Tagged: mobile

XiOne – A RTL2832U based Portable Software Defined Radio: Indigogo Funding Campaign

A new funding campaign for an RTL2832U based software defined radio has gone up on Indiegogo. The new SDR is called the XiOne and is intended to be the first SDR that is easy to use with smartphones and open to the maker community.

With its 100 kHz to 1.7 GHz receiving range, the XiOne has a similar tuning range to the standard RTL-SDR dongles when an upconverter or the direct sampling mod is used. What makes the XiOne different is that it will have a built in MIPS processor, an internal rechargeable battery for portability and it will connect directly through WiFi to a smart device. They are also developing SDR GUI software for mobile devices including decoders for things like ADS-B, AIS and NOAA Satellites.

The IndieGoGo backer price for a XiOne is $179 USD, but if you act fast there are 100 units available at the promotional price of $139 USD. At the moment they have a working prototype with completed firmware, portable Java based SDR GUI, iPhone demodulation software, a MacOS ADS-B receiver, an iPad AIS receiver and an iPad spectrum analyzer. The fundraiser is to help them begin serial production.

There is a Reddit thread discussing the project here.

XiOne Prototype Internals
XiOne Prototype Internals
XiOne Casing
XiOne Casing

Analyzing TD-LTE with the RTL-SDR

TD-LTE is a mobile phone standard acronym for Time Division Long Term Evolution. It is one of two variants of LTE technology, with the other being FD-LTE (Frequency Division LTE).

Over in China where TD-LTE is commonly used, Jiao Xianjun discovered that the current LTE-Cell-Scanner Linux program did not support TD-LTE, so he made a fork which does support TD-LTE. LTE-Cell-Scanner is a program which can decode LTE cell tower data which contains information like the cell ID, transmit frequency and transmit strength. With his modified LTE-Cell-Scanner, some MATLAB scripts he wrote and an RTL-SDR, Jiao was able to decode the cell information from 10 TD-LTE signals and 2 FD-LTE signals. He has uploaded a video showing this too.

TD-LTE, LTE FDD, scanning/demodulation results in Beijing, China

ADS-B Decoder for the RTL-SDR now available for Android

A (beta version) of an ADS-B decoder and display app for the RTL-SDR dongle for Android has been released. This app allows you to receive the ADS-B radio signals emitted by modern aircraft, which contain information such as flight number, latitude, longitude and altitude, essentially giving you a live portable aircraft radar.

To use the app, you will need an Android device that supports USB OTG, which most Android devices on Android 4.0+ should support. You will also need a USB OTG cable, and an RTL-SDR dongle. You may want to consider a USB OTG cable that has a second port for external charging capabilities, as the RTL-SDR can drain the battery quickly.

The app is cheaply priced at under $2, so give it a try!

ADS-B Decoding on Android
ADS-B Decoding on Android

SDRTouch Version 1.7 Released

The Android based SDR program SDRTouch has been officially updated to version 1.7. News comes via this forum post. This looks to be a major update which significantly improves audio quality and performance. The new features are listed below.

  • FM is now in STEREO
  • New audio recording feature for PRO users
  • Improved reception and audio quality. All filters were tested for quality and all bugs discovered were removed.
  • The multi-threading logic was completely rewritten. Now it’s faster than ever before.
  • Audio is now using NDK.
  • PPM correction, audio gain setting
  • A lot of bug fixes and UI enhancements
  • Experimental x86 support
sdtouch
SDR Touch Screenshot

Receiving, Decoding and Decrypting GSM with the RTL-SDR : YouTube Talk and Slides

A few days ago we posted about how Domi aka Domonkos Tomcsányi wrote on his blog about decoding and decrypting GSM signals from your own cell phones. Domi also did a talk at the CampZero conference which has now been uploaded to YouTube. His slides can be obtained from this link.

CampZer0 // Domonkos Tomcsányi: GSM - have we overslept the last wake-up call?

Wavesink Plus: Android RTL-SDR App with FM+RDS/DAB+/DRM+ Decoding

Wavesink Plus, the paid version of the trial version of Wavesink has been released on Google Play. Wavesink Plus is an Android app which has FM+RDS, DAB+ and DRM+ receiving and decoding capabilities when connected to an RTL-SDR dongle via a USB OTG cable.

We gave Wavesink Plus a test today on a HTC One X Android phone and were pleased to discover that it works perfectly. The user interface has been tidied up from previous versions, and DAB+ has been added. There is now also auto tuning functionality, which will automatically find a station.

In further testing we found that the latest version of Wavesink was fast and snappy and was able to load DAB+ stations quickly, and decode them with clear audio. FM radio also sounded clear and RDS information loaded quickly as well.

Download the trial version here and buy the full version from this link.

Wavesink Plus Decoding DAB+
Wavesink Plus Decoding DAB+

SDR Touch 1.7 Public Beta Released

The programmer of the Android based software defined radio app SDR Touch has released a public beta of version 1.7. The programmer writes that the new features include

New multi-threaded core, native audio support, experimental x86 support is included as well. Although most changes are under the hood (the release is build for performance boosts), probably the most obvious non-performance enhancement is FM STEREO.

If you intend to install the beta you will need to first uninstall your existing version of SDR Touch, which will cause you to loose any presets you may have set. The programmer warns that this version may be unstable as it is in beta.

You can download the beta from http://sdr.martinmarinov.info/beta/AndroSDR17beta.apk

Wavesink: New Android RTL-SDR App for FM/RDS/DAB/DRM+

Wavesink is a new SDR Android App, which allows your RTL2832U based dongle to receive FM radio with RDS, Digital Audio Broadcast Radio (DAB) and VHF band Digital Radio Monodial (DRM+). DAB+ support is also to be released by next week, and a station memory will also be added in a future release.

The app is currently in beta development, and only the trial version is released, which will allow you to use the app for 5 minutes at a time. They indicate that the commercial version will be out soon.

To use this with your Android device, you will need a USB OTG (On the Go) cable, and your device must support USB host mode, which most Android devices above 3.1 should support.

I gave the app a quick spin in FM mode, and found that the interface was a little clunky, but the app worked fine, and the FM and RDS signals were decoded correctly.

wavesink