SDR

(Soft Defined Radio)

Faculty of Engineering, Port-Said University

Aya Ellaban
Aya Elmosllamany
Ibrahim Ali Taha Eladawy
Mayar Ibrahiem
Mohammed Wael Dahab

ABSTRACT
This report provides an overview of the SDR (Software Defined Radio) technology, including
hardware schemes and application fields. A low performance device is presented, and several
tests are executed with it using free software. With the acquired experience, SDR employment
opportunities are identified for low-cost solutions that can solve significant problems. In
addition, a list of the most important frameworks related to the technology developed in the last
years is offered, recommending the use of three of them

Keywords: Software Defined Radio (SDR), radiofrequencies receiver, radiofrequencies

transmitter, radio development frameworks, superheterodyne receiver, SDR hardware devices,
SDR-Sharp, RTLSDR-Scanner.

I. INTRODUCTION
From the first wireless transmissions around 1890, radio transmission techniques have
continually evolved, providing users the possibility to stay connected with increasing
transmission rates. The triumphant radio era came first, in the mid-1930, at a time when limited
band widths were used for analog voice communications. Then, came the golden era of broadcast
transmission in the 50s with analogic television broadcasts that consumed more bandwidth but
provided a rich customer experience. As computers became smaller and more powerful, reaching
the 60s, they began to be useful as a communication media for long distances, using both wired
connectivity via ARPANET (which became later the Internet) and wireless satellite
ALOHANET.

Cell phones also emerged around this time, allowing users to establish wireless voice
communications from any public place or vehicle, although the original mobiles were hard to
operate and to travel with, given their volume and weight. Many modern phones are now almost
portable computers, providing access to both cellular networks and the Internet, and achieving
wireless communications at speeds that were unimaginable a generation ago.
 To the continuous progress in communications, it follows the advent of WLAN (Wireless
Local Area Networks) that were originated in 1985 controlled by the United States Federal
Communications Commission (FCC). The organization put together the not licensed spectrum
in three different regions to be used in the following applications: Industry (902-928 MHz),
Science (2400-2483.5 MHz) and Medicine (5725-5850 MHz). However, the original IEEE
standard for WLANs was not published until 1997. Taking advantage of these freedoms in the
spectrum, protocols such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth proliferated and are now a vital part of any
corporative network.

Despite the growth achieved by multiple technologies, an interesting and potentially

problematic issue common to all mentioned devices is that their radios and protocols are
mostly hardware based. Therefore, reprogramming or reconfiguration options are minimal, at
least regarding radio functions. This lack of flexibility is disturbing in the sense that if an error
occurs in the hardware, firmware, or software then generally there is no reasonable way to
correct the problem: the built-in vulnerabilities are not easy to remove. In fact, these devices
are commonly limited in their functionality to the hardware components and cannot be
reconfigured to perform other wireless protocols beyond what the hardware itself provides .
Precisely, the Software Defined Radio, subject of this article, aims to provide a solution to
many of the problems described along with many other benefits.

A. Soft Defined Radio

The Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a design paradigm for wireless communications
devices. Its creator, Joseph Mitola, defined the term in the early90s as an identifier of a class of
radios that could be reprogrammed and reconfigured through software . Mitola envisioned an
ideal Software Defined Radio, whose physical components were only an antenna and an Analog
Digital Converter (ADC) on the receiver side. Likewise, the transmitter would have a Digital
Analog Converter (DAC) and a transmitting antenna. The rest of the functions would be handled
by reprogrammable processors.

As the idea conceived in the 90sis still not achievable, and a sit will not be likely for some
time, the term SDR is used to describe a viable device that is primarily defined by software but
includes significant hardware components. Even with these components, the SDR receiver is
quite different from a traditional receiver.

B. Motivation and Objectives

SDR has evolved, like most technologies, from military to civilian environments. The first
operational SDR, known as Speakeasy, was developed by the United States' Navy between 1991
and 1995.Unfortunately, the application could not be used with other than the hardware for which
it was conceived. Also, another negative issue was the fact that the device fully occupied the
backside of a transport vehicle. His younger brother, Speakeasy II, achieved much greater
success mainly due to Software Defined Radio: Basic Principles and Applications advances in
electronics, wireless communications circuits, and reusable and modular programming
techniques.

