United Nations Expert Arrested in Tunisia for Using an RTL-SDR

Recently several newspapers [CNA] [France24] [Guardian] [MEM] [HuffPostMG] have reported a story about a United Nations (UN) expert being arrested in Tunisia for having an RTL-SDR dongle. Dr. Moncef Kartas is a member of a UN panel of experts investigating violations of the UN arms embargo on Libya. 

On March 26, 2019 Kartas was arrested on his arrival in Tunisia on suspicion of spying for "unnamed foreign parties", and one of the key arguments being used against him is that he was in possession of and had used an RTL-SDR dongle. In the France24 article, they explain that he was using the RTL-SDR as part of his investigation for monitoring air traffic to Libya in an attempt to link flights against violations of the arms embargo. 

As Kartas' business in Tunisia was to present his findings on the arms embargo violations, other experts believe that the arrest is politically motivated, and that ownership of the RTL-SDR for espionage is simply being used as an excuse. However, while the investigation continues Kartas remains in jail, and in Tunisia a charge of espionage could be punishable by death. As Kartas holds UN diplomatic immunity, and as Tunisia is a member of the UN, the arrest and detainment is seen as illegal.

We hope that Kartas is safe and will be released soon. If you want to keep an eye on his story, there is a Twitter account called "Free Moncef Kartas" @FreeMoncefK that appears to be posting news articles and tweets about his arrest.

Human Rights Watch Denounces the arrest of Moncef Kartas
Human Rights Watch Denounces the arrest of Moncef Kartas [Photo Source]
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KerberosSDR Direction Finding with Android App Demo and Tutorial

Over on our YouTube channel we've uploaded a short video that gives a tutorial and demo of the KerberosSDR being used as an RF direction finding system in a car. If you weren't aware, KerberosSDR is our recently released 4x Coherent RTL-SDR which can be used for tasks such as direction finding and passive radar. KerberosSDR was successfully crowdfunded over on Indiegogo, and we have recently completed shipments to all backers. Currently we are taking discounted pre-orders for a second production batch on Indiegogo.

In the video we use a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ running the KerberosSDR image as the computing hardware. The Pi 3 is connected to a high capacity battery pack. It is important to use a high quality battery pack that can output 3A continuously as this is required for the Raspberry Pi 3 B+ to run without  throttling. The battery pack we used has multiple outputs so we also power the KerberosSDR with it.

Once powered up we connect to the KerberosPi WiFi hotspot, and then browse to the web interface page. We then tune the KerberosSDR to a TETRA signal at 858 MHz, perform sample and phase calibration, set the decimation and FIR filtering, and then enable the direction finding algorithm. At this point we enter the Android app and begin direction finding and logging our data.

After driving for a few minutes we stop and check the logfile and find that the majority of the bearing lines point in one direction. With this info, a drive in the direction of the bearing points to gather more data is performed. Once additional data was gathered we open the log file up again, and see where all the bearing lines cross. Where they cross indicates the location of the 858 MHz transmitter. The heatmap data also gives us a second confirmation that the transmitter is located where we think.

NOTE: Some of the features shown in the video like the heatmap, confidence settings and plot length settings are not yet released in the current version of the app. They will be released next week.

Full instruction on using the KerberosSDR are available at rtl-sdr.com/ksdr.

KerberosSDR Direction Finding With Android App Demo and Tutorial

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The 2019 New England Workshop for SDR

The New England Workshop on Software Defined Radio (NEWSDR) is a yearly conference that hosts multiple SDR related talks. Previously we posted a selection of our favorite 2018 talks which involved topics such as remote sensing of space with SDR, wireless deep learning and multi-objective SDR optimization.

This years NEWSDR event will been held on Jun 13 and 14 at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. They are currently offering pre-registration for free, and are looking for poster presentations.

This year is the 9th iteration of NEWSDR and it will be held at the University of Massachusetts Boston campus on June 13 and 14. Registration is free and we are also accepting submissions for poster presentations and elevator pitches. The event is an excellent networking opportunity and includes technical presentations as well as demonstrations from industry sponsors (Ettus/NI, MathWorks, Analog Devices, and MediaTek).

NEWSDR 2019 Poster
NEWSDR 2019 Poster
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SingalsEverywhere: Running OpenWebRX on a PlutoSDR with PlutoWEB Firmware

Over on YouTube Corrosive from the SignalsEverywhere channel has uploaded a new video that shows how to install the the PlutoWEB Firmware on a PlutoSDR, which allows OpenWebRX to run directly on the PlutoSDR itself. OpenWebRX is a SDR streaming platform that enables people to connect to the SDR remotely over the internet. Multiple users can access the SDR at the same time as well. Many public OpenWebRX servers running on KiwiSDRs can be found at sdr.hu as the KiwiSDR uses it by default.

The PlutoSDR is a low cost (typically priced anywhere between $99 - $149 depending on sales) RX/TX capable SDR with up to 56 MHz of bandwidth and 70 MHz to 6 GHz frequency range. It also has an onboard FPGA and ARM Cortex-A9 CPU which can be used to run programs on the PlutoSDR itself.

Corrosive's video shows us how to install PlutoWEB which is an unofficial firmware package for the PlutoSDR. It comes preinstalled with many programs such as OpenWebRX and dump1090. He then shows how to set up OpenWebRX and then shows a demo of it in action.

