Couple basic questions sdr

[Onus]

Hi all..

I recently purchased both a yard stick and a RTL SDR.

I was going to start writing my own python script that allowed me to quickly input which SDR device to turn on, what frequency to cooperate at and what mode.  

My first question is around setting the index of devices.. how can I get a list of SDR devices plugged in and their index?

My other question is what are the accepted constants for setting the modulation type with rfcat

Onus

[Guest Josef K]

 

You can see a list of attached devices with 'lsusb.'

If you use the '-v' option, you can quickly find the device you're looking for.  E.g.:

lsusb -v

<..>

Bus 001 Device 009: ID 1d50:605b OpenMoko, Inc.
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               1.10
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1d50 OpenMoko, Inc.
  idProduct          0x605b
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 etsat Scott Gadgets꙾>
  iProduct                2 YARD Stick One
  iSerial                 3 0000
  

 

However, it is probably easier to create symlinks in /dev with udev.  Below is the config that I am using.

/etc/udev/rules.d$ cat 20-rfcat.rules
# legacy RfCats and cc1111usb
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="0451" ATTRS{idProduct}=="4715" MODE:="0660" SYMLINK+="RFCAT%n", GROUP="dialout"

# modern RfCats
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="6047" MODE:="0660" SYMLINK+="RFCAT%n", GROUP="dialout"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="6048" MODE:="0660" SYMLINK+="RFCAT%n", GROUP="dialout"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="605b" MODE:="0660" SYMLINK+="RFCAT%n", GROUP="dialout"

# RfCat bootloader subsystem (uses it's own product id)
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="6049" SYMLINK+="RFCAT_BL_C" ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="604a" SYMLINK+="RFCAT_BL_D" ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb" ATTRS{idVendor}=="1d50" ATTRS{idProduct}=="605c" SYMLINK+="RFCAT_BL_YS1" ENV{ID_MM_DEVICE_IGNORE}="1"


/etc/udev/rules.d$ cat 52-hackrf.rules
ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="604b", SYMLINK+="hackrf-jawbreaker-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"
ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="6089", SYMLINK+="hackrf-one-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"
ATTR{idVendor}=="1d50", ATTR{idProduct}=="cc15", SYMLINK+="hackrf-one-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"
ATTR{idVendor}=="1fc9", ATTR{idProduct}=="000c", SYMLINK+="hackrf-dfu-%k", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"

 

There are a couple of ways to find out the modulation types or other settings.

- You can find the modulation types in chapter 13.9 of the TI datasheet at http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cc1110-cc1111.pdf I recommend that you browse thru the whole datasheet.  It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but all the stuff you need to know is in there.  RFCat uses the register names from the datasheet.  (That's why deviation is written as 'deviatn'

- If you have Windows, you can also install SmartRF Studio (http://www.ti.com/tool/smartrftm-studio)

- All Chipcon register settings are in one single file in rfcat too.  See rflib/chipcon_nic.py :

"""  MODULATIONS
Note that MSK is only supported for data rates above 26 kBaud and GFSK,
ASK , and OOK is only supported for data rate up until 250 kBaud. MSK
cannot be used if Manchester encoding/decoding is enabled.
"""
MOD_2FSK                        = 0x00
MOD_GFSK                        = 0x10
MOD_ASK_OOK                     = 0x30
MOD_MSK                         = 0x70
MANCHESTER                      = 0x08

MODULATIONS = {
        MOD_2FSK    : "2FSK",
        MOD_GFSK    : "GFSK",
        MOD_ASK_OOK : "ASK/OOK",
        MOD_MSK     : "MSK",
        MOD_2FSK | MANCHESTER    : "2FSK/Manchester encoding",
        MOD_GFSK | MANCHESTER    : "GFSK/Manchester encoding",
        MOD_ASK_OOK | MANCHESTER : "ASK/OOK/Manchester encoding",
        MOD_MSK  | MANCHESTER    : "MSK/Manchester encoding",

 

-Paul.