A long way has been traveled from that first moment to the present. Today, both SDR software
and hardware are available at very low prices (in fact, most software implementations are free),
which invites to consider the introduction of the paradigm in radio solutions.
 Thus, the author establishes as the article's objective to make a review of SDR technology,
including hardware designs and application fields. In addition, he will show the operation of a
software defined radio device, identifying employment opportunities at very low-cost solutions
that can solve latent problems in common radio environments.

II. SDR HARDWARE

In this section, a theoretical review of hardware differences between traditional and SDR
receivers is performed at first, explaining also how the software defined transmission takes place.
Finally, a SDR device is shown setting the ground for the discussion of the technology's
applications in section 3.

A. Traditional Receiver

A traditional or typical receiver, besides the classic demodulation, performs three other
operations: (1) carrier frequency tuning to select the desired signal, (2) filter to separate it from
others received, and (3) amplification to compensate transmission losses. Moreover, an
amplification step is commonly placed before the demodulation block to carry the signal to an
acceptable level for the demodulator circuitry.

Most traditional receivers have used conventional heterodyne schemes for almost a century.
The superheterodyne internals blocks are shown in Fig. 1 . A basic understanding of the structure
is necessary to distinguish this conception from the new SDR receiver.

Fig. 1. Superheterodyne Receiver’s Internal Blocks.

In the previous scheme, after the signal enters through the antenna, it is typically amplified
by an RF stage that operates only in the frequencies of interest region. Then, the signal is passed
to the mixer which receives the local oscillator contribution by its other input. The local
oscillator's frequency is set by the radio's tuning control. The mixer is in charge of translating
the signal to the Intermediate Frequency (IF).
 Typically, the oscillator's frequency is set to a value that ensures that its difference from the
desired signal's frequency is equal to the IF. For example, if someone would like to receive a FM
station at 100.7MHz and the IF were 10.7MHz, the local oscillator should be placed at
90MHz.The operation is known as down conversion.

The next stage is a bandpass filter that attenuates every signal except a specific portion of the
spectrum. The bandwidth of this stage limits the band width of the signal that is being received.
Common center frequencies for the IF stage are 455 kHz and 10.7 MHz for commercial AM and
FM, respectively. Likewise, for commercial FM, the bandwidth is approximately 100 kHz and
for AM is above 5 kHz, consistent with the channel spacing that's 200kHz for AM and 10 kHz
for FM.

At the end, the demodulator recovers the original modulating signal from the IF amplifier's
output employing one of several alternatives. For example, for AM an envelope detector is used,
and for FM a frequencies discriminator. Further processing of the signal depends on the purpose
for which the receiver is intended. In a common home radio, the demodulated output is passed
to an audio amplifier that is connected to a speaker.

B. SDR Receiver
Fig. 2 shows the block diagram of a SDR receiver. At first, the RF tuner converts the analog
signal to IF, performing the same operation that the first three blocks of the superheterodyne
receiver. Up to this point the two schemes converge.

Fig. 2. Block Diagram of the SDR Receiver.

Next, the IF signal is passed to the ADC converter in charge of changing the signal's domain,
offering digital samples at its output. The samples are feed to the following stage's input which
is a Digital Down Converter (DDC). The DDC is commonly a monolithic chip, and it stands as
the key part of the SDR system. It consists of three main components: (1) a digital mixer, (2) a
digital local oscillator, and (3) a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) low-pass filter.
 The components operation is similar to their analog counterparts. The digital mixer and the
local oscillator shift the IF digital samples to baseband, while the FIR low-pass filter limits the
bandwidth of the final signal. For the implementation of each of its parts, the DDC includes a
high number of multipliers, adders, and shift registers.

