AIW designed a breakout board for the Si4707 weather band receiver IC. It features a coax antenna connector, and I2C pins broken out and pulled high to 3.3V. Code sample for interfacing the device to the Arduino was released in the forum. I do have comms utilizing Arduino I2C bus. The Si4707 is 3.3V so […]
Category Archives: RF
RFDesign RFD900 open source RF modem
Buzz writes informing us of a new open-source radio modem recently introduced by RFDesign known as the RFD900. “It’s initial focus is telemetry for UAV’s and FPV, but it’s an amazing piece of kit, with a whopping 1 Watt power, massive range of 40km, and it’s only $89.50 per unit. (Similar closed-source units sell for […]
Tutorial: wireless sensor applications using Dorji RF modules
Raj has posted this tutorial at Embedded-Lab on building wireless sensor applications using Dorji’s DRF4432S and DRF5150S RF modules. “The interesting part of these RF modules is they have an additional preprogrammed microcontroller on board that allows direct connection of selected analog and digital sensors to the modules.” Raj’s article describes these two modules briefly, […]
Confusion over SDR# vs OpenSDRSharp
As you may have noted in our previous posts, there exists an excellent piece of software written for use with the RTL-SDR dongle known as SDR#. If you’ve tried it you know it’s incredibly user friendly and provides immediate, full-featured use of the RTL-SDR dongle out-of-the-box. The only downside, of course, is that it’s developed […]
Renesas RL78 promo board meets TI CC3000 WiFi module
If you’re just receiving your Renesas RL78 promo board, here’s an article from the Renesas Rulz blog discussing how to interface it with the LS Research TiWi-SL based TI CC3000 WiFi board. As the post points out, “The primary hardware issue is level conversion. The RPB is a 5V design and the CC3000 module operates […]
NXP RF component manual
NXP has released the 16th edition of their RF component manual. It covers the full line of NXP RF offerings including their core technologies QUBiC4 and LDMOS, GPS LNAs, medium power amplifiers, IF gain blocks, satellite LNB ICs and CATV modules, amplifiers (low noise, variable gain, medium power and high power Doherty amplifiers), mixers, IQ […]
Decoding P25 with SDR#, DSD, and RTLSDR
This is another illustration of the amazing utility of the RTL-SDR and SDR# software. Here proct0r links the output from SDR# to a program known as DSD. DSD is an open source command line program originally coded in C by anonymous for Linux for the purpose of decoding digital protocols via a PC soundcard.
Interesting radio frequency: pirates on SATCOM — 255 MHz
This video highlights another interesting frequency to try with your SDR dongle: 255 MHz. trylleklovn reports that, “Using gqrx with my newsky dvb-t dongle (rtlsdr) to listen to the geostationary SATCOM which is frequently utilized by Brazil radio pirates.” Gqrx is a free and open source SDR for Linux and Mac designed by amateur radio […]
Interesting radio frequency: ankle monitors on 314.2 MHz
Now that dongle-based SDRs are exploding in popularity, why not start exploring outside the usual frequency bands? With 64 to 1700+ MHz at your disposal there’s a lot of territory to cover. You’ll find that a number of unusual services occupy some of the lesser know bands not covered by conventional radio scanners. One example […]
28C3 – Introducing Osmo-GMR: Building a Sniffer for the GMR Satphones
In this video from the 28C3 Conference in Berlin, Sylvain Munaut describes the latest member of the Osmocom-family projects, osmo-gmr. This project focuses on the GMR-1 (GEO Mobile Radio) air interface used in some satellite Phones. Sylvain discusses the GMR protocol, the Thuraya network that uses this protocol in the Eurasian/African and Australian continents and […]
SDR#: C#-based SDR app
Here’s a new open source Windows SDR application. According to the developers, “SDR# (read SDR Sharp) is a simple, intuitive, small and fast PC-based DSP application for Software Defined Radio. It’s written in C# with both object design correctness and performance in mind. The main purpose is to offer a simple proof of concept application […]
DCC 2011 – PhoneSat: sub $10k spacecraft
Mike Safyan is an amateur radio operator KJ6MVL who works at NASA. In this talk from the 2011 ARRL/TAPR DCC in Baltimore, Mike describes the PhoneSat project, whose goal is to produce a functioning satellite module for under $10,000. Picture a Nexus Android phone, Arduino and RF transmitter inside a 10cc standard flight-safe housing cube […]
3G/GPRS shield for Arduino
Libelium has introduced their 3G/GPRS shield for Arduino (3G + GPS). It enables connectivity to high speed WCDMA and HSPA cellular networks, and includes GPS. “The GPS module also makes it possible to perform geolocation services even in indoors as it can work in A-GPS and S-GPS modes, so the location given by the GPS […]
GRCon2012 call for papers
The 2012 GNU Radio Conference will be held September 24-27, 2012, at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel near the Altanta, GA airport. The conference coordinators have posted a “call for papers” from prospective presenters. Visit this link to fill out and submit the form with your idea for a presentation. The deadline for submission of abstracts […]
Dongle Shootout: Funcube vs RTL SDR
Kanal von MegaOscarVideos from Germany presents a two-part video comparision of the Funcube dongle and a RTL-SDR DVB-T dongle, in this case a Hama Nano version. The two devices are connected to the same antenna and using identical test systems from a geostationary INMARSAT satellite to compare received signal to noise ratios (SNR).
Shmoocon 2012: GHz or Bust!
Chronos hackers take note! In this presentation from the Shmoocon 2012 conference, atlas 0f d00m talks about using the USB RF dongle that comes with the EZ430 Chronos watch to conduct experiments in the ISM bands. This talk covers a lot of ground giving practical information on the ISM bands, modulation techniques, and the inner […]
Lessons learned with an external clock / USRP1 interface
In order to use even a high-priced SDR for GSM experimentation, an accurate clock source is indispensable. According to the GSM standard, a clock with “absolute accuracy better than 0.05 ppm for both RF frequency generation and clocking the timebase” is required. This means that with a standard USRP1 with frequency accuracy of 2.5 ppm, […]
Testing CMA-77-100 antenna with SYM-RFT-77 DCF77 receiver module
Michail Papadimitriou is in the process of developing a Nixie clock which will synchronize with the DCF77 time signal. These standard time signals are transmitted on 77.5 kHz from Germany, and Michail intends to use a DCF77 Time Receiver Module, like SYM-RFT-77 to demodulate the signal. Basically, this module receives the time standard signal and […]
GSM/GPRS & GPS modem with SIM900/SIM908 module
Boris suggests we look at this GSM/GPRS and GSM modem. A modem GSM & GPRS with SIM900 or SIM908 module. Allows you to create data connections on the GSM network through a standard USB interface. The cellular modems, particularly USB-stick ones, are now at very affordable prices, however they’re limited: they are explicitly designed for […]
Wireless dual DC motor control system
Chris from PyroElectro writes: Here’s an article that explains how to build a dual DC motor control system, combined with a wireless receiver and transmitter (XBee modules) which tell the motors at what speed they should move forward, or backward. Standard and widely available parts are used so that anyone can follow along. The system […]