SDR and GNU Radio Companion

for Amateur Radio

What are they and why should you
care?

Introduction
Derek Kozel, AG6PO
Masters in ECE at CMU
SpaceX, Range Networks, Amateur enthusiast

Current research is on Software Defined

Radios applied to cellular networks
OpenBTS

SDR Defined
Radio in which some or all of the physical
layer functions are software defined
Demodulation is done in software rather than
analog hardware
AM demodulation in hardware and software:

Outline

What are signals really?

What happens to them in a computer?
What does a radio do really?
What does an SDR do?
And how do I get started?

What is GNU Radio?

How do I make a Flow Graph?
Where do I go to actually learn about this?

Signals
Analog (Continuous signal)
Defined for all possible times

Discrete Time Signal

Only defined for certain, usually regular, times

Sampling
Measure the voltage of the signal at regular
intervals
Sampling Frequency: Number of samples per second

Sample Resolution: Number of different values

which can be stored

Quantization
Computers have limited precision
Analog to Digital Converters output values of a
certain number of bits
There are 2k 1 values for a k-bit number
For example: 255 values for an 8 bit number

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots

Super Heterodyne Design

Uses frequency mixing to convert a received
signal to an intermediate frequency before
demodulation

Invented 1918 to improve allied radio

direction finding systems

Ideal SDR
Signals from the antenna are directly sampled
All processing happens on the digital signal

Soundcard SDR
Signals from the antenna are mixed to make
I&Q then sent to a PC microphone/line in port

Aliasing
You must sample twice as fast as the highest
frequency you expect
Nyquist Rate

Usually dealt with using low pass filters just

before sampling
Sometimes used as a feature
Can detect much higher frequency signals using
passband filters

Properties of SDRs
Receiver Architecture
Some are superheterodyne based

Others are direct conversion

Properties of SDRs
Bandwidth
How much spectrum can you view at once

Here is 2.4 MHz centered at 105.5 MHz

Bandwidth of Common Modes

Modulation

Bandwidth

FM Broadcast

48 kHz

Narrow FM

5 or 2.5 kHz

AM

4.7 kHz

Single Side Band

2.4 to 3 kHz

RTTY

250 Hz

PSK31

60 Hz

Morse Code

50 Hz

RTL SDR
Designed as a TV tuner
Can receive 53 2200 MHz
Relatively poor performance
8 bit samples

Software allows decoding

FM, AM, GPS, Pagers, ADS-B, AIS,
LTE, Weather balloons, satellite data

2.4 MHz bandwidth

Superheterodyne design
$20

USRP
Generic Receiver
Daughterboards support DC 4.4GHz

Connects via Ethernet or USB

8/16 MSPS over USB 2.0
61.44 MSPS over USB 3.0
50/100 MSPS over Ethernet

Direct Conversion
64/100/ MSPS 12/14 bit sampling

$650 - $2000+

Soundcard Interface
Send spectrum via soundcard interface
Soundcard might be inside your radio!

Generally very narrow bandwidth

Internal filters

Software
Wide range of free software
SDR Console
SDR#
HDSDR
GNU Radio
Many others!

Frequent updates and new programs add new

modes and better decoding

GNU Radio
a free software development toolkit that
provides the signal processing runtime and
processing blocks to implement software
radios using readily-available, low-cost
external RF hardware and commodity
processors.
http://gnuradio.org/

GNU Radio Companion

A graphical interface for creating flow graphs

Installation
Linux: Pre built binaries or source
sudo apt-get install gnuradio
build-gnuradio script

Mac: Install via MacPorts

sudo port install gnuradio +full

Windows: Pre built binary from Ettus Research

http://files.ettus.com/binaries/gnuradio/latest_stable/

Flow Graphs
The path of data flow
Made of blocks, wires, and variables
Sources, sinks, signal processing, user interface

Narrow Band FM Receiver

Sources
Defines an input for samples
Can be a file, radio, or mathematical function

Types
Data is passed around in untyped buffers
Each block defines input and output types

Converting Types
Simple blocks allow for conversions

Ensure your output type matches your data

Converting Types
Simple blocks allow for conversions

Ensure your output type matches your data

Stream Processors
Modulation, filtering, decoders, math
operations

User Interface Blocks

Display signal information
FFT, waterfall, constellations, plots

Create controls
Sliders, dropdown menus, buttons, text boxes

User Interface Blocks

Display signal information
FFT, waterfall, constellations, plots

Create controls
Sliders, dropdown menus, buttons, text boxes

Resources
Youtube Videos
Tom Rondeau at ARRL/TAPR 2012 DCC
Episode 51 Part 1: Intro to GNU Radio

Balint Seeber
http://www.youtube.com/user/balint256/

GNU Radio
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/Tutorials

Alexandru Csete, OZ9AEC

http://www.oz9aec.net/index.php/gnu-radio

Resources
More websites
http://complextoreal.com/tutorials/
http://www.dspguru.com/

Books
The Scientist and Engineers Guide to DSP
http://www.dspguide.com/

Understanding Digital Signal Processing

By Richard Lyons