We are absolutely committed to lowering the barrier to entry for software-defined radio and one way we’re seeking to achieve this is via low cost platforms such as the LimeSDR Mini. In this latest demo we show it being used with the incredibly popular Raspberry Pi 3. While this won’t run an LTE base station, it is perfectly capable of supporting a great many narrowband applications and together they provide an eminently affordable platform for SDR experimentation and education.

Speaking of education, we’ve also been working on creating SDR extensions for the Scratch visual programming language, that will hopefully provide a familiar and friendly environment for learners to get their first experience of constructing simple software radios. In the video, I quickly demonstrate connecting a LimeSDR Mini signal source to a spectrum display, but work is also under way to develop the blocks required to enable transmitting and receiving text messages.

Please note that ScratchRadio is still very much a work-in-progress. The sort of additional features that we have in mind include configuration for the spectrum display, along with the ability to constrain transmit applications in terms of frequency (e.g., to licence-exempt bands) and duty cycle when used in learning environments.

More Raspberry Pi demos to come. Here’s to inspiring the next generation of wireless engineers!

Andrew and the LimeSDR Mini Team