system_top.xsa