Tagged: SETI

Searching For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) with a HackRF

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is an ongoing project that aims to detect radio signals originating from intelligent species somewhere in the universe. Recently Alberto Caballero, a SETI researcher has been proposing a distributed search (project pdf document) with amateur and/or professional radio telescopes. The idea is that multiple stations around the world would monitor a single star for a period of time in order to collect data 24/7. To participate the requirements are a dish 2.1 meters or larger, a motorized mount, and a feed, LNA and radio system able to receive 1 - 4.5 GHz.

An example of a SETI station can be found at SETI Net. Here the owner has a 3M dish on a rotor connected to a HackRF. An LNA and band pass filter are also used at the feed end. SDR Console or SDR# is used to monitor a specific frequency, and the audio is sent into a special automatic SETI analysis program as well as spectrum analysis software. If an interesting signal is detected the software notifies the user, then further analysis can be undertaken.

If you have a suitable radio telescope available and want to participate, you can contact the SETI project via their contact form.

SETI Net Block Diagram

The SETI Institute and GNU Radio Join Forces

The institute for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and GNU Radio are joining forces. SETI are an organization that uses radio telescopes to search for radio signals that may have been generated by extraterrestrial intelligence. As part of a transition from proprietary hardware to cheaper more capable off the shelf hardware such as USRP SDRs and GPU processors, SETI are beginning to make more use of the open source GNU Radio DSP processing suite. The use of GNU Radio will also allow other researchers and hobbyists at home to possibly help with their own analysis.

In the Zoom meeting below SETI and GNU Radio leaders discuss the partnership, also noting the importance RTL-SDRs have played in the advancement and popularisation of GNU Radio, as well in the general advancement of radio education.

SETI Institute and GNU Radio Join Forces

Radwave Updates: Browse SETI Spectrum Data on your Android Device

Back in February 2019 we first posted about Radwave, an Android SDR App for RTL-SDR dongles. It has some interesting features not found in other Apps like the ability to easily zoom, pause and rewind the spectrum at any time.

The author has decided to make use of these spectrum browsing enhancements by providing access to full SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) spectrum data sets which can be browsed via the app for a small fee. From a post on our forums the author of Radwave writes:

I've been developing Radwave, which is an RTL-SDR Android app for exploring the spectrum. I recently added some new functionality, allowing users to interactively explore full resolution SETI data hosted in the cloud - no SDR needed. You can see a preview of it here https://youtu.be/8ZJFzKcWejA and download it from https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ve.android

This data comes from Breakthrough Listen. These datasets are quite large, and Radwave does all the bulk downloading, processing and hosting of the datasets, allowing you to easily navigate your way through the spectrum. If you find something cool, you can tag it and share it.

Currently there are three datasets available in the first bundle ($10 USD): Voyager 1 and two 'Oumuamua collections (surveys of the the first observed interstellar object in our solar system). The data is big, and is hosted in AWS. That gets pricey, so I'll be adding more collections to this first bundle as funding permits. If there are certain datasets you're interested in seeing, definitely let me know.

 

radwave intro 20200225