RASDR

About

Radio Astronomy Software Defined Receiver, top

RASDR is an Open Hardware project undertaken by members of the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers (SARA) to develop a low cost, high performance software defined receiver. The goal of RASDR is to provide a low cost hardware that enables radio astronomers and educational institutions to perform high quality astronomical measurements.

The RASDR device is formed from a combination of a DigiRED interface board interfacing the Myriad-RF 1 to the USB3 bus. The combination of the DigiRED and Myriad-RF 1 boards provides a low-cost receiver platform, based on the flexible, multi-standard Field Programmable Radio Frequency (FPRF) LMS6002D device. It is a finely tuned component for radio amateurs, astronomers and educational institutions that are attempting to make precision measurements of the radio-frequency spectrum.

Block diagram

Apart from the Myriad-RF 1 board which provides the radio interface, the RASDR device uses a board to translate the digital output of the LMS6002D to USB for access by the host computer. This enables the software defined receiver operation. The design is minimal to support the functionality and to keep production cost as low as possible.

Connections

In addition to those available on the Myriad-RF 1 itself, the RASDR provides the following connections:

Superspeed USB 3.0, supporting up to 28MHz of signal capture bandwidth
- compatible with USB 2.0, with reduction in maximum bandwidth (10MHz)
Firmware upload switch
Reference Clock Input (10MHz, 50ohm) for synchronizing the clock to a facility timing signal
General Purpose I/O (4 pins)
Pulse Per Second Input (1 pin), such as one obtains from an external GPS receiver
+5V output (250mA maximum, when using USB 3.0) for powering external devices such as an up-converter board.

Schematics

MyriadRF and pin header connectors
MyriadRF control
USB and data
Clock generator
Power supply

Licensing

Hardware

The hardware designs are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence.

Firmware

The firmware is licensed under the GNU General Public Licence, Version 2. Please note that third-party dependencies and modules may have their own licensing requirements.

Software

The software is licensed under the GNU General Public Licence, Version 2. Please note that third-party dependencies and modules may have their own licensing requirements.