Software Defined

Radio Project
James Flynn
Sharlene Katz

Overview
  Independent Study / Graduate Projects
  Summer Calendar
  What is Software Defined Radio?
  Advantages of Software Defined Radio
  Traditional versus SDR Receivers
  SDR and the USRP
  Preparation for Next Meeting
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 2

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Independent Study/Projects
  Fall – Independent Study – Timing
  Summer/Fall schedule
  Meeting times – every two weeks
  Goals
  Presentations
  Projects

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 3

What is Software Defined

Radio (SDR)?
•  A new technology for implementing radio
communications systems
•  Art and science of building radios using
software
•  Eliminating hardware and moving software as
close to the antenna as possible

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 4

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Current SDR Applications
  Military
  Agile, robust and secure communications systems
  Radar and Threat detection
  Electronic Intelligence (ELINT)

  Radio Astronomy
  Amateur Radio

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 5

Future SDR Applications

  Personal Communications
  Cell phones
  Wi Fi
  Entertainment distribution
  Public Safety
  Remote Sensing
  Communications
  Information, graphics
  Voice

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 6

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Future SDR Applications
  Broadcasting
  Digital Radio
  Digital Television

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 7

Advantages of SDR

4
No more standards
  Historical Problems with standards
  Inertia
  AM to FM Stereo Broadcasting
  AM to SSB communications
  AM to FM communications
  Black and White to Color Television
  Analog Color Television to HDTV
  AM/FM Analog to HD radio broadcasting

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 9

No more standards
  Interoperability problem solved
  Military
  Example: Operation Market Garden
  Public Safety
  Example: 9/11
  Modes and operation tailored to individual
needs rather than choosing from a few
standards.

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 10

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Reliability
  Fewer components = less failures
  Remote repair/update.
  No aging.
  No environmental drift.
  Temperature
  Humidity
  Vibration
  No alignment issues.

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 11

The sky’s the limit…

  “Smart” radio technology
  Encoding, processing and decoding not constrained
by component limitations.
  More efficient use of limited spectrum.
  Users always have the latest, best implementation.
  Automated, plug-and-play systems.
  Features tailored for individual, time-variable
preferences/needs.

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 12

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 Traditional Receiver
|fLO-fc|
RF fc fLO+fc IF Demod-
x
Amplifier Amplifier ulator
fLO
10 KHz
10 KHz
Local
f (KHz)
Oscillator 5
10 KHz
f (KHz)
f (KHz) 455
530 980 1700
f (KHz)
10 KHz 455
fLO=1435 KHz

f (KHz)
530 980 1700

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 13

Disadvantages of the
Traditional Receiver
  Simple modulation / demodulation only
  Limited implementation of filters

  Alignment

  Aging

  Complexity

  Fixed design: frequency/mode

  Non linearity – unwanted signals

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 14

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 Traditional vs. SDR Receiver
Receiver Front End

Traditional RF IF Demod-
x
/ Amplifier Amplifier ulator
Hardware Local
Receiver Oscillator

Current
SDR Receiver Front End ADC Software
Receiver

Future
SDR
ADC Software
Receiver ?
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 15

SDR Receiver Using the USRP

Daughterboard Motherboard

Receiver USB
ADC FPGA PC
Front End Controller

Decimation, GNU Radio

similar to traditional
MUX, + software
front end with fIF = 0
Interface to PC

USRP: Universal Software Radio Peripheral

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 16

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 Quadrature Signal
Representation
The received signal, S(t), may be represented as follows:
S(t) = I(t)cos(2π fct) + Q(t)sin(2π fct)
fc = carrier frequency

I(t) = in-phase component Contain amplitude

and phase
Q(t) = quadrature component information of
baseband signal
• GNU Radio software uses I and Q components to
demodulate signals

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 17

Extracting I(t) from S

S(t) = I(t)cos(2π fct) + Q(t)sin(2π fct)
Multiplying both sides by cos(2πfct):

S(t)cos(2π fct) = I(t)cos 2 (2π fct) + Q(t)sin(2π fct)cos(2π fct)

I(t) Q(t)
=
2
[1 + cos(4π fct)] +
2
[sin(4π fct) + sin(0)]
1 1 1
= I(t) + I(t)cos(4π fct) + + Q(t)sin(4π fct)
2 2 2
Applying this signal to a low pass filter, the output will be:
1
I(t)
2
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 18

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 Extracting Q(t) from S
S(t) = I(t)cos(2π fct) + Q(t)sin(2π fct)

Multiplying both sides by sin(2πfct):

S(t)sin(2π fct) = I(t)cos(2π fct)sin(2π fct) + Q(t)sin 2 (2π fct)
I(t) Q(t)
=
2
[ sin(4π fct) − sin(0)] +
2
[1 − cos(4π fct)]
1 1 1
= I(t)sin(4π fct) + Q(t) − Q(t)cos(4π fct)
2 2 2
Applying this signal to a low pass filter, the output will be:
1
Q(t)
2
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 19

USRP Receiver Front End

x LPF I
fc
RF LO
Amplifier
(0 – 20 dB) 90°

x LPF Q

USRP front end translates the signal to zero frequency

and extracts I and Q
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 20

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 Analog to Digital Converter
(ADC)
  12 bit A/D Converter (212 levels)
  2 volt peak-peak maximum input
  64 Msamp/second
∆t

ADC

Sampling Interval: Quantization Levels:

1 2
Δt = = 0.0156µS Δv = = 0.488mV
July 10, 2008
64 × 10 6 212
Flynn/Katz - SDR 21

Decimation
  Original sampling rate is 64Msamp/sec
  Converts a portion of spectrum 32 MHz wide
  Generally we are interested is a narrower portion of the
spectrum requiring a lower sampling rate
  USB cannot handle that high data rate (up to 256 Mbps/32
MBps/8 M complex samp/sec
  Occurs in the FPGA of the USRP

fs = 64Msamp/sec fs = 64Msamp/sec fs = 500Ksamp/sec

64M
= 128
500K
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 22

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SDR Receiver with USRP
Daughterboard Motherboard

FPGA
USB
(Decimator,
ADC MUX, etc.) PC
Controller
Q

GNU Radio
Software

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 23

USRP - Motherboard/
Daughterboard

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 24

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GNU Radio Software
  Community-based project started in 1998
  GNU Radio application consists of sources (inputs), sinks
(outputs) and transform blocks
  Transform blocks: math, filtering, modulation/
demodulation, coding, etc.
  Sources: USRP, audio input, file input, signal generator,
…
  Sinks: USRP, audio output, file output, FFT, oscilloscope,
…
  Blocks written in C++
  Python scripts used to connect blocks and form application

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 25

Design of a Receiver

USRP GNU Radio Application

  USRP: Set frequency of local oscillator (receive

frequency), gain of amplifier, decimation factor
  GNU Radio application: use Python to specify
and connect blocks that perform demodulation
and decoding

July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 26

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Final Thoughts
  References: http://www.csun.edu/~skatz
  Go to: Areas of interest  Software Defined
Radio Project [Login: gnuradio password: usrp]
  Date of next meeting
  User list

  Preparation for next meeting

  Analog to Digital Converter (signal levels, sampling
rates, quantization levels, etc.)
  RFX 400 Daughterboard (how it works, signal levels,
TX and RX channels)
  FPGA (block diagram, what it includes, programming)
July 10, 2008 Flynn/Katz - SDR 27

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