CHRISTOPHE F4DAN
SDR : SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO
SWR : SOFTWARE RADIO

Last update : Marcg 28, 2010
Contact : f4dan at yahoo dot fr

VERSION FRANCAISE ICI

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Type Ia SDR projects
(sampling by a soundcard of the audio output of a traditional TRX)

Linpsk PSK31
Soundmodem Packet radio, in particular
HamDream 
WinDRM
An adaptation of the DRM standard for ham channel bandwidths (2.5 kHz), using as bases the sources of the DREAM project.
Hamdream is not maintained any longer : its replacement is WinDRM. Works both on emission and reception.

R1x-x-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a mono soundcard of an IF around 12 kHz)

Fraunhofer SDR     A Commercial DRM receiver
DREAM DRM     The free software DREAM (DRM receiver)
DRM Software     The not free software (DRM receiver) 
IFDSP R1L-N-IN   The IK2CZL realization. Downconversion of the standard 455 kHz IF of a traditionnal receiver around 13 kHz, ans sampling by a sound card. Windows. Source code not available.
JI3GAB R1L-N-IN   The JI3GAB realization. Downconversion of the standard 455 kHz IF of a traditionnal receiver around 13 kHz, ans sampling by a sound card. Linux. Source code available. Works also on emission. 
G8JCF     The G8JCF software. Windows. Source code not available. 
FDM77   640 euros An italian SDR, designed by ELAD and distributed in France by  Intertechnologies. Receive only. 
DiRABox DRB30
DiRABox DRB32 
R1F-H-IP   This "black box" converts any frequency between 30 kHz and 30 MHz   around a 10 kHz IF (bandwidth = 15 kHz). Remote control by parallel PC port (USB converter also available). Double conversion, DDS.
The DRD32 is an improved-performance version.
SAQrx R1N-H-IN   This software made by Johan SM6LKM is for VLF reception (0-22 kHz). Antenna is directly connected to soundcard input. Windows source code available.
Winradio WR-G30x  R1P-N-UU   The low-cost version of Winradio (digital channel selection not possible, sampling by a mono soundcard).
 See WR-G31x for the professional version. 



Q1x-x-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a stereo soundcard of an audio I/Q IF)

SDR-1000 / SDR-5000 Q1A-H-IP 2800 US$ An SDR with available source code. Described in the QEX article series : "Software Defined Radios for the Masses"
SoftRock-40
Gnurockr (nouveau lien)
KB9YIG 

JavaGUI
Q1L-H-IN   A "small" version of the SDR-1000 (Rx Only), powered by USB port, and working in the 40 meters band for the initial design. Several softwares work with this hardware.
With Gnurockr, VU3RDD wrote a Gnuradio module allowing to control the softrock.
KB9YIG's site describes several SoftRock flavours.
JavaGUI is a small GUI under Linux for DttSP (the core of the softrock and SDR-1000).
WSE     Hardware developped by Leif SM5BSZ, first described in the QEX articles "Linrad : New Possibilities for the Communications Expermienters". These hardwares have 2 RF channels giving 2 I/Q pairs
GW4DGU      Slides describing the design of a SDR used for high frequencies (GHz). I/Q frequency converison is done with on-the-shelf chipsets (example :  LT5515, LT5516, LT5517, AD8347, AD8348). 
Time Machine    135 US$ (kit) A very original project : this board allows to record a spectral band with a traditionnal stereo recorder (MP3 walkman, laptop, audio tape, ...), and to replay it later !!
DT1 DT2 DR1 DR2

