OsmocomBB hardware migration to SDR

[Harald Welte]

Hi Craig,

good to hear that you're working on something as exciting as MTK support
of OsmocomBB.

On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 02:56:39PM +0000, Craig Comstock wrote:
> I hope to make a usable phone. Currently my plan is to dig into the MT6260 as
> started by the fernly/fernvale project. Current target is the SIM800H which
> contains the MT6260. I saw both that sysmocom has a $150 fernvale setup and
> Lime SDR has a USB bare-board for $250+ but I have to stick with something that
> is "phone" like and so am working on designing a small SIM800H/MT6260-based
> phone which can be expanded and/or used to experiment.

I would strongly encourage you not to spend time in designing more
hardware rather than working on the software side of things.
Understanding the DSP/ARM interface of mediatek baesband chips is the
primary key into creating a L1 adaptation of OsmocomBB that works on
such hardware.

> If there was something like LimeSDR that was small and less expensive I would
> go that route. I imagine there will be before long. :)

I don't think a General Purpose SDR solution will lead to a usable
phone.  The GP SDR is too large and power hungry to begin with, and
then you need a host processor that can do all the signal processing,
and you're suddenly talking more about an embedded PC rather than a
battery powered phone.

> Meanwhile, I'd definitely like to contribute as I can to MS software/
> osmocom-bb. I will do what I can.

Pleaes do so.  I'm happy to review and give feedback.
-- 
- Harald Welte <laforge at gnumonks.org>           http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
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