The document discusses the Wideband Software Extensible Radio Platform (WiSER) for academic projects. It describes using an RTL SDR dongle as a receiver and a HackRF device for transmitting. A ZedBoard based on a Xilinx Zynq chip is used as a computer with an Ubuntu system stored on an SD card. Software defined radio (SDR) allows for flexible radio design using low-cost, small form factor hardware like the Analog Devices RF module. The platform is developed using tools like GNURadio and custom Python/C++ blocks to process signals, and details of the Zynq chip and Linux kernel are studied to support the platform. Future work includes learning more about GN

1. Wideband Software Extensible Radio Platform (WiSER)
Motivation : Methodology : Results :
! I used RTL SDR which is shown in figure 1. It includes an antenna, USB
dongle and a controller. This device can only work as a receiver. For
transmitting, we used a HackRF which is shown in figure 3.
Figure 1 RTL SDR Figure 2 transceiver
! Another important platform is The ZedBoard based on the Zynq chip
from Xilinx. It works as a computer. The SD card plugged into the board
stores an Ubuntu system image for flexible software development.
! SDR(software defined radio) is an important tool for academic projects.
! SDR allows for more flexibility in radio application design.
! New technology allows for high performance SDRs at low cost and in a
small package.
! The RF module AD-FMCOMMS3-EBZ made by Analog Devices is the
actual radio. It is shown in figure 4.
! Connect the antenna to the Analog Devices RF module, and mount
the radio card.
! Create a system image file and store it on the SD card, then the
whole platform shown in figure 5 will be the development tool.
! GNURadio has lots of built in signal processing blocks, but during
the research, I needed to learn how to use Python and C++ to
program a custom block. Many libraries already existed and there are
a couple websites that helped a lot. Basically GNURadio substitutes
the digital part shown in figure 6.
! In the beginning of the research, I learned about the construction,
IO, registers, and many other details for Zynq®-7000 All
Programmable SoC (system on chip) from a book written by Xilinx
engineers.
Future work:
Computer Systems Lab; Xiang Wang; Dirk Grunwald; Austin Anderson.
Hardware :
Figure 3 Zed platform Figure 4 RF module
Figure 5
! Then I learned how the kernel is constructed, how IIO works, how to
use DMA(direct memory access). Most computers used in the lab right
now run Ubuntu. Figure 7 shows details of the kernel.
Figure 6 Figure 8 FM receiver
Figure 9 AM receiver
! Go through more tutorials on coding custom GNURadio
blocks.
! Learn how to connect MATLAB and GNURadio to
process data.
! Learn how to program VHDL or Verilog to develop blocks
in the Vivado Design suite.
! Learn how the data flows inside the FPGA and Ettus
USRP E310.
Figure 7