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amazing project ! well done ! inspiring to see it this morning the youtube algo recommended it for me. I was thinking what would be a budget way of creating thi

amazing project ! well done ! inspiring to see it this morning the youtube algo recommended it for me. I was thinking what would be a budget way of creating this ? maybe a $20 SDR instead of the hack rf , seems to be a waste of the hack rf to use it as a lamp :)) I think the way you did must have cost you over $1k. Thanks for the inspiration !

orbsa 8mo ago
IIRC, a regular SDR dongle will not be able to process the full bandwidth of GHZ range.
- pixl97 8mo ago
  I do think most people implementing something like this, especially in the exact way this one was implemented would really just be interested in the Wi-Fi ranges. When I was doing wireless stuff we'd show customers the output of RF analysers to show that even with their wifi turned off their spectrum was packed full of noise. Having a large viceral display of this would quickly enlighten them.
tzvc 8mo ago
Hackrf is defo overkill for this. I got it cause my initial plan was to cover the whole spectrum You could probably do it with a cheaper SDR, but it would be slower Total budget for this is around $1k
1e1a 8mo ago
The $5 nrf52840 should be sufficient, it can scan 114 channels (from 2400-2514 MHz) several times per second, measuring the approximate RSSI.
- bethekidyouwant 8mo ago
  You could not use that as an SDR to make a waterfall which is required in this case
  - 1e1a 8mo ago
    You do not need a full SDR to make a waterfall. The nrf52840 can function as a coarse spectrum analyzer, because it lets you tune to any frequency within its range, and then measure the approximate received signal strength over a period of time[0]. I have tested this myself, and it works pretty well. The only downside compared to an SDR is that it can only listen to one frequency at a time, so it will sometimes miss short signals. [0] https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/radio.html#ariaid-title9 https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/radio.ht...
    - bethekidyouwant 8mo ago
      I know it can switch frequencies, but I predict it wouldn’t make a very pleasing visualization if the updates are slow, but maybe you are right it would look fine for this implementation which is already far off from a waterfall
direwolf20 8mo ago
HackRF isn't a good SDR by any metric except for the date it came out.
- ipdashc 8mo ago
  What would a better alternative be?

orbsa 8mo ago

IIRC, a regular SDR dongle will not be able to process the full bandwidth of GHZ range.

pixl97 8mo ago
I do think most people implementing something like this, especially in the exact way this one was implemented would really just be interested in the Wi-Fi ranges. When I was doing wireless stuff we'd show customers the output of RF analysers to show that even with their wifi turned off their spectrum was packed full of noise. Having a large viceral display of this would quickly enlighten them.

tzvc 8mo ago

Hackrf is defo overkill for this. I got it cause my initial plan was to cover the whole spectrum You could probably do it with a cheaper SDR, but it would be slower Total budget for this is around $1k

1e1a 8mo ago

The $5 nrf52840 should be sufficient, it can scan 114 channels (from 2400-2514 MHz) several times per second, measuring the approximate RSSI.

bethekidyouwant 8mo ago
You could not use that as an SDR to make a waterfall which is required in this case
- 1e1a 8mo ago
  You do not need a full SDR to make a waterfall. The nrf52840 can function as a coarse spectrum analyzer, because it lets you tune to any frequency within its range, and then measure the approximate received signal strength over a period of time[0]. I have tested this myself, and it works pretty well. The only downside compared to an SDR is that it can only listen to one frequency at a time, so it will sometimes miss short signals. [0] https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/radio.html#ariaid-title9 https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ps_nrf52840/page/radio.ht...
  - bethekidyouwant 8mo ago
    I know it can switch frequencies, but I predict it wouldn’t make a very pleasing visualization if the updates are slow, but maybe you are right it would look fine for this implementation which is already far off from a waterfall

direwolf20 8mo ago

HackRF isn't a good SDR by any metric except for the date it came out.

ipdashc 8mo ago
What would a better alternative be?