Inside Frequency Control

RF engineering is a massive and growing industry. Over the last quarter-century, it has gone from simple commercial radio, TV and military communication/detection systems to being an indispensable field of technology that is required for the global economy to function. Wi-Fi, satellite communications, 4G networks and more are all made possible by RF technology, and with exciting developments like 5G and “Space 2.0” just around the corner, the demand for skilled RF engineers is only going to increase. So, if you’re an aspiring engineer who wants to get in on the action, where do you start?

RF engineering is an indispensable part of human space activity. In both the commercial and government spheres, radio frequency signals serve as the backbone of all communication systems between spacecraft, satellites and their control centers on Earth, as well as critical satellite navigation and telecommunications infrastructure used on the surface.

The Need for "Out-of-this-World" RF Engineers

A Radio Frequency (RF) engineers are responsible for all the wireless communication equipment found aboard a spacecraft. This includes being in charge of: 

• Designing
• Constructing
• Maintaining all the wireless communication equipment

Since the radio frequency signals are the sole means of communication between a spacecraft in orbit and the Earth-based mission control, this is a very important position that entails a great deal of responsibility and scientific expertise.  Want some more details? You got it! We'll cover it all for you in this post!

Hope we have enough SPACE! (Sorry bad joke...moving on!)

A millimeter wave radar provides a set of eyes for a vehicle, making navigation easier and giving the driver more control over the vehicle. The military was the first to take advantage of this technology, and millimeter wave radars were used to make the flight of aircrafts safer in the 1950s and 60s.

What You're About to Discover

You can have the best equipment at your disposal, and even that doesn't guarantee a strong, constant radio frequency signal that you can use to carry out your work. There are a host of factors responsible for signal strength, and many depend on the immediate environment of the location where you are trying to catch a signal. By the end of this post, you'll get an understanding of the different types of interference and how to eliminate them in your future designs.

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TL;DR:

PSRR filtering is becoming more and more difficult for engineers to incorporate into timing designs. In this post, we explain why this is, what PSSR is in the first place, and the best ways to avoid the dreaded "supply ripple". You'll have a strong understanding of the problems and solutions that arise from PSRR by the end of this post. 

Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are constantly evolving. It seems like "the latest and greatest" SDRs are always popping up somewhere with today's rapidly growing technology. We thought it'd be helpful to provide you with some of the most popular and top rated SDRs in today's market.

CHECK OUT OUR 2018 UPDATE HERE.

We tried to include a wide variation of prices, applications, frequencies, and ease of use on the following list. This way, it'll be more likely that you'll find the best Software Defined Radio for your needs in the following list. 

Without further ado, here are 12 great Software Defined Radios for you!

*Descriptions taken from product pages
**Disclosure: This post that contains affiliate links.

1. RTL-SDR (R820T RTL2832U)

• What a great place to start! This RTL-SDR is cheap and great for beginners or those on a budget. 
• Applications include general radio scanning, air traffic control, public safety radio, ADSB, AIS, ACARS, trunked radio, P25 digital voice, POCSAG, weather balloons, APRS, NOAA APT weather satellites, radio astronomy, meteor scatter monitorin, and more
• Frequency: 500 kHz to 1.7 GHz and has up to 3.2 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth

2. Red Pitaya

3. NooElec NESDR

• Included: NooElec USB dongle, antenna, remote control
• RTL2832U interface IC & R820T tuner IC on USB dongle
• Full compatibility with a large array of software packages

4. Quadrus

• DRU-244A-1-1-PCI SDR hardware digitizer
• 1 ADC chip with 1 analog input
• 1 DDC chip with 4 radio channels

5. HackRF One

• Operating Frequency: 1 MHz to 6 GHz
• Matching male SMA ANT500 antenna & USB cable included
• Compatible with GNU Radio, SDR#, and more

6. RPD-100

• 6U Compact-PCI form factor hardware development platform that can be used for a variety of applications, such as Software Defined Radio.
• Optimized to provide high performance signal conversion using high speed ADC’s and DAC’s.
• Other applications: WiMAX, Satellite MODEM's, RFID, Wireless Communication Systems

7. Ubertooth One

• 2.4 GHz Transmit and Receive.
• Suitable for Bluetooth experimentation
• Can also operate in monitor mode, monitoring Bluetooth traffic in real-time.

8. Usmile

• Frequency: 100KHz-1.7GHz
• Built-in 100Mhz upconverter combined with Built-in HD R820T allow better receiving of short wave than using direct SDR’s Q tunnel
• Easy to set-up, just connect it and you’re ready to go!

9. AirSpy

• Alternative to both cost sensitive and higher end scanners while featuring the "best radio browsing experience of the market" thanks to the tight integration with the de facto standard SDR# software.
  
• External GPS or Rubidium clocks supported for professional use
• Full HF Coverage

10. National Instruments USRP

• Flexible and affordable transceiver that turns a standard PC into a powerful wireless prototyping system.
• Supports multirate DSP for physical layer communications and helps you integrate .m file scripts and C language algorithms.

11. ThinkRF's WSA5000

•  Large frequency range of 100 kHz up to 27 GHz and wide instantaneous bandwidth of up to 100 MHz.
• Supports 160 MHz instantaneous bandwidth

12. Seeedstudio KiwiSDR Kit

• SDR covers the 10 kHz to 30 MHz (VLF-HF) spectrum.
• Demodulation modes: AM, AMN, LSB, USB, CW, CWN, NBFM.
• RF antenna connector: SMA and terminal block.
• GPS receives the Navstar system on L1 frequency 1575.42 MHz.

Are You Experiencing Phase Noise in your Applications?

Phase noise is a pain. Learn about phase noise and how to instantly eliminate it in amplifiers, radars, and communication systems. 

Full Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a small commission in you click through and make a purchase.