RE: SDR and SBC: Cheap thrills with radio waves

e14 Contributor — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 14:43:41 GMT

Hi Drew, did you have a radio license for you to produce this prototype? An interesting project it is. Don't you think this is another way of tracking systems other than airplanes? What was the maximum radius your system could operate in?

RE: SDR and SBC: Cheap thrills with radio waves

shabaz — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 23:50:19 GMT

I couldn't wait too long to try this out. I did it on debian, following your instructions, it was very smooth. Just a few changes compared to Angstrom. This was what I typed:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=apt-get+install+libusb-1.0-0-dev%0Agit+clone+git%3A%2F%2Fgit.osmocom.org%2Frtl-sdr.git%0Acd+rtl-sdr%0Aautoreconf+-i%0A.%2Fconfigure%0Amake%0Amake+install%0Aldconfig]

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=reboot%0Alsusb]

Output is:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=Bus+001+Device+002%3A+ID+0bda%3A2838+Realtek+Semiconductor+Corp.+RTL2838+DVB-T%0ABus+001+Device+001%3A+ID+1d6b%3A0002+Linux+Foundation+2.0+root+hub%0ABus+002+Device+001%3A+ID+1d6b%3A0002+Linux+Foundation+2.0+root+hub]

Then:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=rtl_eeprom]

Output is:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=Found+1+device%28s%29%3A%0A++0%3A++Generic+RTL2832U+OEM%0A%0AUsing+device+0%3A+Generic+RTL2832U+OEM%0AFound+Rafael+Micro+R820T+tuner%0A%0ACurrent+configuration%3A%0A__________________________________________%0AVendor+ID%3A++++++++++++++0x0bda%0AProduct+ID%3A+++++++++++++0x2838%0AManufacturer%3A+++++++++++Realtek%0AProduct%3A++++++++++++++++RTL2841UHIDIR%0ASerial+number%3A++++++++++00000001%0ASerial+number+enabled%3A++yes%0AIR+endpoint+enabled%3A++++yes%0ARemote+wakeup+enabled%3A++no]

Then:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=git+clone+git%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fantirez%2Fdump1090%0Acd+dump1090%0Amake%0Avi+gmap.html]

(Use google maps to find the local position, it is in the URL, and edit them. For example):

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=cat+gmap.html+%7C+grep+Center%0A++++CenterLat%3D51.493%3B%0A++++CenterLon%3D-0.494%3B%0A++++++++++++center%3A+new+google.maps.LatLng%28CenterLat%2C+CenterLon%29%2C]

Finally to run (I needed to use port 8090, since 8080 is in use by the default web server running on the BBB):

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=.%2Fdump1090+--interactive+--net+--net-http-port+8090]

The output was:

[embed:dc8ab71f-3b98-42d9-b0f6-e21e02a0f8e2:3ef06e6b-9b7d-4651-b12d-db8be7f5e991:type=text&text=Found+1+device%28s%29%3A%0A0%3A+Realtek%2C+RTL2841UHIDIR%2C+SN%3A+00000001+%28currently+selected%29%0AFound+Rafael+Micro+R820T+tuner%0AMax+available+gain+is%3A+49.60%0ASetting+gain+to%3A+49.60%0AExact+sample+rate+is%3A+2000000.052982+Hz%0AGain+reported+by+device%3A+49.60%0AHex++++Flight+++Altitude++Speed+++Lat+++++++Lon+++++++Track++Messages+Seen+.%0A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------]

It is midnight here, so I only saw one plane : ) Daytime will be a whole different story I imagine : )

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x88/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-cfb61a74-f34b-4310-95de-a967b6b74a69/1641.contentimage_5F00_176436.png:620:88]

EDIT: just saw a few more, approaching 1am, but these aircraft refused to supply lattitude/longitude - possibly cargo planes I guess.

RE: SDR and SBC: Cheap thrills with radio waves

shabaz — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 18:48:44 GMT

Hi Drew,

Great video, it really made it clear how this works! Impressive how well it works, and how quickly the data

started to fill up. - I'm looking forward to trying it now.