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osmocom Gnu Radio Blocks

While primarily being developed for the OsmoSDR hardware, this block as well supports:

By using the OsmoSDR block you can take advantage of a common software api in your application(s) independent of the underlying radio hardware.

Build process

*The Gnu Radio block requires gnuradio v3.9 if building master branch.

Before building the block you have to make sure that all the dependencies (see list of supported devices above) you are intend to work with are properly installed. The build system of gr-osmosdr will recognize them and enable specific source/sink components thereafter.

Please note: prior pulling a new version from git and compiling it, please do a "make uninstall" first to properly remove the previous version.

Building with cmake:

git clone https://git.osmocom.org/sdr/gr-osmosdr.git
cd gr-osmosdr/

then continue with

mkdir build
cd build/
cmake ../

Now cmake should print out a summary of enabled/disabled components. You may disable certain components by following guidelines shown by cmake. Make sure the device of your interest is listed here. Check your dependencies and retry otherwise.

-- ######################################################
-- # gr-osmosdr enabled components                         
-- ######################################################
--   * Python support
--   * Osmocom IQ Imbalance Correction
--   * sysmocom OsmoSDR
--   * FUNcube Dongle
--   * FUNcube Dongle Pro+
--   * IQ File Source
--   * Osmocom RTLSDR
--   * RTLSDR TCP Client
--   * Ettus USRP Devices
--   * Osmocom MiriSDR
--   * HackRF Jawbreaker
--   * nuand bladeRF
--   * RFSPACE Receivers
-- 
-- ######################################################
-- # gr-osmosdr disabled components                        
-- ######################################################
-- 
-- Building for version: v0.1.0-4-g37aba331 / 0.1.1git
-- Using install prefix: /usr/local

Now build & install

make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

NOTE: The osmocom source/sink blocks will appear under 'Sources' and 'Sinks' categories in GRC menu.

To build the API documentation:

cd build/
cmake ../ -DENABLE_DOXYGEN=1
make -C docs

Automated installation

Marcus D. Leech has kindly integrated the forementioned build steps into his gnuradio installation script at "This is the most user-friendly option so far.

Device specification

You can specify the source or sink device using a comma separated string of argument=value pairs. The always-up-to-date block documentation with examples is available [http://cgit.osmocom.org/gr-osmosdr/tree/grc/gen_osmosdr_blocks.py#n100 right here":http://www.sbrac.org/files/build-gnuradio]..

FCD Source

Argument Notes
fcd=<device-index> 0-based device identifier, optional
device=hw:2 overrides the audio device
type=2 selects the dongle type, 1 for Classic, 2 for Pro+

The "device" argument overrides the audio device used by the underlying driver to access the dongle's IQ sample stream.

The "type" argument selects the dongle type, 1 for Classic, 2 for Pro+.

IQ File Source

Argument Notes
file=<path-to-file-name>
freq=<frequency> Center frequency in Hz, accepts scientific notation
rate=<sampling-rate> Mandatory, in samples/s, accepts scientific notation
repeat=true|false Default is true
throttle=true|false Throttle flow of samples, default is true

OsmoSDR Source

Argument Notes
osmosdr=<device-index> 0-based device identifier
buffers=<number-of-buffers> Default is 32
buflen=<length-of-buffer> Default is 256kB, must be multiple of 512

RTL-SDR Source

Argument Notes
rtl=<device-index> 0-based device identifier OR serial number
rtl_xtal=<frequency> Frequency (Hz) used for the RTL chip, accepts scientific notation
tuner_xtal=<frequency> Frequency (Hz) used for the tuner chip, accepts scientific notation
buffers=<number-of-buffers> Default is 32
buflen=<length-of-buffer> Default is 256kB, must be multiple of 512
direct_samp=0|1|2 Enable direct sampling mode on the RTL chip. 0: Disable, 1: use I channel, 2: use Q channel
offset_tune=0|1 Enable offset tune mode for E4000 tuners

