For those of you intersted in SDR

[Udi Finkelstein]

Just noticed this one:

http://www.analog.com/en/design-center/evaluation-hardware-and-software/evaluation-boards-kits/adalm-pluto.html#eb-overview

It's $99 on digikey (The AD site lists at at $149 though).

Can do Full duplex Tx and Rx from 325Mhz to 3.8Ghz

12 bit ADC/DAC

Onboard Zynq 7010 - Dual ARM A9 and some XX,XXX programmable logic gates

Udi

(Who already has too many unused devkits already)

[Yuval Adam]

At that price point you can also get the Airspy Mini
http://airspy.com/airspy-mini/

If you don't need to TX then it might be a better fit.

Should have one coming my way soon, will update.

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Yuval Adam

https://yuv.al

[Leon Fedotov]

RX FTW!

Leon. Everything web.

leonfedotov.com

[Udi Finkelstein]

The Airspy Mini advantage is only on its ability to capture <325MHz.

Other than that,  the AD unit has 61.44Msps and a 20MHz BW, which is way more than the Airspy.

It also stops at 3.7GHz vs 1.8Ghz for the Airspy.

Using the on-board FPGA and processors, it is powerful enough to implement 802.11n Wifi om its own (1Tx 1Rx 20MHz).

I believe it is also possible to implement LTE with it.

On Sun, Aug 20, 2017 at 3:09 PM, Yuval Adam <yuv...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Yuval Adam]

Agree, for e.g. setting up your own base station it's probably the cheapest solution.

I might get into that one day :)

[Yuval Adam]

Lime SDR mini kickstarter sale $99
https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr-mini

[Udi Finkelstein]

I've been waiting for the LMS800x chip, but it seems they are taking their time.

[Udi Finkelstein]

Your emails are very expensive, at least for me :-(

Please refrain from posting here such email without proper warnings...

Seriously, with 270 units still remaining at early bird price , I may order this today.

[Yuval Adam]

Too late for me, one's already in the bag.

Figured you should all have a chance to join in on the fun :)

[Udi Finkelstein]

I was lazyly preparing a compariuson between this and the ADALM, but at the rate the early bird is going, it leaves me no choice either :-(

[Udi Finkelstein]

Here is a quick comparison I did:

Bottom line:

ADALM has better FPGA with CPU and x2-x3 more resources

LimeSDR has better RF performance even though it has half the sample rate

The frequency range is similar but not identical. Lime's frequency range is more interesting as it starts at 10MHz vs 325Mhz for ADALM.

If you do all your processing on a PC, the Lime has a much better USB3 interface.

		ADALM-PLUTO	LimeSDR-Mini
Price		$99	$99
RF
	Tx Channels	1	1
	Rx Channels	1	1
	Min Freq	325MHz	10MHz
	Max Freq	3.8GHz	3.5GHz
	Sample Rate	61.44Msps	30.72Msps
	Analog BW	20MHz	30.72MHz
	Accuracy	25ppm	4ppm
	Tx Power	7dBm	10dBm Max
	A/D bits	12	12
	Duplex	Full	Full
FPGA		Zynq-7010	Altera MAX 10 (10M16SAU169C8G)
	RAM	2.1Mbit	549Kbit
	LUT4	17.6K	16K
	Flip Flops	35K	16K
	HW Multipliers	80	45
	Multiplier size	18x25	18x18
	GPIO	?? Apparently <8	8 Pins
	CPU	Dual ARM-A9	None
	CPU-RAM	512MB	None
	CPU-Flash	32MB	None
Interface		USB2	USB3

[Yuval Adam]

Most of what I've done so far with SDR involved dumping raw data to host device and doing all the processing there.

I'm very much in for a workshop on how to write basic signal processing flows for devices with FPGAs.

[Yair Reshef]

SdR for good use

www.technologyreview.com/the-download/608869/a-new-mobile-chip-beams-data-for-miles-using-almost-no-power/

LoRa achieves its high sensitivity numbers using CSS modulation. The physical layer specification for LoRa

however is proprietary and is not publicly available. So, we reverse-engineer the LoRa physical layer using

the patents filed by Semtech [27, 57], which is the key LoRa chipset manufacturer. We also use the Semtech

1276 starter kit [10] that provides an interface to transmit LoRa packets with various bitrates and an arbitrary

payload. Finally, we analyze the transmissions from the LoRa chipsets on a USRP.

