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Universal Software Radio Peripheral From GnuRadio
The Universal Software Radio Peripheral for GNURadio has now gone into production and is
available for purchase for $450. It used to be insanely expensive to acquire this
technical equipment. Now the price has dropped by two orders of magnitude, to something about as expensive as a high-end graphics card. How long will it be till it's labeled a terrorist tool and banned?
I don't know, allow me to contact the Office of Homeland Security and inform them about this device and find out...
(Just kidding)
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
It just happened. At least for those who know enough to use Google, but don't have enough common sense to handle context issues. Which sounds remarkably like those congressfolk who go around labeling things terrorist tools. Except for the knowing how to use Google bit.
No, it GNU/runs GNU/Linux.
Regards,
RMS
Le français vous intéresse?
Not long. Government likes banning things. Next thing on the list: a hammer. Since it can be used for terroristic activites.
Neither of the links provided are much help.
Real programmers use "copy con program.exe"
Yep, I can see all the slashdot readers going out and getting this... with all of the other VME stuff we have.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
How long will it be till it's labeled a terrorist tool and banned?
When HAM radio is?
Seriously, what kind of commentary is this, especially with the FCC giving unprecedented amounts of frequency bandwidth back to the public?
Couldn't the article have done just as well without the last sentence?
Well, since neither link in the submission actually explains what it does, I think whatever-it-is is safe from being labeled a terrorist tool. :)
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
Two orders of magnitude? Did it really cost $45,000? And what's with the terrorist comment?
Is this just a radio tuner card for PCs?
This is great news : software defined radios are über-cool and the Gnuradio project is quite promising. I hope that someone will soon package it with enclosure and daughtercards and market it to people who are not willing to do the seemingly required hardware assembly.
This looks like an excellent step towards a turn-key software defined radio but I have a dumb question:
Why go with usb2.0 as the interface instead of pci or multiple usb2.0 connectors (is the usb 2.0 bandwidth limit a total value or a per/channel value?) I know you want to isolate the radio receiver from all the RF noise inside the PC but there are giga-sample a/d cards that go inside boxes already... Just wondering
It's apparently a general purpose software decoder of digital signals; decode DTV at a software level, apply software filters to analog audio, basically thru programming replicate all those arcane things done in both analog and digital radio/tv/shortwave signals.
My favorite quote ever: #137692 +(191)- [X]
:)
Procyon> I don't know the world around me!
Procyon> I'm scared, and confused!
DS> have you felt a strong desire to vote for george w. bush recently?
Same with terrorism, it sucks. But the politicians should stop banning random stuff out of fear - i want people to start using their brains, for once. In the US they already slashed constitutional rights, and want me to give my fingerprints and digital foto when i travel into US. Forget it!
Too bad the US has influence on the world - the EU is aching to introduce similar laws, what country can i migrate too now?
...was the previous price really 10x10x450=$45K?
Wow...that's some cost reduction.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
The text claims the limiting factor is the USB2 bus but when you get into the details of the circuitry, the Raceway Link, the Aquisition bus, and the Arbitar all connect through one single 32bit local data bus. I assume this is a change from the previous design and build. Now I know why the price is a few orders of magnatude lower.
On a side note, I really have no idea what I am talking about. Just pulled that out of the air based on 10 seconds looking at the two included links, Based on the current comments that no one has any idae what this thing is for (myself included), I bet I could have fooled quite a few people though.
A software-defined radio (SDR) system is a radio communication system which uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals.
An SDR performs significant amounts of signal processing in a general purpose computer, or a reconfigurable piece of digital electronics. The goal of this design is to produce a radio that can receive and transmit a new form of radio protocol just by running new software.
Software radios have significant utility for the military and cell phone services, both of which must serve a wide variety of changing radio protocols in real time.
The hardware of a software-defined radio typically consists of a superheterodyne RF front end which converts RF signals from and to analog IF signals, and analog to digital converter and digital to analog converters which are used to convert a digitised IF signal to and from analog form.
Software-defined radio can currently be used to implement simple radio modem technologies. In the long run, software-defined radio is expected by its proponents to become the dominant technology in radio communications. GNURadio is a project to implement software-defined radio as free software.
URL:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_rad
Some years ago, I was doing some work on a laser rangefinder, and got to the point where I needed about $20K in test gear to find out why it wasn't working right. Something like this would have been a big help.
Radio hams will find uses for this. It should be great for working on new data transmission schemes for high-noise links, like HF.
LabView support would be nice.
Essentially this is a device to 'tune' to any of the millions of frequencies that are in the upper part of the non-visible Electromagnetic spectrum. TV and Radio are broadcast in the long wavelength low frequency part of the specturm. Pretty pictures at Nasa
t rum/index.html
(Warning: you may have to click through a stupid ad.)
