Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post information or questions regarding SDRplay products here
Forum rules
Post Reply
SoulFinderLLC
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:47 am

Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by SoulFinderLLC » Wed Apr 06, 2016 6:18 am

Greetings! I am currently in charge of trying to get our SDRplay working on the Raspberry Pi 2 (model B V1.1). The device specific documentation at http://sdrplay.com/raspberrypi2.html leaves much to be desired, as it simply states "None at this time - the Linux documentation may get you some way."

I happen to be somewhat inexperienced with Linux in general and the Raspberry Pi 2 in particular. Nonetheless, I have installed Raspbian Jessie Lite (Version: March 2016, Kernel version: 4.1) and have also performed these commands:

(//Having downloaded Current API Installer: 1.9.2 (includes API 1.8.1 - 11th Jan 2016) (Installer Released: 1st Mar 2016))

chmod 755 SDRplay_RSP_MiricsAPI-1.9.2.RPi.man
./SDRplay_RSP_MiricsAPI-1.9.2.RPi.man

My setup is as follows: The SDRplay is connected directly using USB to one of the ports on the Raspberry Pi 2 itself.

From this point on, I am uncertain how to continue. I have used the lsusb command and it does have the line:

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1df7:2500

This seems to confirm that the device is being recognized, at least at a basic level.

Now, I have previously had success getting the SDRplay to work on other Linux devices (using Intel x86 CPUs, never on an ARM based device, having tried on the BeagleBone Black), so I am not totally clueless.

My question is thus:

What are the minimum steps needed to get the SDRplay working on the Raspberry Pi 2? I would like to at least be able to write my own C++ code, making use of the API Specification, and to have some kind of existing SDR software running to test/play around with.

I hope this post can be helpful to others who have the same level of knowledge as I do here, thanks!! :D
Last edited by SoulFinderLLC on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
sdrplay
Posts: 978
Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:58 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by sdrplay » Fri Apr 08, 2016 6:25 am

First of all make sure udev is setup correctly so that you have the right permissions to talk to the RSP. Check if you have the following file, if not create it using sudo nano...

/etc/udev/rules.d/66-mirics.rules

it should just have one line in it...

SUBSYSTEM=="usb" ATTR{idVendor}=="1df7" ATTR{idProduct}=="2500" MODE:="0666"

Then you will need to restart udev...

sudo service restart udev

and then disconnect and reconnect the RSP.

Then you have 2 options, to either install SoapySDR/SoapySDRPlay - this is a generic control library that supports a variety of hardware including the RSP. To build/install it see: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDR/wiki and https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDRPlay/wiki

Once both of these are installed, typing SoapySDRUtil --probe=sdrplay should produce an output without any errors.

Alternatively you can program for the API directly. On our Raspberry Pi page (http://www.sdrplay.com/raspberrypi2.html) you will see the API specification and an example of the control code in the back. There are also some example code on our github repository: https://github.com/SDRplay showing how we have controlled and received samples from the RSP.

If you want to use the dump1090 ADS-B decoder with the RSP, the version to use on the Raspberry Pi at the moment is: https://github.com/SDRplay/dump1090_sdrplus - there is a build_libs.txt file to explain what needs to be built for that application.

If you have any specific programming issues related to the RSP, please let us know and we'll try to help you. An email to support@sdrplay.com is the best way to do that.

Best regards,

SDRplay Support
Last edited by sdrplay on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
SoulFinderLLC
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:47 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by SoulFinderLLC » Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:08 am

I appreciate this reply, it helped exactly and everything worked (I got it working a couple weeks ago, just didn't get around to this reply until now)!! I am in the process of writing a detailed guide so that people in my position, in the future, won't feel so lost. If it is good enough, maybe it can replace the "None at this time - the Linux documentation may get you some way." line under "Raspberry Pi 2 Specific Documentation" on the main site. I will post it here later. :D
Last edited by SoulFinderLLC on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
sdrstez
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 10:15 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by sdrstez » Thu Sep 15, 2016 7:50 am

Hi SoulfinderLLC,
I am struggling to get the RSP working with my Pi3.
Using the SDRPLAY instructions gets me so far then nothing.
Is there a simpler setup guide available for folks with very little knowledge of raspberry Pi?
Last edited by sdrstez on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
SoulFinderLLC
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2016 5:47 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by SoulFinderLLC » Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:03 pm

I am sorry for never getting around to posting the guide I had promised. I don't know to what extent the instructions for the Pi2 would transition to the Pi3, but I will try to have something written up soon.