R1L-H-IN

Q1L-H-IN

  The YU1LM SDR realizations (Rx + Tx). Hardware with SDR-1000 like I/Q conversion, but more simple. Software with SDRADIO among others. PDF describe precisely the performance of this transceiver.
NORCAL NC2030     A CW transceiver with amazing performances (IP3, dynamique range, ...), that can be used to make a SDR Fron-End. This project was made by Dan Tayloe N7VE, and uses of course a Tayloe I/Q mixer...
Firefly SDR Q1L-H-IN 75 US$ (kit) The new design from Dan Tayloe N7VE, a bit like the Softrock. Fixed local oscillator for 30m and 40m band receiving. Works also in transmit mode, using a traditional VXO (no SDR)
SDR-X     Designed by I0CG, this project allows to convert the HF spectrum (0-30 MHz + 6 meters band) around an I/Q I/F that cans be digitized by a sound card. The programmable oscillator is realized with an AD9951 DDS. Preselection filters are automatically activated with the requested frequency. Attenuators and low noise programmable amplificators are also present.
SDRZero Q1L-H-IN 35 US$ (kit) A softrock like SDR, realized by PY2WM and  N1VTN/PU1JTE. Mainly in Portugues language, but some pages in English. A kit is available for sale.
KDG-SR100 Q1A-H-IP 700 euros An SDR-1000 like realization, working both on receive and transmit, and using a DDS for LO
NCSASDR 
NCSASDR_PDF
    This university develops a SDR based on a GnuRadio core, and a specific RF front-end for the 900 MHz band.
Some advanced subjects are covered, like : communication protocol with the SDR, security and cognitive radio.
The PDF is particularly interesting.
 
TinySDR M1L-H-IN   A very simple SDR for HF bands, by LY1GP. Mixing is done with a  home-made diode-based mixer, and there is no amplifier (sound card only). I/Q LO is generated with a VFO and 90° phase offset is obtained with a simple capacitor and resistor.
Elektor Q1P-H-IU 100 euros A RX SDR  for HF bands, with USB frequency control. Uses a PLL VFO for frequency tuning (CY27EE16) and a FT232R USB chipset. 
Genesis Radio  Q1L-H-IN 150 US$ (kit) A transceiver SDR for the 40m band, that works with classical I/Q softwares (PowerSDR, ...). Uses classic through hole components (no surface mount)
PMSDR 
(alt. site)
Q1P-H-IU 195 euros A SDR for the HF band (RX only), that works with classical I/Q softwares (PowerSDR, winrad, ...). Uses a Si570 DSPLL for frequency tuning. Delivered as a pre-assembled kit. 
Soft66AD new Q1A-H-IU 115 US$ (assembled)
85 US$ (kit)
A SDR for the HF band (RX only), that works with classical I/Q softwares (Rocky, SDRadio, winrad, ...). Uses a AD9831 DDS, and a USB frequency control
Lazy Dog LD-1 new Q1A-H-IU 218 US$ A SDR for the HF band (RX only), that works with classical I/Q softwares (Rocky, SDRadio, winrad, ...). Uses a DDS, and a USB frequency control




Q2x-x-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a dedicated stereo audio ADC of an I/Q IF)

PA3FWM  Q4P-H-EE This OM uses the same I/Q downconverter as the SDR-1000, but uses a dedicated stereo audio ADC (and not a sound card) : the PCM1804 at 192 kHz on 24 bits. Transfert toward PC is done through Ethernet. Rx only.
Since early 2006, PA3FWM tries with a faster ADC (
AD7760 at 2,5 Msamp/s), and uses an FPGA to build Ethernet frames.
WB6DHW SDTCV  Q2A-H-UU This OM uses the same I/Q downconverter as the SDR-1000, but uses a dedicated stereo audio ADC (and not a sound card) at 192 kHz on 24 bits. Transfert toward PCand control  is done through USB.
LO is realized with a 4 channels DDS AD9959, wich has the advantage to allow simultaneous Rx of several channels, with an eventual phase synchronization between them.
Rx / Tx up to 200 MHz without any other LO than the DDS.
µWSDR
D2P-H-EE Beautiful site ! Clear and informative !
I/Q analog mixing with an AD8337 for RX and AD8346 fot TX. Front-ends are planned for 13cm, 23cm and 4m bands.
Analog I/Q IF digitized by a 
Cirrus CS4272, audio stereo DAC/ADC  24 bits 192 kHz .
Ethernet communication. ARM7 CPU.
PC software based on SDR-1000 DSP core.
RT2 Q2F-H-?? KC2MFS's project. Dedicated stereo audio ADC (PCM4202 : 24 bits, 192 ksamp/s). DDS realized not with an ASIC but with a FPGA.
CIAO RADIO 
Q2A-H-UU Interesting SDR project,. The only connection with PC is USB port.
Uses a PCM2904 audio ADC : this chipset has an integrated USB interface : very smart !
Uses a AD9851 DDS.
OH2NLT Cheap DSP Q2A-N-NL A stand-alone SDR (no external PC or laptop needed), using a QSD and a dedicated stereo ADC/DAC (TLV320AIC23B). I/Q samples processing is done onboard with an dsPIC30F6014 chip. Very detailed information on the site with schematics, PCB drawings, and DSP code...
Very fine enclosure also.
Also works in TX.
VK3GJZ  Simple DSP Receiver  Q2L-N-NL A stand-alone SDR (no external PC or laptop needed), using a QSD and an Alesis/wavefront DSP chipset for sampling and I/Q samples processing.




