This document summarizes a workshop on software defined radio held by the Bangalore Amateur Radio Club on July 9th, 2017. It provides information on different software defined radio hardware options such as HackRF One, Ettus B200, BladeRF, and RTL-SDR. It discusses SDR software for Windows, MAC, Linux and Android devices. It also gives examples of using SDRs for applications like receiving AM/FM radio, decoding digital signals, receiving GPS and weather satellite data, and acting as a spectrum analyzer. Diagrams provide explanations of direct down conversion receivers and examples of decoding ADS-B signals from aircraft and building AM/FM receivers with an SDR and VFO.

1. SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO
WORKSHOP-
BARC
(BANGALORE AMATEUR RADIO
CLUB)
9TH JULY 2017
PRIYASLOKA ARYA,RADIOJITTER

2. Analog Receiver

3. Digital Receiver

4. Direct Digital Conversion

5. Digital Receiver(Heterodyne)

6. Digital Receiver(Direct Conversion)

7. The term "software radio" was coined in 1984 by a team at the garland, Texas
division of E-Systems Inc. (Now Raytheon) to refer to a digital baseband receiver
and published in their e-team company newsletter(source Wikipedia)
The term "software defined radio" was coined in 1995 by Stephen Blust(part of
SPEAKeasy program)
History

8. Specification HackRF One Ettus B200 Ettus B210 BladeRF x40 RTL-SDR LimeSDR
SDRplay
RSP V2
Airspy R2
Frequency Range 1MHz-6GHz 70MHz-6GHz 70MHz-6GHz 300MHz-3.8GHz 500kHz to -1.766 GHz 100kHz-3.8GHz 10 kHz to 2 GHz 24Mhz to -1.8 GHz
RF Bandwidth 20MHz 61.44MHz 61.44MHz 40MHz 2.4MHz 61.44MHz 10 MHz 10 MHz
Sample Depth 8 bits 12 bits 12 bits 12 bits 8 bits 12 bits 12 bit 12 bits
Sample Rate 20MSPS 61.44MSPS 61.44MSPS 40MSPS 2.4MSPS
61.44MSPS (Limited by USB
3.0 data rate)
10.66MSPS 10.0MSPS/80 MSPS
Transmitter Channels 1 1 2 1 0 2 0 0
Receivers 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1
Duplex Half Full Full Full N/A Full N/A N/A
Interface USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0
Programmable Logic
Gates
64 macrocell
CPLD
75k 100k 40k (115k avail) N/A 40k N/A N/A
Chipset
MAX5864,
MAX2837,
RFFC5072
AD9364 AD9361 LMS6002M
R820T2
RTL2832U
LMS7002M
MSi001 Tuner
MSi2500 ADC
R820T2
Open Source Full
Schematic,
Firmware
Schematic, Firmware Schematic, Firmware No Full No No
Oscillator Precision +/-20ppm +/-2ppm +/-2ppm +/-1ppm +/-1ppm
+/-1ppm initial, +/-4ppm
stable
0.5ppm +/-1ppm
Transmit Power
-10dBm+ (15dBm
@ 2.4GHz)
10dBm+ 10dBm+ 6dBm N/A
0 to 10dBm (depending on
frequency)
N/A N/A
Price $299 $686 $1,119 $420 ($650) ~$10 $299 ($289 pre-order) $169 $169
COTS SDR

9. SDR SOFTWARE
Trial/Paid
Software Windows MAC LINUX Android
Paid/Trial/
Free
Open/Closed
SDR# YES N/A N/A N/A Free Closed
HDSDR YES N/A N/A N/A Free Closed
SDR-RADIO.COM
V2
YES N/A N/A N/A Free Closed
Linrad YES YES YES N/A Free Open
GQRX YES YES YES N/A Free Open
Studio1 YES N/A N/A N/A Trial/Paid Closed
SDR Touch N/A N/A N/A YES Trial/Paid Closed
CubicSDR YES YES YES N/A Free Open

10. RTL SDR (The Game Changer)
• RTL-SDR is a very cheap software defined radio that uses a DVB-T TV tuner dongle based on
the RTL2832U chipset. With the combined efforts of Antti Palosaari, Eric Fry and osmocom it
was found that the signal I/Q data could be accessed directly, which allowed the DVB-T TV
tuner to be converted into a wideband software defined radio via a new software driver.
• Essentially, this means that a cheap $20 tv tuner usb dongle with the rtl2832u chip can be
used as a computer based radio scanner. This sort of scanner capability would have cost
hundreds or even thousands of dollars just a few years ago. The RTL-SDR is also often
referred to as RTL2832U, DVB-T SDR, RTL dongle or the “$20 software defined radio”.

11. Inside RTL SDR

12. SDR Application
• Radio Application(AM,FM,USB.LSB,DAB/DRM….)
• Decoding digital amateur radio ham communications such as
CW/PSK/RTTY/SSTV
• Receiving GPS signals and decoding them.
• Using rtl-sdr as a spectrum analyzer
• Receiving NOAA weather satellite images
• Aircraft Communication(ACARS,ADS-B,VDLM2,FIS…)
• Radio Astronomy
• Satellite Reception(DVB-S2,INMARSAT,IRIDIUM,ISS..)

13. ADS-B Example

14. DVB-T2+SDRNo TV Channels Band Description
1. DD
Chandana
UHF Bangalore local channel. Currently
transmitted for Encoder Service.
2. DD National UHF
3. DD News UHF
4. DD Bharati UHF
5. DD Sports UHF
6. DD Urdu UHF
7. DD India UHF
8. DD Saptagiri UHF
9. Sony Pal UHF
10. DD Bangla UHF
11. AIR Kannada UHF All India Radio (AIR) radio service
only audio.12. AIR Hindi UHF
13. AIR Tamil UHF
14. AIR Telugu UHF

15. SI5351A VFO

16. FM Receiver Example

17. AM Receiver Example

18. 1. HTTP://WWW.ELECTRONICPRODUCTS.COM/ANALOG_MIXED_SIGNAL_ICS/STANDARD_LINEAR/HETERODYNE_VS_DIRECT_CONVERSION_ARCHITECTURE.ASPX
2. HTTPS://TAPIOVALLI.WORDPRESS.COM/2014/08/02/RTL-SDR-GNU-RADIO-AND-BUILDING-MY-OWN-AM-RECEIVER/
3. SAMPLING PRINCIPLES OF SDR TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS APPLICATIONS SUMMARY LINKS BY RODGER H. HOSKING
References