Fun with bits of ether:Software Defined Radio (SDR)

NERP Meetup Mar-31-2014(Not Exclusively Raspberry Pi)

Presenter: Drew Fustini@pdp7 / drew@pdp7.com

Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa1tazUyp-oMkTycurEvsfDOun7DvHin1

Pumping Station: One Chicago Hackerspace

Software Defined Radio (SDR) Application of Digital Signal Processing to radio

waveforms Similar to software-based digital audio

techniques Sound card digitizes audio waveforms Software radio peripheral digitizes radio

waveforms. Like very fast sound card with speaker &

microphone replaced by an antenna. Implement virtually any wireless technology:

Bluetooth, ZigBee, cellular technologies, FM, etc*text on this slide from: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mossmann/hackrf-an-open-source-sdr-platform

http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki GNU Radio is a free & open-source software

development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios.

It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment.

It is widely used in hobbyist, academic and commercial environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems.

FUNcube Concept

The original FUNcube Dongle concept: receiving information from space as part of a global educational collaboration project

FUNcube Dongle Pro+http://www.funcubedongle.com/

125 GBP / $208 USD Guaranteed coverage:

150kHz to 1.9GHz Gap between 240MHz and 420MHz

FUNcube Dongles are the ground receiver for the FUNcube Satellite project

Its also all-mode: this means that its not just limited to narrow band FM reception.

HackRF: open source SDR platform operates from 30 MHz to 6 GHz, a wider

range than any SDR peripheral used to transmit or receive radio signals. It

operates in half-duplex mode: it can transmit or receive

Max bandwidth is 20 MHz, about 10 times the bandwidth of TV tuner dongles popular for SDR

used for high speed digital radio applications such as LTE or 802.11g

Post-kickstarter, expected retail ~$300: http://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/

HackRF Hardware

LPC43xx ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller CoolRunner-II CPLD (may switch to MAX V)

Cheap USB adapters as SDR receiver

Find cheap

Adafruit SDR USB stickIf you've ever been curious about software defined radio (SDR), this USB stick is the

easiest way possible to have fun with a powerful, configurable receiver.

$22: Software Defined Radio Receiver USB Stick - RTL2832 w/R820T (ID: 1497) RTL2832U and R820T tuner with an MCX RF connector Tune into signals from 24MHz to 1850MHz. Use a computer (with Windows, Mac, or Linux) to tune into:

FM Radio AM signals (but not AM radio) CW (morse code!) unencrypted radio signals (such as those used by many police and fire

departments) POCSAG pagers

basic 'DVB-T' antenna

NooElec SDR stick on Amazon $20: NooElec Brand RTL-SDR, FM+DAB,

DVB-T USB Stick Set with RTL2832U & R820T. Great SDR for SDR#, HDSDR, and Other Popular SDR Software Packages

http://www.amazon.com/NooElec-RTL-SDR-RTL2832U-Software-Packages/dp/B008S7AVTC

rtl-sdr library http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr DVB-T dongles based on the Realtek

RTL2832U can be used as a cheap SDR chip allows transferring the raw I/Q samples to

the host, which is officially used for DAB/DAB+/FM demodulation.

History and Discovery of RTLSDR

rtl-sdr supported devices http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr The RTL2832U outputs 8-bit I/Q-samples, and the highest theoretically possible

sample-rate is 3.2 MS/s, however, the highest sample-rate without lost samples that has been tested so far is 2.56 MS/s. The frequency range is highly dependent of the used tuner, dongles that use the Elonics E4000 offer the widest possible range (see table below).

Elonics E4000 52 - 2200 MHz with a gap from 1100 MHz to 1250 MHz (varies) Rafael Micro R820T24 - 1766 MHz Rafael Micro R828D 24 - 1766 MHz Fitipower FC0013 22 - 1100 MHz (FC0013B/C, FC0013G has a separate L-band

input, which is unconnected on most sticks) Fitipower FC0012 22 - 948.6 MHz FCI FC2580 146 - 308 MHz and 438 - 924 MHz (gap in between)

Build rtl-sdr on BeagleBone Black Using Angstrom on eMMC opkg update opkg install libusb-1.0-dev git clone git://git.osmocom.org/rtl-sdr.git Follow commands in my GitHub Gist:

https://gist.github.com/pdp7/5503462

Test rtl-sdr

From GitHub Gist:https://gist.github.com/pdp7/8683297

root@beaglebone:~# rtl_eeprom Found 1 device(s): 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEMFound Rafael Micro R820T tuner

Play FM radio station 96.3MHz(using Adafruit USB $5 audio adapter)

root@beaglebone:~# nice -n -10 rtl_fm -f 96.3e6 -M wbfm -r 48000 - | aplay -r 48k -f S16_LEFound 1 device(s): 0: Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 00000001 Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEMFound Rafael Micro R820T tunerTuner gain set to automatic.Tuned to 96571000 Hz.Oversampling input by: 6x.Oversampling output by: 1x.Buffer size: 8.03msExact sample rate is: 1020000.026345 HzSampling at 1020000 S/s.Output at 170000 Hz.Playing raw data 'stdin' : Signed 16 bit Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono

Alternative if no USB audio adapter http://www.meetup.com/Southeast-Michigan-BeagleBone-Users-Group/events/160342142/ Listening to audio via my Mac using

BeagleBone connected to tuner. 'sox' installed on my Mac for the 'play' app. 'rtl_fm' :

ssh root@192.168.7.2 "nice -n -10 rtl_fm -W -f 96.3M" | play -r 32k -t raw -e signed-integer -b 16 -c 1 -V1 --buffer 100000 -

rtlizer: RF Spectrum Analyzer http://www.oz9aec.net/index.php/beaglebone/480-rtlizer

ViewRF: RF Spectrum Analyzer http://hackaday.com/2013/09/09/an-rtl-sdr-spectrum-analyzer/

Gqrxhttp://gqrx.dk/

Gqrx by Alexandru Csete http://gqrx.dk/ Open source software defined radio receiver

powered by the GNU Radio SDR framework and the Qt graphical toolkit

Packaged for Ubuntu Linux & Mac OS X Supported Hardware:

http://gqrx.dk/supported-hardware Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/user/oz9aec/videos

Run your own GSM base station! http://openbts.org/ OpenBTS is a Unix application that uses a

software radio to present a GSM air interface to standard 2G GSM handset and uses a SIP softswitch or PBX to connect calls

Range Networks SDR1 Open Source Software-Defined Radio: http://openbts.org/sdr1.html

The Amp Hour interviews HackRF creator:

http://www.theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-161-gifted-grimgribber-grokker/ Matt started and still runs Ettus Research, now a 12

person Software Defined Radio (SDR) company located in the Bay Areahttp://www.theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-101-quality-quadrature-quidam/

Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) products are computer-hosted software radios: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Software_Radio_Peripheral