R3x-x-xx Type SDR projects

(sampling 
of a "direct antenna output" RF signal by a "off-the-shelf" acquisition board)

DOMENECH R3N-H-IN Sampling of the RF signal (directly out from the antenna) by a TV tuner board with BT878 chipset (Fsamp = 896 ksamp/s)
LORAN-C  R3N-H-IN An SDR project for VLF reception of the localisation system Loran-C (90 to 110 kHz).
Uses an Adlink PCI acquisition board.






R2x-x-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a dedicated RF ADC of an analog IF)

F1OAT M2P-N-ES F1OAT's SDR. Based on DSP EZ-KIT ADSP 21061 (floating point), and  DDS (AD7008)
DSP-10 R2P-N-NS ARRL's SDR. Available source code (assembly code). Based on DSP EZ-KIT ADSP 2181 (16 bits fixed point, AD1847 ADC/DAC).
Winradio WR-G31x  R2P-H-UU The professional version of Winradio (digital channel selection  possible in the PC software, sampling by a dedicated ADC).
 See WR-G30x for the low-cost version. 
OpenSDR or OpenSDR   The openSDR project. This is in fact the Gnuradio project. 
Modular Software Radio   Modular Software Radio (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). Emission / reception of an UMTS signal (bandwidth 5 MHz @ 2.4-2.48 GHz). Sampled IF at 90 MHz
Wireless3g4free   A project from the EURECOM school. Emission / reception of an UMTS signal. 
AMSAT SDR   The AMSAT SDR project. The page "design concept" contains interesting information about design of this (future) SDR.



R4x-A-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a dedicated RF ADC of a "direct antenna output" RF signal, and ASIC based DDC)


Rfspace SDR-14 R4N-AH-UU 1100 US$ A commercial SDR (source code not available), based on ASIC and ADC.
Rfspace SDR-IQ  R4N-AH-UU 500 US$ The new RFSPACE RIG. Still based on an ASIC DDC (AD6620) and USB for samples transfert. 66 MHz 12-bits sampling with AD9245
ADAT HB9CBU  R4N-A-NL   ADT-200A is a stand-alone SDR (no external PC required), RX and TX. Receive part uses an AD6645 14 ADC and 4 channels AD6624A DDC.  Transmit part uses AD9754 DAC and AD6623 DUC. I/Q samples are processed with a ADSP-21363 SHARC. 




R4x-F-xx Type SDR projects
(sampling by a dedicated RF ADC of a "direct antenna output" RF signal, and FPGA based DDC)


Gnuradio USRP
Ettus
gnuradio chat list
A gnuradio user
GRC : A gnuradio GUI

R4N-F-UU 700 US$ The Gnuradio project. 
SSRP  R4N-H-UN   A simplified version of the USRP
PERSEUS  R4N-F-UU   A direct sampling HF receiver. Uses an LTC2206 14 bits 80 Msamples/s ADC, and an XC3S250E FPGA for downconversion.  Control through USB. Announced output digital bandwidth : 800 KHz (with 1 M complex samples per second). 
Quicksilver QS1R  R4N-FH-UU 850 US$ This project uses an ADC LTC2208 16 bits 130 Msamples/s, and a FPGA Altera Cyclone III EP3C25 for the DDC function. Rx from 15 kHz to 55 MHz.Control and I/Q samples transfert through USB, with a software called SDRMAX, based on the DttSP library.
Open-source firmware and software. 
A TX version (QS1T) is under design.
Project by Phil Covington N8VB
Portland State University
University of Notre Dame 
Paderborn University
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (OSSIE : open source JTRS / SCA framework) 
    These students present SDR projects based on the USRP Gnuradio board.
HPSDR 
Covington
JANUS/PHOENIX : Q2A-H-UU
MERCURY/OZY : R4N-F-H-UU
  This is an ambitious project : ADC  LTC2208 at 130 Méch/s, and FPGA for the DDC. USB interface for communication
W1QG  R4N-F-NN   A SDR based on a Lyrtech Signal Master board. The FPGA is programmed with the Xilinx system generator  developement kit. 
RTG003     Not an amateur, but professionnal realization. Expensive. 