The very day your reply came in, this forum and the greater site all went down and I could not access anything. I then forgot about it, so sorry for the late reply.

Reason: No reason
Top
F1BJB
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:24 pm
Location: Beauvais France

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by F1BJB » Sat Oct 01, 2016 5:02 am

Hi
I made various test and comparisons between Orange PI and Intel based mini PC's for SDR.
Using gqrx under Linux and SDRtouch under Android and various softwares under Windows 10.
My conclusion is that Intel devices are much more suited due to the mathematical computations involved.
May be a good use for PI would be to stream the complete output of the receiver on a gigabit network.
I have yet to investigate that .
For narrow band uses like with a fun cube dongle the PI is OK but even decoding an FM stereo signal is
hard to do and needs good cooling of the CPU.

Reason: No reason
Top
K8UT
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2016 10:37 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by K8UT » Sun May 28, 2017 9:16 pm

Did that setup guide ever get published somewhere? I am similarly stuck.

I installed the API. Ran LSUSB, see the SRDplay in a USB port. Checked UDEV, and the device is listed in the rules. Installed and compiled SoapySDR. Unplugged and plugged the SDR. Everything seems right.

Next I enter "SoapySDRUtil --probe=sdrplay" and get a console screen listing driver=null, hardware=null, Channels: 0 Rx, 0 Tx; and Timestamps = NO

huh? Seems that I must have missed an important step somewhere...

-larry
Last edited by K8UT on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
octave9
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2017 7:54 pm

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by octave9 » Mon May 29, 2017 11:11 am

There are two parts of the SoapySDR and the output you're getting suggests 'SoapySDRPlay' isn't installed. I pasted how that install went for me:

Code: Select all

john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev $ git clone https://github.com/pothosware/SoapySDRPlay.git ./SoapySDRPlay
Cloning into './SoapySDRPlay'...
remote: Counting objects: 293, done.
remote: Total 293 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 293
Receiving objects: 100% (293/293), 73.32 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (197/197), done.
Checking connectivity... done.
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev $ cd SoapySDRPlay
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay $ mkdir build
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay $ cd build
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ cmake ../
-- The CXX compiler identification is GNU 5.4.0
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++
-- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/bin/c++ -- works
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
-- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
-- Detecting CXX compile features
-- Detecting CXX compile features - done
-- Build type not specified: defaulting to release.
-- Found libsdrplay: /usr/local/include, /usr/local/lib/libmirsdrapi-rsp.so
-- LIBSDRPLAY_INCLUDE_DIRS - /usr/local/include
-- LIBSDRPLAY_LIBRARIES - /usr/local/lib/libmirsdrapi-rsp.so
-- Performing Test HAS_STD_CXX11
-- Performing Test HAS_STD_CXX11 - Success
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /home/john/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ make
Scanning dependencies of target sdrPlaySupport
[ 25%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/sdrPlaySupport.dir/Registation.cpp.o
[ 50%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/sdrPlaySupport.dir/Settings.cpp.o
[ 75%] Building CXX object CMakeFiles/sdrPlaySupport.dir/Streaming.cpp.o
[100%] Linking CXX shared module libsdrPlaySupport.so
[100%] Built target sdrPlaySupport
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ sudo make install
[100%] Built target sdrPlaySupport
Install the project...
-- Install configuration: "Release"
-- Installing: /usr/local/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.6-dev/libsdrPlaySupport.so
-- Set runtime path of "/usr/local/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.6-dev/libsdrPlaySupport.so" to ""


john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ sudo ldconfig
john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ SoapySDRUtil --info
######################################################
## Soapy SDR -- the SDR abstraction library
######################################################

