8:00 a.m.
- 11:00 a.m. Software Defined Radios
Open Source Software Defined Radios- the
new wave in radio communications.
Moderator: Eric Ellison - AA4SW
The Future
of radio is NOW and is moving forward at the speed of light! Amateur radio operators are at the forefront
of a technical revolution in radio. In the foreseeable future, everyone will be
able to configure the ‘front panel’ of a, radio, spectrum analyzer, VNA,
oscilloscope, signal generator and more, all with the same hardware! Groundswell open source amateur offerings of
hardware and software ranging in price from $29 to several hundreds of dollars
are available. Come see what this International excitement is all about, and
win a Software Defined Radio! (Must be present to win at end
of presentations.)
Speakers:
Introduction to the HPSDR Project -
Starting as a discussion about an
inexpensive evaluation board for an electronic component in late 2005, the High
Performance Software Defined Radio project was born. This is a grassroots effort by volunteers to
create hardware and software building blocks for customized, user-definable,
user-configurable and user-programmable Software Defined Radios. This
presentation will introduce the overall HPSDR Project, the accomplishments of
the group in its year and half of existence, an overview of current
developments and a look towards the near future.
A simple Approach to Leaning Digital Signal Processing -
One of the problems a beginner faces in learning Digital
Signal Processing (DSP) is finding a simple tool to aid the learning process.
Whilst such tools do exist they are generally aimed at the professional and
come at a professional price. There is an urgent need to provide
beginners with a "crystal set" approach to leaning DSP and with a
similar price tag.
The µWave SDR Hardware and Software - Jonathan Naylor ON/G4KLX
With the
rise in popularity of SDRs for the lower frequency bands, it is only right that
the same techniques should be applied to the V/U/SHF bands. The challenge of
these higher frequencies shows itself particularly in the hardware required.
Highly integrated mixers and fraction-N synthesizers are the chips of choice in
order to reduce component count and ensure that the hardware will be as inexpensive
as is possible while retaining high performance. The software is especially
written for this project, and has been designed from the beginning to be
cross-platform (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X) and to support multiple SDR types,
including the SoftRock’s.
Rocky, a View From
Inside and Outside Alex Shovkoplyas – VE3NEA
This presentation
will focus on the differences between the hardware and software-defined radios,
using Rocky Software and SoftRock as an example.
The
"Inside" part of the presentation will show that digital signal
processing allows the developer to implement many functions that are difficult
or impossible to implement in the hardware. However, the new possibilities
offered by DSP require new solutions. Attempts to build an SDR as a model
of a hardware radio do not work well.
The
"Outside" part, will compare the user interfaces of
hardware and software radios. While the controls of the hardware
transceivers are implementation-oriented (reflect the internal structure of the
radio), the interface of an SDR can and should be made task-oriented: more
intuitive and easy to use, optimized for the maximum productivity of operator's
work.