A GPU-based survey for millisecond radio transients using ARTEMIS

Astrophysical radio transients are excellent probes of extreme physical processes originating from compact sources within our Galaxy and beyond. Radio frequency signals emitted from these objects provide a means to study the intervening medium through which they travel. Next generation radio telescopes are designed to explore the vast unexplored parameter space of high time resolution astronomy, but require High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions to process the enormous volumes of data that are produced by these telescopes. We have developed a combined software /hardware solution (code named ARTEMIS) for real-time searches for millisecond radio transients, which uses GPU technology to remove interstellar dispersion and detect millisecond radio bursts from astronomical sources in real-time. Here we present an introduction to ARTEMIS. We give a brief overview of the software pipeline, then focus specifically on the intricacies of performing incoherent de-dispersion. We present results from two brute-force algorithms. The first is a GPU based algorithm, designed to exploit the L1 cache of the NVIDIA Fermi GPU. Our second algorithm is CPU based and exploits the new AVX units in Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures. To appear in the proceedings of ADASS XXI, ed. P.Ballester and D.Egret, ASP Conf. Se

Cosmic Call Tech – A hands-on space radio workshop for students in secondary education

The DLR_School_Lab Braunschweig, Germany, organized an amateur radio contact with an astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS) for students from five different schools for the third time. While the contact itself was always an exciting event for the participating students our goal was to increase the sustainability in learning with a deeper understanding of the technology used for the radio contact. As a result, we present our concept for engaging with the students and preparing them for the actual radio contact with an inexpensive hands-on space radio workshop that was conducted remotely via video conferencing and thus is independent in regard to distance between the lecturer and the group. During the workshop the students built their own ground station to receive amateur radio satellites and the ISS. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the workshop could not be conducted fully as an in-person learning experience. To overcome this obstacle, we chose a hybrid approach. Each session started with a short introductory lecture using a video conferencing software. After the introduction the students worked in groups following a written guide which we provided. During the rest of the session we assisted online in case of any questions or technical difficulties. We also supplied the schools with a Raspberry Pi single board computer, an inexpensive software defined radio and some coaxial cables for building antennas. The tasks necessary building the ground station included setting up the hardware, configuring the software and building antennas. The written guide gave detailed information on how to complete the individual steps. It also provided some optional more in-depth information on propagation of electromagnetic fields, antenna theory and orbital mechanics to accommodate the range of participating school forms with different levels of proficiency and wide range of age of the students participating. The students were very motivated to take part in this workshop, even as an extracurricular activity during their spare time. The students as well as the teachers involved also highlighted the interesting and useful lectures and the professional support via video conferencing software. This kind of hybrid approach was a new and innovative learning experience for the schools. Our workshop offered the students an introduction to radio technology and space which would be otherwise beyond most teachers’ knowledge and capabilities. We demonstrated that such a workshop can be realized over distance besides pandemic conditions broadening the field of schools that can be involve

Radiography in Palaeopathology: Where Next?

YesRadiography has frequently been used during palaeopathological research, and plays an important role in the differential diagnosis of many diseases, including Paget¿s disease and carcinomas. Traditionally, radiographs were taken in hospitals with clinical equipment. However industrial radiography techniques have gradually become more commonly used, as their superior image quality and improved potential for diagnoses become recognised. The introduction of radiographic scanners has facilitated the digitisation of these images for dissemination and publication. However this is not all that radiographic digitisation can offer the researcher. Digital image processing (DIP) allows the researcher to focus on an area of interest and to adjust the brightness and contrast of the captured image. This allows the investigation of areas of high radio-opacity and radio-lucency, providing detailed images of the internal structures of bone and pathological lesions undetectable by the naked eye. In addition 3D effects, edge enhancement and sharpening algorithms, available through commonly used image processing software, can be very effective in enhancing the visibility of specific features. This paper will reveal how radiographic digitisation and manipulation can enhance radiographic images of palaeopathological lesions and potentially further our understanding of the bony manifestations of disease

Software Defined Radio for NB-IoT

The next generation of mobile radio systems is expected to providing wireless connectivity for a wide range of new applications and services involving not only people but also machines and objects. Within few years, billions of low-cost and low-complexity devices and sensors will be connected to the Internet, forming a converged ecosystem called Internet of Things (IoT). As a result, in 2016, 3GPP standardizes NB-IoT, the new narrowband radio technology developed for the IoT market. Massive connectivity, reduced UE complexity, coverage extension and deployment flexibility are the targets for this new radio interface, which also ensures harmonious coexistence with current GSM, GPRS and LTE systems. In parallel, the rise of open-source software combined with Software Defined Radio (SDR) solutions has completely changed radio systems engineering in the late years. This thesis focuses on developing the NB-IoT’s protocol stack on the EURECOM’s open-source software platform OpenAirInterface (OAI). First part of this work aims to implement NB-IoT’s Radio Resource Control functionalities on OAI. After an introduction to the platform architecture, a new RRC layer code structure and related interfaces are defined, along with a new approach for Signalling Radio Bearers management. A deep analysis on System Information scheduling is conducted and a subframe-based transmission scheme is then proposed. The last part of this thesis addresses the implementation of a multi-vendor platform interface based on Small Cell Forum’s Functional Application Platform Interface (FAPI) standard. A configurable and dynamically loadable Interface Module (IF-Module) is designed between OAI’s MAC and PHY layers. Primitives and related code structures are presented as well as corresponding Data and Configuration’s procedures. Finally, the convergence of both NB-IoT and FAPI requirements lead to re-design PHY layer mechanisms for which a downlink transmission scheme is proposed

A new vision of software defined radio: from academic experimentation to industrial explotation