Anyway, Here's a Salon Article about the polictical & technical aspects of it:
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/03/12/spec
www.rdex.net
There were quite a few pages dedicated to the advances in digital radio and SDR in Monitoring Times a few months back.
One of the biggest advantages to a true SDR radio is that the manufacturer can build one or two models of radios, and have different software loads depending on bandsplit, features, costs, etc.
Motorola tried that with their Jedi-series and XTS series of handy talkies over the past decade... biggest problem was that it is pretty simple (technologically) to take a radio with no special features (smartnet, digital modes, tone signalling, etc.) and enable the features by cloning the software load of another model.
They did smarten up to that with the MTS2000 line of radios; any attempt to force a 'codeplug' into it that didn't belong would turn the unit into a brick, and you'd have to send it back to Motorola for a costly repair (as well as a stern talking to for 'hacking' at the radio).
True software defined radios would be a lot easier to secure... on paper it would drive prices way down... in reality, as long as the radio manufacturers control the public service contracts, prices will still remain sky high.
As an aside, WiNRADiO markets a device that could *almost* be considered an SDR device... super pricey for a receiver, but neat concept.
I am looking forward to the day we see true SDR transceivers.
But, he's right in pointing out that the powers that be do not have a vested interest in allowing citizens to own a general purpose reciever/transmitter. It marginalizes their sense of control.
Like PGP/GPG, buy one, use it, build an economy around it BEFORE they start thinking about making it illega.
Kremax
--- Little Atomo - The Amazing Thinking Robot from Atomocom! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIP9KisHi4k
Is it really so hard to use tags?
Software radio or SDR - an intresting subject where mathematical formulas become radio.
See for a high level overview.
Good reading is Understanding digital Signal processing by Richard G. Lyons. Prentice Hall, 1st ed: ISBN 0201634678 (amazon.com, search). 2nd ed: ISBN 0-13-108989-7 (amazon.com, search)
VanuBose 's company Vanu Technology demonstrated a software radio based on an iPAQ with a digital radio "backpack", in May 2003. Here are some links:
Slashdot article
Linuxdevices.com
Vanu.com
Vanu.com
Here's a note on the future of software defined radio
Several relevant pointers available here
I hope the equipment they sell holds up better than their server! ;-)
It's not a transmitter as far as I understand.
Correct, the USRP (Universal Software Radio Peripheral) base module itself is not an transmitter. There is an additional $50 USD basicTX modules available.
"Terrorist tool" is simply nonsense on the part of the submitter or editor. Ignore the poor fool.
Unlicensed operation and interference are not a new issue, (radio stations use to "compete" by trying to transmit by "out-gunning" by using more power (Watts) on a given frequency (e.g. 105.7 MHz)) are why departments like the FCC were created.
The basicTX module is low enough power on its own (1mW I believe it produces) that it does not require regulation AFAIK.
How long will it be till it's labeled a terrorist tool and banned?
I'm seriously asking what else has been banned under the concerns of terrorism?
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Did you look at the website in the article? this thing will accept up to 4 transmitter and 4 reciever daughter boards. The boards avaliable are not that harmfull, but anyone with basic electronic and programming knowledge could "re-wire" the thing. ITs a nice radio, but it will transmit and receive, and easily do it in the 88-108MHZ WFM radio band.
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
With the right software, it takes control away from the FCC and Congress. The SDR doesn't care if the software that you download isn't type accepted by the FCC or does things that Congress doesn't like, like listening to their cell phone calls.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
The nice thing about GnuRadio is that you can build things like an ATSC digital television receiver, all in software. The problem is that, thanks to the heavy weight of the MPAA and other media lobbies, the FCC gave us the broadcast flag, meaning that a programmer can set a bit that says "do not record" such-and-such.
... at your own peril. It makes specific uses of GnuRadio illegal, and even if you wrote your GnuRadio software to pay attention to the flag, a simple programming error would make your product illegal.
But to make the broadcast flag effective, you also have to mandate that equipment pay attention to it, and be robust against user modification. You've got to make it otherwise illegal to make an ATSC receiver that doesn't obey it. And sure enough, that's what the FCC has done; July 2005, any equipment that doesn't obey the flag is illegal to sell, trade, create, etc.
And with GnuRadio, you write an ATSC receiver that does or doesn't pay attention to it
Heck, it might even be said that GnuRadio itself will be illegal this year, since it fails the robustness rules.
Now, is this copyright infringement? Refusing to record a pristine ATSC transport stream or recording it for personal use isn't necessarily a distinction the MPAA et al. are likely to make. But it does facilitate the distribution of perfect copies of Desperate Housewives and other quality programming (ahem), and the MPAA have used the copyright infringement/terrorism analogy before.
Look up dual-use technology and try again.
Care to tell me what in the world that has to do with anything? A Google search on "dual-use technology" returns nothing particularly enlightening. The term usually comes up in connection with technology exports.
