Calculating the British Thermal Units (BTUs) for USRP Hardware

Issue Details

How can I find or calculate British Thermal Units (BTUs) for USRP Hardware?

Solution

BTU can be calculated with the following formula: (watts*3600)/1054 = BTU/hr,
where watts refer to the Maximum Power requirements (power = voltage times current) for each Hardware.

For example, the BTU/hr for each USRP X410, USRP-2955 and USRP-2954 are as below:

(a) Ettus USRP X410: 12 V DC, 16 A maximum
(maximum power requirements based on Ettus USRP X410 Specifications)

Power = 12 V x 16 A = 192 Watts
BTUs/hr from Watts:
(192 watts*3600)/1054 = 655.8 BTU/hr

(b) USRP-2955: 9 V to 16 V DC, 7.5 A maximum
(maximum power requirements based on USRP-2955 Specifications)

Min Power = 9 V x 7.5 A = 67.5 Watts
Min BTUs/hr from Watts:
(67.5 watts*3600)/1054 = 230.6 BTU/hr

Max Power = 16 V x 7.5 A = 120 Watts
Max BTUs/hr from Watts:
(120 watts*3600)/1054 = 409.9 BTU/hr

(c) USRP-2954: 9 V to 16 V DC, 7.5 A maximum
(maximum power requirements based on USRP-2954 Specifications)

Same as USRP-2955 on both Min BTUs/hr and Max BTUs/hr

Additional Information

What is British Thermal Unit?
A British thermal Unit (Btu) refers to the amount of heat used to increase the temperature of one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit (at ≈39°F).
In this KB Btu/h refers to a unit of power.
It's commonly used to describe the cooling capacity of air conditioning systems.