Lib Version: v0.6.0-gb0ebaecf
API Version: v0.6.0
ABI Version: v0.6-dev
Install root: /usr/local
Search path: /usr/local/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.6-dev
Module found: /usr/local/lib/SoapySDR/modules0.6-dev/libsdrPlaySupport.so
Loading modules... done
Available factories...null, sdrplay,
Then the op of 'SoapySDRUtil --probe' is much more interesting (Serial number changed):

Code: Select all

john@Mint-18 ~/SDR_Dev/SoapySDRPlay/build $ SoapySDRUtil --probe
######################################################
## Soapy SDR -- the SDR abstraction library
######################################################

Probe device 
fwDownload: FW image size = 6083
mir_sdr_usb_GetDevices Dev0:vid=1df7 pid=3010 rev=0207 serno=0000000000 bus=001 port=004 devAvail=1
mir_sdr_usb_SetDeviceIdx idx=0 numDevices=1
Opened device with idVendor = 0x1df7 idProduct = 0x3010 fwVersion = 0x0207 busNum = 001 portNum = 004

----------------------------------------------------
-- Device identification
----------------------------------------------------
  driver=SDRplay
  hardware=2 0000000000
  mir_sdr_api_version=2.090000
  mir_sdr_hw_version=2

----------------------------------------------------
-- Peripheral summary
----------------------------------------------------
  Channels: 1 Rx, 0 Tx
  Timestamps: NO
  Other Settings:
     * RF Gain Select - RF Gain Select
       [key=rfgain_sel, default=4, type=string, options=(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)]
     * IF Mode - IF frequency in kHz
       [key=if_mode, default=Zero-IF, type=string, options=(Zero-IF, 450kHz, 1620kHz, 2048kHz)]
     * IQ Correction - IQ Correction Control
       [key=iqcorr_ctrl, default=true, type=bool]
     * AGC Setpoint - AGC Setpoint (dBfs)
       [key=agc_setpoint, default=-30, type=int, range=[-60, 0]]
     * Antenna Select - Antenna Select
       [key=ant_sel, default=Antenna A, type=string, options=(Antenna A, Antenna B)]
     * AMport Select - AM Port Select
       [key=amport_ctrl, default=AntA//AntB, type=string, options=(AntA/AntB, Hi-Z)]
     * ExtRef Enable - External Reference Control
       [key=extref_ctrl, default=true, type=bool]
     * BiasT Enable - BiasT Control
       [key=biasT_ctrl, default=true, type=bool]
     * RfNotch Enable - RF Notch Filter Control
       [key=rfnotch_ctrl, default=true, type=bool]

----------------------------------------------------
-- RX Channel 0
----------------------------------------------------
  Full-duplex: YES
  Supports AGC: YES
  Stream formats: CS16, CF32
  Native format: CS16 [full-scale=32767]
  Antennas: RX
  Corrections: DC removal
  Full gain range: [0, 39] dB
    IFGR gain range: [20, 59] dB
  Full freq range: [0.01, 2000] MHz
    RF freq range: [0.01, 2000] MHz
    CORR freq range:  MHz
  Sample rates: [0.25, 10] MHz
  Filter bandwidths: [0.2, 8] MHz

mir_sdr_usb_ReleaseDeviceIdx 0

Reason: No reason
Top
K8UT
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2016 10:37 am

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by K8UT » Wed May 31, 2017 2:27 pm

John - THANK YOU!

I followed the instructions you provided and am now getting some valid results from SoapySDR.
Last edited by K8UT on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: No reason
Top
NeilP
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2018 3:11 pm
Location: Jersey

Re: Raspberry Pi 2 + SDRplay: Setup Guide?

Post by NeilP » Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:14 pm

I admit, I have not yet started yet to get the RSP1a to run on the pi with a Raspberian lite headless system

I have used the SDRPlay Pi image and got it working directly but I want to try running it on a Pi 3B+ as a headless system and Raspberian lite.


So all I want running on the pi is Soapy Remote I think it was called..
Did the Tutorial for that ever get written?


EDIT.


maybe this will be what I need

https://ansi.23-5.eu/2018/01/sdrplay-re ... omment-482

Reason: No reason
Top
Post Reply

Return to “SDRplay related”