The broad objective of this study is to examine the role of Software Defined Radio in an industrial field. Basically examines the changes that have to be done to achieve moving this technology in a commercial domain. It is important to predict the impacts of the introduction of Software Defined Radio in the telecommunications industry because it is a real future that is coming. The project starts with the evolution of mobile telecommunications systems through the history. Following this, Software Defined Radio is defined and its main features are commented such as its architecture. Moreover, it wants to predict the changes that the telecommunications industry will might suffer with the introduction of SDR and some future structural and organizational variations are suggested. Additionally, it is discussed the positive and negative aspects of the introduction of SDR in the commercial domain from different points of view and finally, the future SDR mobile phone is described with its possible hardware and software.Outgoin

The Radio Jove Project

The Radio love Project is a hands-on education and outreach project in which students, or any other interested individuals or groups build a radio telescope from a kit, operate the radio telescope, transmit the resulting signals through the internet if desired, analyze the results, and share the results with others through archives or general discussions among the observers. Radio love is intended to provide an introduction to radio astronomy for the observer. The equipment allows the user to observe radio signals from Jupiter, the Sun, the galaxy, and Earth-based radiation both natural and man-made. The project was started through a NASA Director's Discretionary Fund grant more than ten years ago. it has continued to be carried out through the dedicated efforts of a group of mainly volunteers. Dearly 1500 kits have been distributed throughout the world. Participation can also be done without building a kit. Pre-built kits are available. Users can also monitor remote radio telescopes through the internet using free downloadable software available through the radiosky.com website. There have been many stories of prize-winning projects, inspirational results, collaborative efforts, etc. We continue to build the community of observers and are always open to new thoughts about how to inspire the observers to still greater involvement in the science and technology associated with Radio Jove

A novel generic distributed intelligent re-configurable mobile network architecture

In this paper we present our vision of the Software Radio (SR) concept. To the author's knowledge this vision of an Intelligent Re-configurable Network encompasses and adds to the main SR concepts presented to date, namely SWSDR, Re-configurable radio systems and networks, and Cognitive radio. The newly proposed architecture and supporting technology provides a flexible way to introduce re-configurability into any network node and protocol layer of a network fixed or mobile, while simultaneously providing a structured framework in which re-configurability can be introduced and hence networks can evolve. This concept has provided a solid foundation and plays a central role in providing a suitable context in which to examine reconfigurabilty issues in the Mobile Terminal and Base Station. We believe that this concept has the potential to help the telecommunications industry in facilitating; the introduction, development and harmonization of reconfigurability within existing and future fixed and mobile networks

An investigation into the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing in packet radio

Bibliography: leaves 56-58.The concept of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing has been around since the 1960s. It has resurfaced over the last decade as being the modulation scheme of choice in some newer technologies like Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) and Asynchronous Digital Subscriber lines (ADSL). Amateur packet radio started in 1978 and has attracted thousands of enthusiasts from around the world. The interest in packet radio has waned over the years due advances in the data transmission capabilities oflandline systems and also more widespread access to the Internet. The purpose of this thesis was to develop a simple software simulation model to determine whether or not OFDM could be used to increase the data rates currently available in packet radio systems. The thesis starts out with an introduction to packet radio and OFDM in Chapter 1. A slightly more detailed discussion on OFDM is given in Chapter 2 in order to develop a basic specification for the proposed OFDM model. Chapters 2,3 and 4 discuss the development of the Transmitter model, the Receiver model and the Channel model respectively using the Simulink software package. Chapter 6 discusses the problem of Peak-to-Average Power Ratios (PAPR) in OFDM and explores the use of A-law companding to reduce this problem. In Chapter 7, the developed models are simulated and their performance compared to theoretical expectations. The full system is also simulated in this chapter in order to ascertain the possible data rate through the modelled packet radio channel. Conclusions regarding the application of OFDM to packet radio are presented in Chapter 8

Performance evaluation of a real time OFDM radio over fiber system at 2.5 GHz using software defined radio SDR

This paper presents the implementation of an OFDM radio over fiber (RoF) system at 2.5 GHz using software defined radio (SDR). In this work, first we present an introduction of the main concepts about radio over fiber and an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system at 2.5 GHz, then we present a comparison of an OFDM RoF system in three scenarios, modifying the wireless distances and the optical fiber distance in order to evaluate the performance of the system taking into account the symbol error rate (SER) vs signal to noise ratio (SNR) curves

Cabecera Radio Remota utilizando LimeSDR y ODROID - XU4

The Software Defined Radio (SDR), unlike conventional radio systems implemented only by hardware, has had a great impact thanks to the great flexibility offered by the software. The objective of this work has been to develop a remote radio header using the LimeSDR, an SDR board, connected to an ODROID XU-4. The connection will be made through the USB 3.0 port since it allows a high transmission speed. This remote radio header will be incorporated into a Cloud-RAN to facilitate the virtualization of radio resources. As the LimeSDR transmits and receives, the communication between ODROID XU-4 and server is full duplex. Looking for a high transmission speed, the connection between the ODROID XU-4 and the server in the Cloud-RAN will be made using Gigabit Ethernet cable. This communication between ODROID XU-4 and server will be carried out through sockets. To do this, two Virtual Network Functions (VNF) have been developed in such a way that one will be placed on the cloud server and the other on the ODROID-XU4. As the development of the remote radio header progresses, tests have been carried out. These verify the proper functioning of the SDR board, the correct operation of the VNFs, that the remote configuration of the most relevant parameters for transmission and reception of LimeSDR is carried out correctly and that the entire system works correctly. The present work, apart from the development and verification, also has documented an introduction to the software-defined radio, another for the remote radio headend, the design approach, the total number of hours that I have devoted to this work at the end of degree and the technology on which this remote radio headend is based, both its hardware and its software, in order to better understand both the opportunities it can offer and the limitations