NOTE: use rtl_eeprom -s to program your own serial number to the device

NOTE: if you don't specify rtl_xtal/tuner_xtal, the underlying driver will use 28.0MHz

RTL-SDR TCP Source

Argument Notes
rtl_tcp=<hostname>:<port> hostname defaults to "localhost", port to "1234"
psize=<payload-size> Default is 16384 bytes
direct_samp=0|1|2 Enable direct sampling mode on the RTL chip 0=Off, 1=I-ADC input enabled, 2=Q-ADC input enabled
offset_tune=0|1 Enable offset tune mode for E4000 tuners

Miri Source

Argument Notes
miri=<device-index> 0-based device identifier
buffers=<number-of-buffers> Default is 32

SDRplay Source

The sdrplay source uses a precompiled (closed source) library available from http://www.sdrplay.com/api_drivers.html to interface with the hardware. To enable this nonfree driver you have to call cmake with the additional parameter -DENABLE_NONFREE=TRUE

Argument Notes
sdrplay Use this argument without a value

UHD Source / Sink

Argument Notes
uhd Use this argument without a value
nchan=<channel-count> For multichannel USRP configurations use the subdev parameter to specify stream mapping
subdev=<subdev-spec> Examples: "A:0", "B:0", "A:0 B:0" when nchan=2. Refer original ettus documentation on this
lo_offset=<frequency> Offset frequency in Hz, must be within daughterboard bandwidth. Accepts scientific notation

Additional argument/value pairs will be passed to the underlying driver, for more information see
specifying the subdevice and
common device identifiers in the Ettus documentation.

bladeRF Source / Sink

Arguments that affect both the source & sink (i.e., the underlying device), when applied to either are marked bold.

Argument Notes
bladerf[=instance|serial] Selects the specified bladeRF device by a 0-indexed "device instance" count or by the device's serial number. 3 or more characters from the serial number are required. If 'instance' or 'serial' are not specified, the first available device is used.
fpga=<'/path/to/the/bitstream.rbf'> Load the FPGA bitstream from the specified file. This is required only once after powering the bladeRF on. If the FPGA is already loaded, this argument is ignored, unless 'fpga-reload=1' is specified.
fpga-reload=1 Force the FPGA to be reloaded. Requires fpga=<bitrstream> to be provided to have any effect.
buffers=<count> Number of sample buffers to use. Increasing this value may alleviate transient timeouts, with the trade-off of added latency. This must be greater than the 'transfers' parameter. Default=32
buflen=<count> Length of a sample buffer, in samples (not bytes). This must be a multiple of 1024. Default=4096
transfers=<count> Number of in-flight sample buffer transfers. Defaults to one half of the 'buffers' count.
stream_timeout_ms=<timeout> Specifies the timeout for the underlying sample stream. Default=3000.
loopback=<mode> Configure the device for the specified loopback mode (disabled, baseband, or RF). See the libbladeRF documentation for descriptions of these available options: none, bb_txlpf_rxvga2, bb_txlpf_rxlpf, bb_txvga1_rxvga2, bb_txvga1_rxlpf, rf_lna1, rf_lna2, rf_lna3. The default mode is 'none'.
verbosity=<level> Controls the verbosity of output written to stderr from libbladeRF. The available options, from least to most verbose are: silent, critical, error, warning, info, debug, verbose. The default level is determined by libbladeRF.
xb200[=filter] Automatic filter selection will be enabled if no value is given to the xb200 parameter. Otherwise, a specific filter may be selected per the list presented below.
smb=<frequency> Enable frequency output on SMB connector (named CLK)
tamer=[internal,external,external_1pps] Set one of the clock input modes
The following values are valid for the xb200 parameter:
"custom"  : custom band
"50M"     :  50MHz band
"144M"    : 144MHz band
"222M"    : 222MHz band
"auto3db" : Select fiterbank based on -3dB filter points
"auto"    : Select filerbank based on -1dB filter points (default)

gr-osmosdr <-> bladeRF gain mappings

Sink:
BB Gain: TX VGA1 [-35, -4]
IF Gain: N/A
RF Gain: TX VGA2 [0, 25]

