**Bored **of this pandemic and I Finally dusted my LimeSDRand setuplab in Ubuntu-20.04. Ubuntu-20.04 has added all the previous PPAs of SDR domain into its default APT cache. This caught my attention. So we will look into how to setup the Lime stack. Not just LimeSuite or Lime tools but other software stacks like osmo-bts, gnuradio and other tools without PPAs. We will also see how to setup LimeSDR as UHD source. Which is actually helpful in a lot of RF applications.

First let’s understand little about tools we are about to install today.

• UHD: The USRP hardware driver (UHD) is the device driver provided by Ettus Research for use with the USRP product family. It supports Linux, MacOS, and Windows platforms. Several frameworks including GNU Radio, LabVIEW, MATLAB and Simulink for UHD …… from Wikipedia
• LimeSuite and Lime tools: Basically lime tools are those which help us run our Lime SDR. Lime Suite enables the transceiver to be programmed and registers to be read back, provides support for calibrating the transceiver, and, thanks to SoapySDR, support for applications that use either the SoapySDR or UHD APIs. The Lime Suite GUI can also be used to program the FX3.0 microcontroller, FPGA, and configuration flash on the LimeSDR board. While Lime Suite is the official SDR driver for LMS7002M-based platforms and this is recommended for most applications, there are also alternatives for e.g. embedded use and in rapid prototyping.LMS7002M Driver_ contains a C driver for control of the LMS7002M transceiver._ The driver provides user APIs for tuning frequencies, setting gains, setting filters, setting sample rates, setting stream modes, configuring switches, and calibration. Although this driver can select the streaming mode of the LMS7002M, it does not directly interact with receive or transmits baseband data. pyLMS7002M_ Python package is platform-independent, and is intended for fast prototyping and algorithm development._ It provides low level register access and high level convenience functions for controlling the LMS7002M chip and evaluation boards. Example Python apps are provided for CW Tx and a Vector Network Analyser (VNA), amongst other uses.
• **SoapySDR: **SoapySDR is a software suite developed by Pothosware that provides uniform API to the host system. A fresh and clean vendor neutral and platform independent SDR support library. Basically, SoapySDR communicates with the SDR API, and packages it into a new API. As we known, there are so many SDR hardwares available on the market. Yet most of them implement their individual drivers, which is painful for the RF developers to migrate their projects to different hardwares. So SoapySDR builds a bridge to connect miscellaneous SDR drivers.
• GnuRadio: GNU Radio is a free software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software-defined radios and signal-processing systems. It can be used with external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment.
• **GQRX: **Gqrx is an open-source software-defined radio receiver (SDR) powered by the GNU Radio and the Qt graphical toolkit. These are the actions that you can perform using gqrx. Process I/Q data from the supported devices. Change frequency, gain and apply various corrections (frequency, I/Q balance). AM, SSB, CW, FM-N and FM-W (mono and stereo) demodulators. Special FM mode for NOAA APT. Variable band pass filter. AGC, squelch, and noise blankers. FFT plot and waterfall. Record and playback audio to / from WAV file. Record and playback raw baseband data. Spectrum analyzer mode where all signal processing is disabled. Basic remote control through TCP connection. Streaming audio output over UDP.

#hacking #limesdr #hacking-tools #ubuntu