Software Defined Radio

Published:

This page summarizes information for software defined radio (SDR).

SDR Platforms

Overview

Radio components such as modulators, demodulators and tuners are traditionally implemented in hardware components. The advent of modern computing and analogue to digital converters allows most of these traditionally hardware based components to be implemented into software instead. Hence, the term software defined radio. This enables easy signal processing and thus cheap wide band scanner radios to be produced. (quoted from https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/)

An good (though not the latest) introduction on the SDR is available here.

Hardware

There are many SDR platforms available on the market, with different specifications and prices. A comprehensive list can be found at here

A comparison between different SDR is produced by LimeSDR and quoted here. Source: https://www.crowdsupply.com/lime-micro/limesdr-mini#comparison-table

ItemHackRF OneEttus B200Ettus B210BladeRF x40RTL-SDRLimeSDRLimeSDR Mini
Frequency Range1 MHz - 6 GHz70 MHz - 6 GHz70 MHz - 6 GHz300 MHz - 3.8 GHz22 MHz - 2.2 GHz100 kHz - 3.8 GHz10 MHz - 3.5 GHz
RF Bandwidth20 MHz61.44 MHz61.44 MHz40 MHz3.2 MHz61.44 MHz30.72 MHz
Sample Depth8 bit12 bit12 bit12 bit8 bit12 bit12 bit
Sample Rate20 MSPS61.44 MSPS61.44 MSPS40 MSPS3.2 MSPS61.44 MSPS30.72MSPS
TX Channels1121021
RX Channels1121121
DuplexHalfFullFullFullN/AFullFull
InterfaceUSB 2.0USB 3.0USB 3.0USB 3.0USB 2.0USB 3.0USB 3.0
Programmable Logic Gates64 macrocell CPLD75k100k40k (115k avail)N/A40k16K
ChipsetMAX5864, MAX2837, RFFC5072AD9364AD9361LMS6002MRTL2832ULMS7002MLMS7002M
Open SourceFullSchematic, FirmwareSchematic, FirmwareSchematic, FirmwareNoFullFull
Oscillator Precision+/- 20 ppm+/- 2 ppm+/- 2 ppm+/- 1 ppm?+/-1 ppm initial, +/-4 ppm stable+/- 1 ppm initial, +/- 4 ppm stable
Transmit Power-10 dBm+ (15 dBm @ 2.4 GHz)10 dBm+10 dBm+6 dBmN/Amax 10 dBm (depending on freq.)max 10 dBm (depending on freq.)
Price$299$686$1,119$420~$10$299$159

Development Tool

GNU Radio

Tutorial

Matlab

  • Supported Devices: USRP, Zynq SDR, RTL-SDR, and Adalm PlutoSDR
  • Matlab Link

Python

Some SDR also supports Python. Check Chapters 5-9 in the Book PySDR: A Guide to SDR and DSP using Python.

Resources

Books