Observe that the signals are transferred to their baseband equivalent at the digital mixer's
output by the disintegration into the I and Q counter phase components. If the tuning of the digital
local oscillator is modified, the desired signal can be shifted away or towards the point where it
reaches 0Hz. This variation, together with the bandwidth adjustment of the low-pass filter,
defines which part of the reception is treated as a useful signal.

Another procedure, known as decimation, is commonly performed for reducing the sampling
frequency or sample rate. Thus, the new sampling frequency in baseband results from the
division of the original sampling frequency by an N factor, called decimation factor. The final
sample rate can be as little as twice the highest frequency component of the useful signal, as
proposed by the well-known Nyquist theorem. Furthermore, practical approaches have shown
that reduction can be applied up to an extra 20% without significantly affecting the quality of the
result. This can be expressed numerically as is done in equation 1.

fb2=0.8fb=fs/N (1)

Where fb is the frequency at baseband, fs is the sampling frequency, N is the decimator factor
and fb2 is the new calculated baseband frequency after the decimation is applied.

Finally, the baseband samples are passed to the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) block, where
task such as demodulating and decoding are performed, among others.

The PDS block can be implemented in an FPGA if the system is to be adapted to a specific
application. However, PDS stages are commonly found within a general-purpose computer in
the form of specialized software if versatility is to be added to the solution.

C. SDR Transmitter
Although the most common SDR devices are receivers, the technology also includes
transmission schemes. The price of a SDR receiver can be as low as 20 USD, while the cost of
SDR transmitters/ receivers typically exceeds 300 USD. The SDR transmitter's structure is
explained below.

SDR transmitters receive a baseband signal as an input, typically generated by a DSP step as
it is shown in Fig. 3.
 Fig. 3. Block Diagram of a SDR transmitter

The first block is a Digital Up Converter (DUC) which transfers the baseband signal to IF.
The DAC that follows transform the samples to the analog domain. Next, the RF converter shifts
the signal towards higher frequencies. Finally, the signal is amplified and directed to the antenna.

Within the DUC, the Interpolation Filter is responsible for raising the baseband signal's
sample rate to match the operating frequency of the components that follow. Therefore, it
performs the Decimator's opposite operation in the receiver's architecture. Then, the digital mixer
and the local oscillator shift the samples to IF, the shift being controlled by the local oscillator.

D. RTL2831 Device
Once explained the structure of the SDR receiver and transmitter, it's now the turn to introduce
a SDR device. Later, in the section 3.3, some tests are carried out exploiting its functionalities
using free software.

As one of the cheapest offers in the market, RTL2831SDR receiver from Teratec
manufacturer is an excellent choice for a first approach to the technology. It operates in the VHF
and UHF bands, allowing the exploration of a considerable part of the spectrum used for national
broadcasts in various applications. It delivers to the DSP stage a spectral width of 3,2 MHz at
real time operation.

Although it comes equipped with a quite small antenna (customizable from 9 to 32cm), the
RTL2831 can be connected to other antennas with a better performance, adapted to the bands of
intended operation. Moreover, the device has an USB 2.0 port for communicating with the
computer, consistent with the spectral width that it handles. Devices able to monitor higher band-
widths are commonly connected through a traditional network cable.

A small list of the most popular SDR devices in the market is offered as a valuable reference
in table 1. Note that RTL2831 is the cheaper device.
 Table 1
Most relevant SDR Devices in the Market.

III. SDR SOFTWARE

While the hardware components are essentials in the SDR conception, the definition of the
paradigm it-self points out the necessity of complementary dedicated software. In this section, a
description of the main software tools that allows the SDR signal manipulation is offered.

Fig. 4. RTL2831 SDR Device.

A. SDR Frameworks
To operate a SDR device, from a personal computer or from an FPGA running Digital Signal
Processing, software is needed for enabling the interaction. However, before developing
software, a framework must be created providing low-level interface functions. Several attempts
have been made since1980. Most major efforts are listed below.

