GNU Radio

Max Hyre writes "Apropos (!= man -k :-) RIAA, web radio, and other such data-dispersal disagreements, here's a new way to do it your way: a fully software-driven radio receiver; just strap some off-the-shelf DAC hardware into a generic computer, and let the software do the rest. While I can just barely spell `sideband', this looks like it could be more fun than any set you ever had before, especially after those in the know build up some kewl apps for the great unwashed like me. They're also dreaming of GPS, cellular phones, &c.. My only gripe is that the web pages proper don't seem to have any cookbook recipes for the hardware; maybe that's in the docs with the source, or maybe this is strictly for the experienced, for now."

Comments

here is the first few lines of that Web site...

[Binary Tree]

Karma whoring, Anthony Boyd style:

In case of slashdot effect, here's the summary:

Introduction

GNU Radio is a collection of software that when combined with minimal hardware, allows the construction of radios where the actual waveforms transmitted and received are defined by software. What this means is that it turns the digital modulation schemes used in today's high performance wireless devices into software problems.

What is a Software Defined Radio?

Joe Mitoloa says, "A software radio is a radio whose channel modulation waveforms are defined in software. That is, waveforms are generated as sampled digital signals, converted from digital to analog via a wideband DAC and then possibly upconverted from IF to RF. The receiver, similarly, employs a wideband Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) that captures all of the channels of the software radio node. The receiver then extracts, downconverts and demodulates the channel waveform using software on a general purpose processor." [1]
For our purposes, on the receive side, the idea is to get a wide band ADC as close to the antenna as is convenient, get the samples into something we can program, and then grind on them in software.