Packet Structure. Fig. 8 shows the structure of a LoRa packet, in the form of a spectrogram. 

http://longrange.cs.washington.edu/files/loRaBackscatter.pdf

[Yuval Adam]

Incredible. Want.

[Udi Finkelstein]

https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr-mini/updates/lms8001-companion-extends-coverage-to-10-ghz

Lime Micro has announced a new 4 channel frequency shifter companion board (for both LimeSDR and LimeSDR-mini).

It's based on the new LMS8001A chip.

This gives the ability to work on frequencies as high as 10GHz.

Personally, I don't find this interesting, esp. given the $299 price tag.

Looking at Lime Micro's product list, http://www.limemicro.com/products/ I was really waiting for the LMS8001+ that appears in this list for the last year or two.

Unlike the LMS8001A they are now selling which is simply a frequency shifter, the LMS8001+ is an improved LMS7002M, that could be used to make a new stand-alone product with improved frequency range and, higher sampling bandwidth and more channels.

It looks I would have a better chance waiting for a reasonably priced Xilinx RFSoc+ based products (https://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon-devices/soc/rfsoc.html) This is a family of qua ARM-based FPGAs with an insane RF front end with sampling rates in the low giga-hertz range (4GHz ADC, 6.4GHz DAC!) This means you can process GSM (900/1800MHz) and treat it as baseband signals!!

With a bit more oomph on the ADC (just bump it to 5GHz) they could do all the 2.4Ghz stuff.

In reality, expect these chips to cost in the range of $XXXX (4-digit) as they are the highest range Xilinx offers are are intended for 5G base stations, not for client endpoints or phones.

[ludwig]

the cheapest sdr is RTL-sdr, an old DVBT1-Stick, works with gnu radio and there is an app for android too.
example:
https://www.amazon.de/NooElec-NESDR-Mini-Compatible-Guaranteed/dp/B00P2UOU72
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-RTL-SDR-RTL2832U-Software-Packages/dp/B008S7AVTC

The Analog devices kit is very interesting for the fpga part as there is enough ram and resources
to do pre-processing.
A big disadvantage is the radio part that starts at 300MHz. So one needs a down converter to listen
to FM Radio, Shortware or the 4m band.
Also there is no RF shielding, So other stages like the digital processing part could radiate into the
radio providing beeping frequencies, where the receiver receives its own tempest radiation.
very unwanted!
So one needs to look at the naked board if it is possible to retro fit shields: top pcb layer contains
big ground areas which can hold soldered on shield containers made from tin plated steel.

But thanks for the tip

Ludwig

[Udi Finkelstein]

Talking about RF shielding,  LimeSDR Mini has offered me to upgrade to an Aluminium case, but for $140 extra, more than the limeSDR mini itself, I passed their offer.

Given that they also offer an acrylic case (also for the outrageous price of $40), I will do my own 3D printed case, maybe cover it with anti-static material, or even tin-foil covered by anti static material ... (I'm not an RF guru).

[Yuval Adam]

XTRX is nearing launch
https://www.crowdsupply.com/fairwaves/xtrx

[Udi Finkelstein]

Got my shipping info for LimeSDR Mini.

Yuval, did you get it as well?

[Alon Levy]

wow, didn't realize there is an OSS LTE stack and such cheap hardware for it. Amazing.

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[Yuval Adam]

Got mine two weeks ago :) Very nice piece of hardware.

Current status: figuring out how to deploy a GSM base station without interfering with existing networks

[Udi Finkelstein]

Did you buy it with an enclosure?

I'm not an RF expert, but I consider printing a two-layer enclosure (box-in-a-box), enclose it with the inner one, wrap that with some tin foil, then put it in an outer enclosure.

Hopefully this will improve RF immunity.

[Alon Levy]

Which software are you using for the base station?

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[Yuval Adam]

I'm evaluating the various options but trying to build around the Osmocom stack

Start by looking at Network in a box
https://osmocom.org/projects/cellular-infrastructure/wiki/Osmocom_Network_In_The_Box