Source:
RF Gain: LNA Gain {0, 3, 6}
IF Gain: N/A
BB Gain: : RX VGA1 + RX VGA2 [5, 60]

HackRF Source / Sink

Argument Notes
hackrf=<device-index> 0-based device identifier OR serial number
bias=0|1 Disable or enable antenna bias voltage in receive mode (source)
bias_tx=0|1 Disable or enable antenna bias voltage in transmit mode (sink)
buffers=<number-of-buffers> Default is 32

You can specify either hackrf=0 and hackrf=1 to select by a device index, or the serial number (or an unique suffix of a serial number), hackrf=f00d and hackrf=1234abba. hackrf_info lists multiple devices and their serial numbers. Device selection by serial number tail ("hackrf=beeff00d") requires updated hackrf firmware. The firmware changes have been in the hackrf git master, but there's no official firmware binary published yet (02.06.2015).

Beware of a little catch, there are some examples floating on the net with "hackrf=1" as the device argument. Device index numbers are 0-based (like with rtlsdr and other drivers), so you'll have to use hackrf=0 if you only have a single device attached, hackrf=1 would be the second device. Before this patch the hackrf gr-osmosdr driver did not care about the parameter at all.

Transmit support has been verified by using the crc-mmbTools DAB sdr transmitter.

RFSPACE Source

Argument Notes
sdr-iq[=<serial-port>] Optional parameter, serial-port defaults to the serial port (like /dev/ttyUSB0) used by first detected SDR-IQ
sdr-ip[=<hostname>][:<port>] Optional parameters, hostname defaults to "localhost", port to "50000" or the first detected SDR-IP
netsdr[=<hostname>][:<port>] Optional parameters, hostname defaults to "localhost", port to "50000" or the first detected NetSDR
nchan=<channel-count> Optional parameter for NetSDR, must be 1 or 2

The SDR-IP/NetSDR discovery protocol (UDP broadcast) is implemented, thus specifying the ip & port should not be neccessary. Note: for the receiver to operate properly it is required that the UDP packets (port 50000) carrying the sample data can reach your PC, therefore configure your firewall/router/etc. accordingly...

The ftdi_sio driver is being used for SDR-IQ. It creates a character device of the form:

crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188, 0 Dec 19 22:14 /dev/ttyUSB0

To be able to open the device without root permissions add yourself to the "dialout" group or do a "chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0" after pluggin in.

AirSpy Source

Argument Notes
airspy Use this argument without a value
bias=1|0 Enable or disable DC bias at the antenna input
pack=1|0 Enable or disable packed USB transmission

Included Apps

Spectrum Browser

{{thumbnail(fft-lte.png)]]

RTSA-like spectrum visualization is available through fosphor component. Call osmocom_fft with -F switch to enable it (a graphics card supporting OpenCL/OpenGL interop is a requirement).

LTE carrier

GSM900 band

usage examples:

osmocom_fft -a rtl=0 -v -f 100e6 -s 2.4e6 -g 15
osmocom_fft -a rfspace -v
osmocom_fft -a bladerf -v
osmocom_fft -a hackrf -v
osmocom_fft -a uhd -v
osmocom_fft -a airspy -v

DC offset and IQ imbalance correction controls may be enabled using --dc-offset-mode=0 and --iq-balance-mode=0 command line switches respectively.