A receiver that covers 870-890 MHz has legitimate uses beyond monitoring AMPS cell-phone conversations, but that didn't stop the cellular lobby from buying the ECPA. What, in your obviously-informed opinion, is going to stop a similar consortium of HDTV broadcasters from buying legislation to outlaw unprotected high-bandwidth conversion hardware?
Don't you guys get tired of being paranoid every second of every day, about everything?
So sayeth the Anonymous Coward....
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
Wait, nevermind. Just re-read the text. Possible PCI or PCI-X version later (for higher bus bandwidth)
easily do it in the 88-108MHZ WFM radio band.
Ah, no. The USRP and basicRX / basicTX only operate themselves up to 30 or 50 MHz I believe. You would need an additional RF front-end (aka transverter) for VHF frequences like broadcast WFM.
The base for your number doesn't have to be the same as the base for your order of magnitude.
For example, since minutes and seconds are measured in base 60, would you say that the amount of time one order of magnitude greater than one second is one minute, and two orders of magnitude is one hour? What happens as you go beyond that? Do you change base? Is the amount of time three orders of magnitude greater than a second equal to one day? Is four orders equal to a week, a month, or a year? A fortnight, perhaps?
Anyhow, it's fun to be an ass on slashdot. It's not like you were going to find useful comments in a thread predicated on "gnu radio is for teh terrorists! lol!"
If you examine the madwifi driver FAQ it makes reference to regulations explicitly permitting "open" code controlling hardware that can receive/transmit many frequencies.
5.3. Why is the HAL closed source?
The Atheros chipset can tune to frequencies that are out of the ISM band(s). These frequencies are licensed by various regulatory agencies, and radar systems thus an open HAL is disallowed by just about every regulatory institution in existence (i.e. FCC etc). On a practical/usability note: Were it not for the binary nature of the HAL, then the same nerds who deploy the "power hack" for the WET11 could be generating emissions all over the restricted bands using madwifi hardware. Ask yourself, which would you rather have, more power, or less interference?
I expect just receivers will bear less of a burden, but I would not be surprised if Gnu Radio was already illegal with massive criminal penalties associated.
Which is an atrocity, frankly. Please correct me. Please.
Tired of Political Trolls? Opt Out!
He was told by a store to come in and pick up a refund check. WHen he got there, they told him it wouldn't be ready til the next day. He got pissed, ranted and raved, cops showed up, and told him it was a terrorist threat to challenge the manager to meet him outside.
Anything the Powers That Be want to label as terrorist; that's what is terroristic these days. When Disney sees SDR as a threat to Mickey Mouse, it will be labeled a terrorist tool.
Infuriate left and right
could someone tell me what this device is, what it does, and why it should be interesting to us?
The web site certainly wasn't much help, and the jargon-laden responses I've seen so far aren't much help either.
Many thanks.
D
With 4 x 64MHz AtoD converters, this board could be easily turned into a descent digital oscilloscope. Right now such equipment is so very costly, but the right IO module might just make this a possibility for low frequency work.
Now what legitimate reason do you have for listening to cell phone converstaions (ignoring the encryption and the "right to privacy" issue for a moment).
Let's see. As a licensed Amateur Radio operator, I'm not only permitted but required to ensure that my transmitted RF emissions are below certain thresholds outside the band I'm operating on. Now, I have no way to check my 902 MHz rig for spurious emissions in the adjacent AMPS band.
I can't even buy a used pre-ECPA receiver on eBay at this point. I guess if I ever accidentally interfere with the cellular folks, they can buy me a new HP 8565EC spectrum analyzer, and I'll track down the problem for them. That'll work.
Oh, and since I'm, like, this uber-paranoid guy, I'm constantly worried about bugs. I have a legitimate need to check for hidden transmitters in that portion of the spectrum, but now I can't, and they're HIDDEN UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS AND IRRADIATING ME FROM THE WALLS... (Sorry about that, ahem.)
Seriously, the ECPA's only exemption is for government agencies and (presumably) licensed government contractors. De jur, no other private citizen or company has a legitimate "need" for this technology. It was passed so the cellular companies could reassure their customers that nobody (who didn't own a TV set capable of tuning all the way up to UHF channel 83) could listen to them. Now that PCS, GSM, and other encrypted wireless technology has obviated the need for the ECPA, why hasn't it been repealed?
DeCSS has only one purpose.
Yep, you're right. To violate a law that did not exist before it was written and paid for by the same people I'm talking about here. "Legitimate uses" such as allowing people with Linux PCs to watch DVDs they legitimately purchased didn't enter into the equation, did they?
Your faith in the legislative and judicial branches is inspirational, I'll give you that much.
Also the author did win the DeCSS case.
Only because he didn't live in the "land of the free" (sic). The person who posted a simple href link to the code wasn't so lucky. See the link I provided.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.