31 Jan
2014
31 Jan
'14
12:27 a.m.
while, I can try it, and let's see.
Actually, maybe I will turn it to C some time in the future.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Ron Senykoff" <rsenykoff(a)gmail.com>
Sent: 2014/1/30 23:04
To: "Jiao Xianjun" <putaoshu(a)gmail.com>
Cc: "jdow" <jdow(a)earthlink.net>et>; "osmocom-sdr(a)lists.osmocom.org"
<osmocom-sdr(a)lists.osmocom.org>
Subject: Re: How to get IQ samples from multiple rtl-sdr dongles inasynchronized manner?
Hi Jiao,
Thanks for your work on this. I'm curious if Octave could be used for
some of this.
-Ron / KB1UMH
On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 10:14 PM, Jiao Xianjun <putaoshu(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi everybody,
Let me report current progress of this thread.
Now my matlab program can detect and correct sampling and carrier (both
phase and frequency) error for dongles, and show the sampling phase
difference between two dongles (at 8X oversampling rate) after correction.
You can try it by yourself here :
https://github.com/JiaoXianjun/multi-rtl-sdr-calibration
Some runs results have also been attached here. (time location of FCCH SCH
and BCCH have also been shown there in different color)
In the attached pictures, you may find that from the GSM frame point of view
those FCCH, SCH and BCCH from two dongles seem almost in the same time
location. (this needs to be verified further by check/demodulate information
carried in SCH and BCCH, which is still under development). But if we
inspect the time location in a 8X oversampling scale (zoom-in), there is a
fixed sampling phase difference between two dongles (after correction
respectively).
Unfortunately, this fixed sampling phase difference may vary from run to run
(one rum means we restart rtl_tcp).
Fortunately, it remains fixed in a single run. This offers us a opportunity
to track continuous input I&Q (don't re-run rtl_tcp!) from multiple dongles,
and needn't worry about phase/sampling jumping/discontinuous things.
Why do carrier and sampling error estimation and correction respectively?
Inspired by James Peroulas james(a)peroulas.com (author of Lte-Cell-Scanner),
for example, when there is a non-coherent up/down-converter used outside
dongle (like MMDS LNB used by Omri Iluz omri(a)iluz.net to detect 2.4GHz band
signal), there won't be strict relationship between sampling error (which is
in baseband) and carrier error (which may be located in inside dongle or
outside dongle mixer).
But for my in-hands dongles, sampling error and carrier seems have
relationship. This may be because they have common clock source inside
dongle.
Which I detected by my matlab program gsm_sync_demod.m:
dongle 1: sampling PPM 27.1739, carrier PPM -28.513
dongle 2: sampling PPM 116.3043, carrier PPM -118.4247
In my program a positive sampling PPM means sampling clock is slower than
standard/ideal source (in our case, this source is GSM base-station). If LO
of mixer uses the same clock as sampling, that may cause a lower LO in
mixer/down-converter. I guess the LO frequency of mixer in dongle is higher
than input antenna RF frequency, which means for mixer: output = LO - input.
Thus a lower LO generates a lower input into baseband, that's why I get a
negative carrier PPM (negative carrier PPM means detected carrier frequency
is lower than standard/ideal source).
I don't know if my guess is correct. Anyone is familiar with the hardware
architecture of the 820t dongle?
BR
Jiao Xianjun
On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 5:23 PM, jdow <jdow(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
The last I looked rtl_tcp did not allow full control over the dongle. But,
then, to do what I really want has required bypassing rtlsdr to go
directly to the usb library so I can access the underlying USB system
directly for a specific feature. (A feed through feature in rtlsdr's
shared library would be nice when trying to nail down the dongle's
identity for restoring context on program startup.)
(Building an SDR program without multi-threading is rather like trying
to build a bicycle without chains or cables. It can be done. But it's
a pathetic tool when you get done with it. Erm, but I do note gear
driven bikes need less maintenance under adverse conditions. Been there
done that - MANY decades ago.)
{^_^} Joanne/W6MKU
On 2014/01/07 23:32, Jiao Xianjun wrote:
>
> Good idea.
>
> Thanks for your advice!
>
> But that seems we will do some repeating works.
>
> rtl_tcp already use mutiple buffers and multi-threading. So why not use
> it
> directly as a reliable relay.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 1:51 AM, jdow <jdow(a)earthlink.net
> <mailto:jdow@earthlink.net>> wrote:
>
> Have you tried using ping-pong buffers? Process on one buffer and
> receive
> to another. You may have to use multi-threading to make this work
> nicely.
>
> {^_^} Joanne/W6MKU
>
>
>
> On 2014/01/06 01:34, Jiao Xianjun wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Today I did some experiments using CW signal which is generated
> by signal
> generator. The conclusion is a little bit sad.
>
> sync read and UDP lose samples/data high probably:
> 1. If there are some other operations (which costs some time)
> between two
> successive sync reads, some samples will be lost.
> 2. Some times, UDP packets are just lost.
>
> So, seems that I have two choices:
> 1. struggle to use async read mode.