OpenWebRX via PlutoSDR using PlutoWEB Firmware

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Weather Satellite Images from Geostationary COMS-1 Received

COMS-1 Geostationary Satellite Footprint
COMS-1 Geostationary Satellite Footprint https://www.wmo-sat.info/oscar/Satellites/view/33

COMS-1 is a geostationary weather satellited operated by the Korean Meteorological Agency (KMA) which was launched back in 2010. It is similar to NOAA GOES satellites as it is also geostationary orbit (@128.2°E - footprint covers all of Asia + AUS/NZ), and so is far away enough to image the entire disk of the Earth at once. Unfortunately, unlike the GOES satellites which have in the past few years become relatively easy for hobbyists to decode, the COMS-1 LRIT and HRIT downlink data is encrypted by KMA. KMA only appear to provide decryption keys to governments, research institutes and large organizations upon request.

However, recently Australian @sam210723 was able to successfully create code to decrypt the key message file and obtain the images. From a previous Twitter post of his, it appears that the encryption keys from the KMA example code are actually valid and can be used without needing to apply for a key.

Sam notes that he'll soon release a full blog post on his results, but for now he has an older post from last year that explains a bit about the satellite and decryption of the LRIT Key. His code is available on GitHub, and in a recent Twitter post he shows some example images that he's been able to receive using an Airspy SDR.

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Using an RTL-SDR and OpenCV To Create an EMI Heatmap of Circuit Boards

Over on YouTube and his blog user Charles Grassin has uploaded a short video and blog post showing how he's using an RTL-SDR EMI (electromagnetic interference) probe and OpenCV to create a visual EMI heatmap.

Earlier this month we posted about Dmitris' experiments in which he was able to create a home made EMI/EMC probe out of a loop of semi-rigid coax and an RTL-SDR V3. This type of probe is useful for determining what components or areas on a circuit board are emitting electromagnetic interference. EMI testing for PCBs may be critical for passing compliance tests.

Charles' project takes the RTL-SDR EMI probe idea a step further by combining it with OpenCV. OpenCV is an open source library of code for computer vision applications. With the EMI data generated by the RTL-SDR EMI probe, and a camera pointed at a PCB, Charles is able to overlay a heatmap on top of the visual image which reveals the EMI hot spots on a PCB.

The video below shows the EMI heatmap of an Arduino PCB being mapped out. His blog post shows some other examples like a keyboard and a hairpin RF filter. The code he's created is open source and available on his EMI_Mapper GitHub page.

EMI mapping (OpenCV and RTL-SDR)

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KerberosSDR Batch One End of Stock, Batch Two Preorders Available

If you weren't aware, KerberosSDR is our recently released 4x Coherent RTL-SDR which can be used for tasks such as direction finding and passive radar. KerberosSDR was successfully crowdfunded over on Indiegogo, and we have recently completed shipments to all backers. Currently there is only about 20 units of the batch one production left in stock.

We are currently offering discounted preorders for batch two units on Indiegogo which we expect will be ready to ship in July or hopefully earlier. If you are interested, please order soon to avoid missing out as the price will be raised again once we are shipping. Batch two will be the same as batch one except for some minor changes. For example we have decided to convert the microUSB port into a USB-C port as we have found that there are many very poor quality microUSB cables on the market which could cause issues for users. USB-C cables are generally of a higher quality.

More information about KerberosSDR is available on the Indiegogo page.

KerberosSDR Updates

Since our last post on this blog about KerberosSDR we have made some enhancements to the software.

  • The KerberosSDR code is now fast enough to run at 1-2 Hz update rates for direction finding and passive radar on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+.
  • There is now a web interface, so the KerberosSDR can be controlled via a WiFi hotspot and internet browser. Useful for use on the Pi 3 and Tinkerboard.

For future updates we are currently working on several new features:

  • Filters to remove low confidence DoA results on the Android app.
  • A secondary heatmap type display on the Android app based on signal strength, for two direction finding indications.
  • Methods to determine the center of multiple bearing intersection points.
  • Further enhancements to processing speed, possible improved results from processing gain and possible better accuracy from improved DoA algorithms.

Within the next few weeks we will also release full tutorial videos that will show how to set up and use the KerberosSDR for direction finding and passive radar with a Raspberry Pi 3 or Tinkerboard. If you prefer a text based explanation we already have a guide up at rtl-sdr.com/ksdr.

Below is an image that demonstrates the KerberosSDR direction finding Android app. A user of KerberosSDR has also submitted two of his own screenshots that show that he was able to determine the location of a GSM transmitter with a linear antenna array.

KerberosSDR Direction Finding Results
KerberosSDR Direction Finding Results. Multiple data points collected during a drive, with bearings pointing towards the TX tower (red marker). Circular array of whip antennas used at freq. 858 MHz.
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Scanner School Podcast Talks SDR Topics with Signals Everywhere Host

Recently Scanner School released episode 70 of their podcast, and on this episode they talk about various SDR topics with Corrosive from the Signals Everywhere YouTube channel. If you follow out blog, you'll know that Corrosive is a YouTuber that is consistently putting out high quality YouTube videos on a range of SDR and other radio related topics.

Scanner School is an online workshop that aims to help you get setup with an RTL-SDR based DMR/NXDN/P25 trunking system in four classes. They also have a weekly podcast. The description of this weeks podcast with Corrosive reads:

Corrosive has been working on his YouTube channel for about 4 years, and has a ton of videos on the SDR topic. If there is something that I am looking a trying when it comes to SDR, the first place I look is on Corrosive's channel.

Today we talk about some advanced SDR topics, both for receiving and transmitting.

While we talk about the more advanced topics of SDR today, I know we all have to start somewhere. If you are looking for online training to help you get started with SDR, check out our new Intro to SDR Workshop. This course will guide you though purchasing an excellent and affordable SDR to get started with.

Additionally, we will turn this SDR into a DMR, P25, and NXDN trunked receiver that can do more than your expensive scanner.


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