A new VOR Decoder Written in Python
Thank you to Martin Bernardi for writing in and sharing with us his new VOR decoder that is written in Python. The program decodes VOR from a wav file, so any SDR such as an RTL-SDR can be used to record the audio initially.
VOR stands for VHF Omnidirectional Range and is a way to help aircraft navigate by using fixed ground based beacons. The beacons are specially designed in such a way that the aircraft can use the beacon to determine a bearing towards the VOR transmitter. VOR beacons are found between 108 MHz and 117.95 MHz, and it's possible to view the raw signal in SDR# with a software defined radio such as an RTL-SDR.
Martin notes that there are already several VOR decoders available, including vortrack written in C, and several GNU Radio based decoders [1][2]. However, Martins is the first in Python, which is a fairly easy to understand language and this should make learning from the code easier.
The GitHub readme for the project is a good read too, as it explains exactly how the VOR decoder works, and shows some results that they were able to obtain. In their testing they were able to obtain measurements at three locations with an accuracy of +/-3°.