• The Software Radio (1980-1985)

• National Instruments - LabVIEW (1986 present)
• US Military - SPEAKKeasy I (1992-1995)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology - SpectrumWare (1994-1999)
• US Military - SPEAKeasy II (1995-1997)
• US Military - Joint Tactical Radio System (1997- present)
• Trinity College - IRIS (1999 - present)
• Vanu Software Radio (2001- present)
• GNU Radio (2001 - present)
• Flex-Radio SDR-1000 (2002-present)
• Tsao, SDR Framework (2002)
• Universidad de Kansas - Agile Radio (2003)
• California Institute of Technology - CallRadio (2005 - present)
• Rice - WARP (2006 - present)
• High Performance SDR (2006 - present)
• Virginia Tech - Open Source SCA Implementation (2006 - present)
• Lyrtech - Small Form Factor SDR (2007 present)
• Virginia Tech - Cognitive Engine (2007 present)
• HYDRA (2007)
• P-HAL (2008 - present)
• Microsoft - SORA (2009 - present)
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - MATLAB / Simulink/ USRP (2009)
• MathWorks - MATLAB / Simulink / USRP (2011 - present)

Though the above list is not complete, it illustrates the increasing popularity of the SDR
technology. Projects grouped by year are show in Fig. 5. Obviously, the number of emerging
frameworks has increased since 2000.
 Fig. 5. Number of Frameworks implemented by year.

Among the published list, there are three libraries that stand out for its frequent use in a great
amount of the current research papers. The first of them appear in 2001 and it was designed
exclusively for Linux operative system, but its popularity [4547] has extended its usage also to
Windows: GNU Radio2001.The other two operate exclusively on Windows and are based on
MATLAB mathematical software: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-
MATLAB/Simulink/USRP2009 and MathWorks- MATLAB/Simulink/USRP2011. Precisely
together with GNU Radio, MATLAB is the most used support in SDR investigations [48-50].
The Success of GNU Radio and MATLAB mainly reside in the fact that they provide easy to
handle tools for the manipulation of signals.

The duration over time of the above mentioned SDR frameworks is illustrated in Fig. 6. As it
can be seen, there is a growing tendency to stability in new projects.

B. SDR Uses
Once the SDR device is in communication with the personal computer, one can start looking
for uses of the technology, offering specific solutions. The concept of unified platform and the
ability to correct errors in real time are the classic applications of SDR. However, studies have
identified other significant applications, such as: Dynamic Spectrum Positioning, Opportunity
Driven Multiple Access (ODMA), Spectrum Regulation and Cost Reduction (some SDR
implementations are cheaper than its analogy counterpart).

A little beyond its traditional applications, the SDR philosophy begins to dawn on high-
impact areas within telecommunications. This is the case of Driver Assistance, GPS signals'
Reception, HF Propagation Analysis, Interpretation of Cellular Technology Emissions
particularly the OFDM modulation, and the Identification of Radio Frequency Emissions.

In other visionary fields, SDR experiments have provided encouraging results that motivate
to continue the investigations. Potential applications are being found in areas as diverse as
prototypes development, microscopic investigations of the strength of the magnetic resonance,
aviation tests, evaluation of multi-path communications, broadcast transmissions in multi-media
mobile environments, cooperative wireless networks diversity, crossings prototypes between
wireless networks layer, quantum optical communications and particularly in cognitive radio
research.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
SDR technology has many applications in radio environments and is becoming increasingly
popular among all type of users. While the first projects were unstable, there are currently a lot
of frameworks that allow the manipulation of radio signals only with a personal computer and
an inexpensive SDR device such as the Teratec RTL2831U. The applications are multiple.
Besides providing a very cheap radio receiver, SDR devices can be combined with free software
to facilitate examination of the spectrum, detection of interferences, assigning of frequency
distributions in an efficient manner, testing repeater systems' operation and measuring their
electrical parameters, identifying spectrum intruders and characterization of noise by bands and
regions of the world.

In addition, SDR versatility envisions its possible application in the improvement of

shortwave communications. Similarly, the continued growth of the SDR with worldwide
available receiving points announces the formation, in a not-too-distant future, of a vast network
through which it will be possible to listen to radio broadcast on any part of the world by using
Internet.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0121-11292015000100007 .