Remote SDR V2

Obsolete. Go here now.

“Remote SDR” is a web application allowing to remotely control an amateur radio transceiver between 1 MHz and 6 GHZ. Its first application was the duplex control of a station allowing links to the geostationary satellite QO-100 / Es’Hail 2.

Version 2 offers new features:

  • Processing of Adalm-Pluto SDR in addition to HackRF or RTL-SDR
  • Reception in NBFM, WBFM, AM in addition to SSB
  • Transmission in NBFM or SSB
  • Spectral analysis on 2048 points instead of 1024.
  • Transmitter modulation compressor
  • CTCSS encoder
  • DTMF encoder
  • Programmable frequency shift for relays

The set is made up of:

  • a reception channel: SDR (Software Design Radio)
  • a transmission channel: SDR
  • one or 2 Orange PI or Raspberry Pi 4 single board computer for signal processing and web server
  • from a PC, a tablet, or even a smartphone, controlling everything with “Remote SDR” running on a web browser like Chrome or Edge.

COMPACT CONFIGURATION WITH AN ADALM-PLUTO – OPI One plus – ETHERNET

Remote SDR – Adalm-Pluto – Opi One Plus

COMPACT CONFIGURATION WITH AN ADALM-PLUTO – Raspberry 4 – ETHERNET

Remote SDR – Adalm Pluto –Raspberry 4

COMPACT CONFIGURATION WITH AN ADALM-PLUTO – OPI ZERO 2 – WIFI

 Remote SDR – Adalm Pluto – Opi Zero 2 – Wifi

Interesting solution with the new Orange Pi Zero 2 which allows a WIFI connection to the HF part

MIXED HACKRF AND RTL-SDR CONFIGURATION – Raspberry pi 4

CONFIGURATION 2 HACK RF ONE

Remote SDR – 2 HackRF One – Raspberry 4B

These configurations make it possible to locate the HF part near the antennas, which is essential for links above GHz. In the transmission chain, amplifiers must be added to bring the HF signal to the desired level as well as filtering to ensure that unwanted lines are not emitted. The SDR of the reception chain can be either an RF Hack, an RTL-SDR or a Pluto depending on the frequency band you want to cover. Not all RTL-SDR models cover the same band. The transmission reception is carried out in full-duplex which is essential during satellite connection to hear the return of its own signal.

The “Orange Pi” are processors similar to the Raspberry Pi running under the Armbian or Debian Operating System. In 2020 I used the Orange Pi One Plus, now in 2021 the Orange Pi Zero 2 also offers a 64-bit / 4-core processor, but also an ethernet or WiFi connection. They serve as a web server and perform radio signal processing. In all the configurations presented above, you can use an Orange Pi One Plus or the recent Orange Pi Zero 2.

Note: it seems that as of this day (July 2021), the Orange Pi One Plus is no longer on sale. The Orange Pi Zero 2 remains available and replace perfectly the Orange Pi One Plus. The Raspberry Pi 4 with a 2 GB memory is a good alternative.

Example Transceiver QO-100

Example UHF Transceiver – Wifi – Orange Pi Zero 2

New configuration with the Orange Pi Zero 2 which allows communication via WIFI. No more wired Ethernet connection, only 220v near the transceiver.

432 MHz Experimental Transceiver

Note , you need a USB hub between the Pluto and the Orange PI One Plus (not for the Orange Pi Zero 2). This corresponds to a system bug that I cannot explain.

Key points of Remote SDR

In addition to being able to locate the HF treatment near the antennas, other points should be noted such as:

Data Flow reduction

An SDR like the Pluto requires 1.4 M samples / s (minimum) * 2 Bytes (16 bits) * 2 channels (I and Q) = 5.6 M Bytes / s for reception. The same for the transmission. Which gives us more than 10M bytes / second.

With Remote SDR, the output on Ethernet or in Wifi requires:

  • 10 k samples / s * 2 bytes for the receiver audio
  • 10.24 k sample / s * 2 bytes for the receiver spectrum
  • 10 k samples / s * 2 bytes for transmiter audio
    We are at less than 100 k bytes / s by adding the control data.