Signal generator

osmocom_siggen producing a GSM waveform

osmocom_siggen running the GSM waveform on a HackRF

usage examples:

osmocom_siggen -a hackrf -f 100e6 --sine
osmocom_siggen -a hackrf -f 100e6 --sweep -x 2M -y 1 -c34
osmocom_siggen_nogui -a hackrf -f 100e6 --sweep -x 2e6 -y 10 -v
osmocom_siggen_nogui -a uhd,subdev=A:0 -f 100e6 --sweep -x 2e6 -y 10 -s 4e6 -v
osmocom_siggen -a bladerf -f 1G --sweep -x 4M -y 1 -s 4M

Spectrum sensing

TODO: document

Known Apps

The following 3rd party applications are successfully using gr-osmosdr:

Name Type Author URL
gr-pocsag GRC Flowgraph Marcus Leech https://www.cgran.org/browser/projects/gr-pocsag/trunk
multimode RX GRC Flowgraph Marcus Leech https://www.cgran.org/browser/projects/multimode/trunk
simple_fm_rvc GRC Flowgraph Marcus Leech https://www.cgran.org/browser/projects/simple_fm_rcv/trunk
Wireless Temp. Sensor RX Gnuradio App Kevin Mehall https://github.com/kevinmehall/rtlsdr-433m-sensor
gqrx SDR GUI Alexandru Csete https://github.com/csete/gqrx
tetra_demod_fft Trunking RX osmocom team https://gitea.osmocom.org/tetra/osmo-tetra/src/branch/master/src/demod/osmosdr-tetra_demod_fft.py and the HOWTO
airprobe GSM sniffer osmocom team et al http://git.gnumonks.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=airprobe.git
gr-smartnet (WIP) Trunking RX Nick Foster http://www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/us3yo/rtlsdr_smartnet/ Notes from the author
gr-air-modes ADS-B RX Nick Foster https://www.cgran.org/wiki/gr-air-modes call with --rtlsdr option
gr-ais (fork) AIS RX Nick Foster, Antoine Sirinelli, Christian Gagneraud https://github.com/chgans/gr-ais
GNSS-SDR GPS/Galileo RX (Realtime!) Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya Documentation and http://gnss-sdr.org
gr-scan Scanner techmeology http://www.techmeology.co.uk/gr-scan/
pocsag-mrt Multichannel Realtime Decoder iZsh https://github.com/iZsh/pocsag-mrt
osmo-gmr-rtl GMR1 RX Dimitri Stolnikov https://osmocom.org/projects/gmr/wiki/GettingStarted#RTL-SDR-dongles
simple_ra Radio Astronomy App Marcus Leech https://cgran.org/wiki/simple_ra
FS20_decode FS20 Decoder Thomas Frisch https://github.com/eT0M/rtl_sdr_FS20_decoder
OpenLTE (NEW) LTE Toolkit Ben Wojtowicz http://sourceforge.net/p/openlte/home/Home/
sdrangelove (NEW) SDR GUI Christian Daniel http://sdrangelove.org
gr-dvbt (NEW) DVB-T Transmitter & Receiver Bogdan Diaconescu Blog Post https://github.com/BogdanDIA/gr-dvbt bladeRF transmit flowgraph

Credits

gr-osmosdr is developed by Dimitri Stolnikov with contributions from Hoernchen, Steve Markgraf, Sylvain Munaut and Nuand LLC folks. {{>toc}}

Files (7)
hackrf-siggen.png View hackrf-siggen.png 79.1 KB signal generator app horiz0n, 05/26/2013 11:15 AM
hackrf-dab.jpg View hackrf-dab.jpg 127 KB HackRF transmitting DAB signal generated by crc-mmbTools horiz0n, 05/26/2013 11:18 AM
fft-lte.png View fft-lte.png 55.8 KB osmocom_fft showing LTE signal captured with HackRF Jawbreaker horiz0n, 06/15/2013 08:00 AM
siggen-gsm.png View siggen-gsm.png 26.9 KB osmocom_siggen producing a GSM waveform horiz0n, 06/15/2013 08:01 AM
fosphor.png View fosphor.png 433 KB LTE carrier horiz0n, 10/26/2013 10:09 AM
fosphor2.png View fosphor2.png 480 KB GSM900 band horiz0n, 10/26/2013 10:10 AM
gsm-hackrf-8M.png View gsm-hackrf-8M.png 9.69 KB osmocom_siggen running the GSM waveform on a HackRF horiz0n, 12/30/2013 03:42 PM

Updated by laforge over 1 year ago · 98 revisions

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