I am thinking about putting SDR on a single board computer.
I have tried the RPi 2, and it just doesn’t have the oomph to run a waterfall program (like gqrx or some other SDR program) on it.
Does the beaglebone black have the oomph to do that. I want something that will run it all. Not having to stream to the internet and pick it up on a desktop.
Has anybody done this reasonable well on the BBB?
Hi Jerry;
If you search for “BBB + spectrum analyzer” , you will find some ports to the Beaglebone White.
Using a TV tuner USB dongle and a 7” LCD cape and GnuRadio
Jerry,
For an intro book I’m writing on the BBB (imminent pub date), I’ve worked up some tutorials using an SDR dongle, and have been pretty successful with the following:
Dump1090 - Plane tracking
GPredict - Sat tracking with this venerable package. On this one, I’ve been really interested in what the team at SatNogs (https://satnogs.org/) have been doing in creating a worldwide tracking network. Their basic assumption is that operators will be using low-cost dongles. FWIW, they’re doing hardware (antennna and rotor and controllers) + software (either GPredict or a custom, open source build of theirs using Django/Python).
KD0CQ’s image - huge time-saving Ubuntu image from this blogger, which contains a medley of SDR packages and their libraries. Available here: http://www.kd0cq.com/2014/08/packed-full-beaglebone-black-img-file-rtl-sdr-gnuradio-gqrx-lots-more-on-ubuntu-14-04/.
For all the above, I’ve got WIP drafts (mostly finished), and could send abbreviated steps in a day or two if that’d be useful to you.
I haven’t, yet, had a chance to set aside a dedicated BBB as a long term, tracking device, so I can’t say for sure how it would perform over time. Seems promising, though, and worth the effort.
Charles Hamilton
Thanks, Charles that sounds great. I also bought an upconvertor to get it to ham bands.
I am currently on vacation, but will be home in about a week, so could start this soon.
Jerry