Visualizzazione post con etichetta Low Cost. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta Low Cost. Mostra tutti i post

sabato 25 gennaio 2020

Real test of "Signal Predator" from Elenos : 16 bit Direct Sampling technology for a real OTT instrument at low cost

The use of Direct Sampling SDR 16 bit technology allows to challenge with Modulation Monitor instruments and Test Sets at a cost in the range of a tens or lower .

All this is possible with the new Signal Predator from Elenos :



https://www.elenos.com/signal-predator/

At the end of the page you can see the streaming of one Signal Predator working live on the field .


Or you can use this link :  http://www.freewaves.it/fmt.html

One of the most challenging measurement is the stereo crosstalk of a stereo analog signal .

Just to give you an example a very small  impairment of amplitude response of  +/- 0.07 dB in amplitude and phase of +/- 0.45 ° between 30 Hz and 53 kHz do not allow the stereo crosstalk to be better than 45 dB !

Just check for reference at page 9-10 the document :

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Broadcast%20Electronics/BE-The-Composite-Signal-Key-to-Quality-FM.pdf 

Now also the transmitters tipically use digital generation of the analog FM signal , so I have checked the crosstalk of the stereo signal generated from an Elenos ETG Indium Digital series connecting the RF monitor of the transmitter to the input of the Signal Predator .

The values measured from 30 Hz to 15 kHz was equal or better than 75 dB .

With this values it is hard to say if the limit depends on the transmitter or on the Signal Predator .

This order of magnitude of measurements so far was only possible with huge instruments with very huge costs , only possible to big broadvasting companies , while the cost of a Signal Predator is affordable from many companies and people .

Another measurement of tremendous impact for a Radio Station is the live measurement of the Signal to Noise Ratio in the Audio demodulated signal with NON NEED TO INTERRUPT THE PROGRAM .

This allows to continuously monitoring the quality of all the FM Stations ,  locally or on air .



Signal Predator also display , together with the Stereo Pilot and RDS modulation deviation , the constellation of the RDS BPSK symbols :



I understand now the reason  why the Signal Predator advertising says :

" BORN TO BE DIFFERENT " .

The measurements screens of the Stereo Crostalk are as follow .

The crosstalk between the L & R channels are the difference of the audio carriers between the two white traces  at 30 - 1000 - 5000 - 15000 Hz .









sabato 2 febbraio 2013

Innovativa scheda RTX SDR 100kHz - 4 GHz a basso costo

Prodotta dalla Per Vices  , questa scheda PCI , chiamata Noctar.  sembrerebbe decisamente promettente :

http://www.hamradioscience.com/per-vices-noctar-sdr-card-first-look/

  • 100kHz – 4GHz range SDR
  • Two, 12 bit, 125 MSPS ADCs
  • Dual channel, 16 bit, 250 MSPS DAC
  • Fully integrated, full duplex, RF frontend
  • Direct conversion quadrature transceiver
  • 20MHz, 0.28ppm, reference TCXO
  • Altera Cyclone IV EP4CGX22C FPGA
  • Digital down/up conversion on FPGA
  • Open source drivers and firmware
  • Includes GnuRadio Interface
Dovrebbe essere possibile quindi svilpare sistemi di trasmissione e ricezione nella banda  100kHz - 4 Ghz .

Si possono trattare fino a 250 Mhz per volta .
Nella bande basse sicuramente la conversione A/D sara' diretta tramite uno o piu' dei veloci DAC a bordo .
Piu' in alto si sfrutteranno le conversioni in quadratura .
Tutta da scoprire l'interfaccia GnuRadio  Open Source .

La ottima notizia :
Il costo : 749 $ !

La cattiva notizia , credo che per ora  si tratti di un prodotto "maneggiabile " solo da esperti .
E' gia' stato comunque creato un forum .






lunedì 21 gennaio 2013

Incredibile carrellata mondiale di Radio SDR a basso costo

Da leggere fino all'ultima riga ....
http://www.scoop.it/t/low-cost-software-defined-radio-sdr-panorama
Buon divertimento!