enumerate_sdrs

enumerate_sdrs

enumerate_sdrs is a command-line program that enumerates the properties of SDR dongles and exercises some of the functionality of the SDRs. For example, enumerate_sdrs:

• Lists all attached SDRs;
• For each SDR:
  • properties such as the driver name, serial number, manufacturer, and tuner name;
  • settings: these values differ for each SDR type (manufacturer). They may include:
    • direct sampling mode (off, I, Q)
    • whether offset tuning is supported
    • whether I and Q channels are swapped
    • digital AGC mode
    • whether bias-tee is on or off (only if the SDR supports Bias_Tee pass-through)
  • UART properties if supported
  • master clock rate and whether there are any clock sources
  • for each TX and RX channel:
    • is frontend mapping supported?
    • number of channels (for many SDRs, there is one RX channel and no TX channels)
    • for each channel:
      • settings and channel information
      • number and names of antennas
      • currently selected antenna
      • baseband filter width
      • bandwidth ranges
      • whether the channel supports AGC and whether it is enabled
      • current AGC gain value
      • the channel gain elements (e.g. TUNER, IF, etc.) and the range of gain values for each element
      • sample rate
      • frequency ranges
      • tunable elements (e.g. RF)
        • frequency range
        • currently set center frequency (in Hertz)
        • frequency correction (in parts per million)
      • supported stream formats
      • native stream format
      • set up the first stream
        • read a number of stream buffers and output first four and last four values of each buffer

This information is especially useful for providing support in jsdr for SDR dongles that the developers do not have access to.

Command-Line

enumerate_sdrs may be called from a terminal as follows: enumerate_sdrs [options]

The following options are supported:

--debug: By default, enumerate_sdrs prints out all information as listed above as well as error messages. The debug option also turns on the logging of debug information, which may be of value to debug the program if enumerate_sdrs aborts or terminates due to an unexpected error condition.

--help: Prints a short usage message including information on the other options.

--out [log file name] or --out=[log file name]: Changes the log file name from the default: ~/enumerate_sdrs.log to the specified log file.