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RoadTest POLL: Would You Be Interested in Roadtesting an SDR Active Learning Module

rscasny

ADALM-PLUTOI am getting to launch a roadtest on an active learning module used to learn the fundamentals of software-defined radio (SDR), radio frequency (RF), and wireless communications.

I wanted to gauge your interest in this roadtest.

Here's a some info on the product:

ADALM-PLUTO is a software-defined radio active learning module. The easy to use ADALM-PLUTO active learning module (PlutoSDR) helps introduce the fundamentals of software-defined radio (SDR), radio frequency (RF) and wireless communications.

Here are some features:

  • Portable self-contained RF learning module
  • Cost-effective experimentation platform
  • Based on Analog Devices AD9363--Highly Integrated RF Agile Transceiver and Xilinx® Zynq Z-7010 FPGA
  • RF coverage from 325MHz to 3.8GHz, up to 20MHz of instantaneous bandwidth
  • Flexible rate, 12bit ADC and DAC, GNU Radio sink and source blocks
  • MATLAB®, Simulink® support, libiio, a C, C++, C# and Python API
  • One transmitter and one receiver, half or full duplex
  • USB 2.0 powered Interface with Micro-USB 2.0 connector
  • High quality plastic enclosure

Here are some docs:

datasheet 
product overview
user guides 

For more information

Here's the poll questions:

Parents Reply Children
  • in reply to robogary

    Hi Gary,

    All the above is free/open source stuff, except the MATLAB item (and its associated Simulink).

    MATLAB has a free evaluation for 1 month. It is also available for for home use at about $120, perpetual license, which is a lot lower than its usual cost! however if you're planning to go down the purchase route (it's not essential to use the SDR, but it is highly desirable for all sorts of work), then I'd strongly recommend discussing it in say a forum post, because there are some important things to keep in mind (to save costs). Also, sometimes MATLAB type work can be done for free in Python, but it's not the same, MATLAB has been heavily used for decades and so there are lots of examples that would work directly with MATLAB, but would need porting if Python was used. 

    Finally, there's another option called GNU Octave, that is free too, but it would probably need some work (in programming language of choice) to "connect" to the data to/from the ADALM PLUTO. For instance, Python could do it.

    The ADALM PLUTO documentation gives examples using different methods, so you could try the MATLAB examples if desired prior to purchasing MATLAB (in case you end up preferring using say GNU RADIO (which is building-block style) or Python or C etc.

  • in reply to shabaz

    I think that Matlab integration could be an interesting topic but I am not sure if it can be licensed for a manageable amount of money - from what I have learned by quickly checking, not only Matlab home license needs to be bought, but also (at least) Communications Toolbox, which in turn requires DSP System Toolbox and Signal Processing Toolbox add-ons. And I don't know if it is enough to have usable installation or any additional add-ons are recommended?