KiwiSDR Now Supports DRM Decoding

KiwiSDR have recently implemented DRM decoding into their OpenWebRX implementation. Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) is a type of digital shortwave radio signal that is used by some international shortwave radio broadcasters. It provides superior audio quality compared to AM stations thanks to digital audio encoding.

The KiwiSDR is a US$299 HF SDR that can monitor the entire 0 - 30 MHz band at once. It is designed to be web-based and shared, meaning that the KiwiSDR owner, or anyone that they've given access to can tune and listen to it via a web browser over the internet. Many public KiwiSDRs can be found and browsed from the list at sdr.hu.

The new DRM implementation is based on DREAM 2.1.1 which is an opensource DRM decoder that can be used with any HF capable SDR. Due to computational limits of the BeagleBone singleboard computer which the KiwiSDR runs on, only one DRM channel can be decoded at any one time, restricting this capability to only one user at a time. However, if the KiwiSDR is running on the newer BeagleBone AI, it can support up to four DRM channels. KiwiSDR write that work is still ongoing to improve the code, so this situation may improve in the future.

KiwiSDR Decoding DRM
KiwiSDR Decoding DRM
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MICHAEL GIBSON

Can I just use the the normal image on a Beaglebone AI? If not, where can I get a suitable image?

spec

I’ve been waiting for this for ages! The downside is it uses so much CPU that it only works if you’re the only user.

KiwiSDR

We’re working on the single-user limitation. The hope is that further optimization will allow multiple instances to run. It’s amazing that it works at all. We went years without attempting a port because of the belief it could never work, lol.

spec

Greatly appreciate your efforts! Looks like VOLK for NEON need some work still, but I bet it’s possible.