> 2. use rtl_tcp utility directly, which is offered with rtl-sdr
> code. This
> program use async mode and TCP, which has avoided the two
> shortcomings I
> addressed.
>
> I will try the 2nd method, and try to move on with calibration.
>
> BR
>
> Jiao Xianjun
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 8:34 PM, Jiao Xianjun <putaoshu(a)gmail.com
> <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>
> <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>>>
wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I have questions on usage of rtlsdr_read_sync(dev, buffer,
> out_block_size,
> &n_read):
>
> For example, if sampling rate is 1Msps, and out_block_size
> is 1000000,
> question is:
>
> 1. the rtlsdr_read_sync() will cost 1s exactly? Or is there
> any
> lower level
> device/driver buffer, which perhaps feed rtlsdr_read_sync()
> with
> history
> data quickly and makes rtlsdr_read_sync() return in a time
> shorter
> than 1s?
>
> 2. in this infinite processing loop:
> while(1)
> {
> rtlsdr_read_sync(dev, buffer, out_block_size, &n_read);
> processing_function(buffer); // let's assume that this cost
> 0.001s
> }
> Those samples during the 0.001s processing period will be
> losted or
> not? Is
> there any method to not lost them?
>
> Thanks very much!
>
> BR
>
> Jiao Xianjun
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 9:25 PM, Jiao Xianjun
> <putaoshu(a)gmail.com
> <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>
> <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>>>
> wrote:
>
> I see some UDP packet performance issues in my laptop
> (but not
> in my
> desktop computer). Will the common (interleave multiple
> receives) UDP
> link helps?
>
> The issue is that fread for the second dongle in matlab
> get
> less data
> than expectation sometimes. Seem that fread for the
> first
> dongle works well.
>
>
> ------------------------------__------------------------------__--------------------
>
> From: Sdr Guru <mailto:sdrguru1@gmail.com
> <mailto:sdrguru1@gmail.com>>
>
> Sent: 2014/1/2 5:39
>
> To: osmocom-sdr(a)lists.osmocom.org
> <mailto:osmocom-sdr@lists.osmocom.org>
> <mailto:osmocom-sdr@lists.__osmocom.org
>
> <mailto:osmocom-sdr@lists.osmocom.org>>
>
>
> Subject: Re: How to get IQ samples from multiple rtl-sdr
> dongles in
> asynchronized manner?
>
> Hi
>
> rtl-sdr-relay
> Some of the recommendations.
> Please add PPM error calculation, exactly like new
> rtl_test -p
> but multiple receivers simultaneously.
> It provides immediate information if something is wrong
> with
> USB or dongles.
>
>
https://github.com/keenerd/__rtl-sdr/commit/__b5f89dcf40463130e717b6c9bb3a3…
>
>
<https://github.com/keenerd/rtl-sdr/commit/b5f89dcf40463130e717b6c9bb3a39a3c8b9535f>
> https://github.com/keenerd/__rtl-sdr/blob/master/src/rtl___test.c
>
> <https://github.com/keenerd/rtl-sdr/blob/master/src/rtl_test.c>
>
> Please add automatic eeprom PPM calibration
>
>
https://github.com/keenerd/__rtl-sdr/commit/__ecf267737ca52f5005b7a12a35230…
>
>
>
<https://github.com/keenerd/rtl-sdr/commit/ecf267737ca52f5005b7a12a352307e8cd763ed6>
>
> default sample rate 2.4M (28.8/12) or 1.2M (28.8/24),
> probably
> lower jitter
> MAX_NUM_DEV 4->16 :)
>
> Some nice to have features.
> ip binding
> multicast support
> one common (interleaved) stream of all the receivers
> timestamped stream
>
> I'm trying to convert MATLAB script to Ocatve.
>
> SG
>
> On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 9:38 AM, Jiao Xianjun
> <putaoshu(a)gmail.com <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>
> <mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com
<mailto:putaoshu@gmail.com>>>
> wrote:
>
> Hi guys,
>
> For the multiple dongles synchronization in signal
> level
> instead of
> bits/packets level, I setup a working repo in
> github, and
> write a
> initial demo framework. See below:
>
> https://github.com/__JiaoXianjun/multi-rtl-sdr-udp-__relay.git
>
> <https://github.com/JiaoXianjun/multi-rtl-sdr-udp-relay.git>
>
> You may find information and instruction of demo
> quickly by
> reading
> the README.
>
> My initial purpose is performing in-fly calibration
> for
> multiple
> dongles according to some pre-known signal (GSM,
> ADS-B?) to
> let them
> work together coherently.
>
> An ideal scheme may be that we should generate a
> very
> narrow band
> and very week signal in (or just located at the edge
> of) target
> working band of dongles, and perform the software
> in-fly
> calibration
> in background (or driver level). This would be user
> friendly.
>
> I know it is far from final state currently, and
> many
> things are not
> clear yet (See TODO). But please join me if you also
> think
> this is a
> good idea. Just check out the demo and run it to
> have a look.
>
> Currently I just test the demo in Ubuntu-Linux.
>
> BR
>
> Jiao Xianjun