Dxx-S-xx Type
SDR projects
(sampling by a specialized IF chipset with both ADC and DDC functions)


OH2NLT HF Receiver D5N-S-NL This project uses a TI AFREDI8201 specialized chipset with both ADC and DDC functions.
This is a stand-alone SDR (no external PC or laptop needed), RX only.




Online SDR 

WebSDR An online SDR, very efficient and very fluid. The first realization of this type. Must absolutly be seen !!!




Samples processing softwares

Rocky A small software using original methods for FFT computation (polyphase FFT), and filtering (time-frequency surface re-parameterization)
KGKSDR -
Winrad Same author as SDRADIO. Linrad was used as model for some parts of this software. 
SDRADIO A software (Windows) used to demodulate I/S samples coming from a sound card
DSPRX DL6IAK software. Very simple
PowerSDR The software used by SDR-1000
Spectraview  The software used by SDR-14
M0KGK KGKSDR  A windows program. Source code not available
Erlink-sr  "A software defined radio that can be distributed at a fine granularity across multiple platforms". Looks very original - G3UKB project.
Known before as "smalltalk SDR".
QUISK  Linux software by Jim N2ADR with source code provided. Works with the SDR-IQ, softrock, or it can use the PC sound card for other hardware.
SDRMAX  The open-source software (Linux + windows) used for the QuickSilver QS1R project (see above).
Linrad Software from Leif SM5BSZ, that runs under Linux and Windows. Linrad is compatible with several hardwares : the author's hardware (WSE) or third-party hardwares (softrock+soundcard, SDR-14, SDR-IQ, ...)





RF Front-End
(RF Front Ends : or how to convert a signal down to an IF that can be sampled)

Quadrature-less realizations
Sat-Schneider - DRT-1 A programmable RF tuner with DDS. IF output @ 12 kHz. Perfect for type Ib SDRs..
ELEKTOR

Description
A programmable RF tuner (IF output @ 12 kHz), published in march 2004 in Elektor. Distributed by Modul-bus.
The second link (in German) describes the design more precisely.
N2DS Schmarder An original "old-fashioned" project for DRM signal reception. Direct conversion with a lamp oscillator !
JOGIS Two other Front-Ends for DRM reception (around 6 MHz). One with a tube, the other with a NE612 (in German).
WSE (SM5BSZ + SM7UFW) A collection of boards used to convert HF signals (1,8 to 14 MHz) or VHF signals (144 MHz) around an audio IF, that can be digitized by a sound card. Simultaneous conversion of 2 channels.
PA0SIM 
Jan realized a 2 phase coherent receiver. One antenna is connected on each way, to form an array of 2 antennas.
Smart digital signal processing is then used to achieve noise and interference reduction, and directivity.
Detailed principles of this project have been published in a QEX article

Quadrature realizations
OH2GHR A project based on AD9854 DDS. Mixing with an AD831 or a Tayloe detector. 
GW4DGU  How to use off-the-shelf components (example : LT5515, LT5516, LT5517, AD8347, AD8348) to realize a direct I/Q conversion.




 SDR Références
ARRL SDR The ARRL page about SDR
TAPR SDR The TAPR page about SDR
wiki sdr A wiki about SDR




Technical Références (DSP)
DSPguide A free online book
DSPrelated.com A collection of "posts" from the comp.dsp forum. Keyword research capability
Complextoreal.com Some interesting tutorials
DSPguru.com Some interesting information 




Private Companies
Prism Technologies  
Vanu
First hand-held SDR ?
An interesting SDR realization : a mobile GSM BTS.
SharedSpectrum Cette société, financée par le Département de la Défense américain, conçoit des transceivers et des algorithmes permettant une utilisation rationnelle du spectre (radio cognitive)
Nallatech
Spectrum
Sundance
Pentek
Lyrtech
Innovative-dsp
Hunt
Multiple Acces Communications
Red-River
Ces sociétés commercialisent différentes cartes de traitement numérique (FPGA+DAC+ADC), pouvant servir de base matérielle pour des SDR
COMBLOCK Radio module for quick prototyping. These block could be used in SDR projects.  


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