There is therefore a reduction of approximately 100 in the communication flow required, which facilitates remote control via internet / ethernet without loss of quality through data compression.

The mini remote computer

Indeed, we have a remote computer which has a GPIO to which it is possible to add functions. For example, controlling an antenna rotor, measuring electrical voltages, temperatures, etc.. It is possible to access the system via the web (Apache server), in SSH to launch an application in terminal mode, or in graphical mode by desktop and VNC.

Source Code and Image

The source code and the image for an Orange Pi One Plus are available on Github https://github.com/F1ATB/Remote-SDR .

Posts describing Remote-SDR

F1ATB André

Ham Radio - Home automation - Photovoltaic

You may also like...

21 Responses

  1. Josep says:

    Fantastic system, very reliable and simple to be in the air via QO100 with great reliability and excellent quality, the man-machine interface is very intuitive and fast to operate, congratulations for the excellent design.

    • F1ATB André says:

      Thank you. Have fun with your installation. I will add new features in the coming months.

  2. Béla Mucs says:

    I built it, it works very well. All that I could not figure out how to enable the CTCSS encoder for TX. Any suggestion is very welcome.

    • F1ATB André says:

      Béla, good remark,I have updated the Tips page to explain you can set the CTCSS in the configurationTX.js file

  3. Jeff says:

    I am wondering if a mixed setup could be used for Amsat LEO birds? (144/435) Would need inverting transponder support and some type of freq. tracking to easily support Doppler.
    TY!
    …or allow frequency control from Gpredict.

    • F1ATB André says:

      First, a mixed setup, 144/432 MHz works perfectly with RemoteSDR.
      To invert USB/LSB for a transponder, I put it on my To Do list for a next release.
      For the tracking in frequency, I have to think of it to find a good solution.
      73
      F1ATB

    • F1ATB André says:

      The inversion LSB/USB between RX and TX is available now in version 2.5

  4. Lou KI5FTY says:

    Hi doe this osftware support the Pluto Plus? Is so does it support the 20Mhz bandwidth?

  5. Derek says:

    Awesome development. I’m inspired to write GNU Radio decoders.

    Is there an opportunity to support LimeSDR and Ettus USRP SDR?

    It would also be great for the system to be able to connect to an existing SoapySDR Server.

  6. Leigh Porter says:

    Does it have to be on a Pi, or will it compile on an x86 system?
    Thanks!

  7. Hans says:

    How to change tx settings like 27mhz /11m

    • F1ATB André says:

      In the 2 configuration files, configurationRX.js and configurationTX.js, you can define your prefered bands.

  8. F1ATB André says:

    Now (September 2022) Remote SDR exits in version 5.07
    Upgrade your description.
    Regards
    André

  1. 7 June 2021

    […] Nastavenie a sprevádzkovanie takejto remote station si vyžaduje určité skúsenosti. Dokumentáciu, postupy a ukážky nájdete na https://f1atb.fr/index.php/2021/05/03/remote-sdr-v2-2/ […]

  2. 10 June 2021

    […] his latest YouTube video Tech Minds explains and demonstrates Remote SDR V2, which is software that allows you to easily remotely access either a PlutoSDR, HackRF or RTL-SDR […]

  3. 7 September 2021

    […] Remote SDR V2 is software that allows you to easily remotely access either a PlutoSDR, HackRF or RTL-SDR software defined radio. It was originally designed to be used with the amateur radio QO-100 satellite, but version 2.0 includes multiple demodulation modes, NBFM/SSB transmission capability, CTCSS and DTMF encoders, modulation compression and a programmable frequency shift for relays. […]

  4. 9 October 2021

    […] der Seite von F1ATB (Andre) findet man ausführlich Erklärungen zu diesem […]

  5. 11 August 2022

    […] Remote SDR V2 – F1ATB […]

  6. 16 December 2023

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here: f1atb.fr/index.php/2021/05/03/remote-sdr-v2-2/ […]