Tagged: augmented reality

Visualizing RF Fields in Augmented Reality with a tinySA-Ultra or RTL-SDR and Android Smartphone

The tinySA-Ultra is an affordable handheld spectrum analyzer that can be purchased for around US$130 on Aliexpress and authorized resellers such as R&L Electronics in the USA.

Recently on YouTube Manahiyo has used his tinySA-Ultra, and combined it with an RF EMC probe and an Android smartphone to create an augmented reality RF display. This is useful for measuring and visualizing the RF power around electronic devices for example. The code is entirely open source and released on GitHub. 

Manahiyo has also released an identical version that works with RTL-SDR dongles on GitHub as well.

In the past we've also posted about Manahiyo's previous work, in which he implemented a very similar augmented reality project using an RTL-SDR.

Augmented Reality EMC Probe with a tinySA-Ultra
[RadioFieldAR -tinySA-] Visualize radio wave strength. [電波可視化]

Viewing the RF Spectrum in Virtual Reality + Augmented Reality EMC Probe

Thank you to Manahiyo for submitting his video which shows his software that allows the RF spectrum to be viewed in virtual reality, using a VR headset and an RTL-SDR. In his setup he currently uses a Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, but it should work with others too. The VR screen allows you to have multiple graphs set up, as well as allowing you to explore a 3D spectrograph from all angles by moving it around via the pointer, or by moving your head. 

[Volume warning] RTL-SDR×VR(Virtual Reality) with oculus quest2

Manahiyo also has another new VR video on his channel where he uses his RF Watcher software. RF Watcher is his software that allows augmented reality and RF power measurements from an RTL-SDR to be combined. His video demonstrates him using an RTL-SDR and EMC probe, together with RF watcher. As the EMC probe is moved over an RF 'hot spot' on a PCB, red dots are drawn around it in augmented reality.

The programs don't appear to be available to the public yet, but we will follow up with Manahiyo.