A Python/webUI RF spectrum analyser

Support for rtlsdr, pluto, funcube, sdrplay (soapy), audio, socket, file.

Python processing.
Web javascript UI.
Spectrums are done at the sample rate.
Useful for detecting short bursting signals.
Plugin architecture for sources and analysis of spectrums.
Snapshot file upon an event, currently a manual trigger.
Has a web based UI that can be used to take measurements on the spectrum.
Processing runs with no web client attached.

This was an exercise in writing some python which expanded into providing a web based UI. The fft computations are done by libraries in Python, so not the fastest.

If you have some sort of sdr working with other tools then after installing the required python dependencies it should just work.

Performance depends on your machine and how the supporting fft libraries were compiled. I have certainly kept up with streams of data at over 3Msps.

Input modules:

audio - Useful for testing
file - wav and raw binary supported, all files must be in the snapshot directory
pluto (IP) - Analog devices pluto SDR, 70MHz to 6GHz with wide open front end
rtlsdr - USB source
rtltcp - rtl over tcp
socket - A stream of IQ samples
funcube - Pro and pro+ as audio devices, hid control supported in Linux only
soapy - Support for sdrplay under Linux

Input data IQ types:

8bit offset binary
8bit 2's complement
16bit 2's complement little endian (x86)
16bit 2's complement big endian
32bit ieee float little endian
32bit ieee float big endian

Problems

If the programme exceptions immediately, check the dependencies.
funcube will exception under windows when closed, which we do when changing the source

Installation - windows

Should be similar to the linux install, but

No support for hid control of funcube, we can stream samples but not control the device.
No support for sdrplay, as we don't have SoapySDR support - don't know how to install on windows.

Installation - linux

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/naj1024/pyspectrum.git

Edit requirements.txt for required input sources.

vi ./pyspectrum/src/requirements.txt

I'm using pipenv for a virtual environment.

pipenv shell
pip install -r ./pyspectrum/src/requirements.txt

Run, then connect to localhost:8080 in a browser

python3 ./pyspectrum/src/SpectrumAnalyser.py

Soapy support - linux

The easiest way to get SoapySDR support is to install it from your distributions repository

apt install python3-soapysdr
dpkg -L dpkg -L python3-soapysdr

then copy to your virtual environment, say it is called sid-xxxx

cp /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/SoapySDR.py ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/sid-xxxx/lib/python3.9/site-packages/
cp /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/_SoapySDR.cpython-39-x86_64-linux-gnu.so ~/.local/share/virtualenvs/sid-xxxx/lib/python3.9/site-packages/

TODO

hackrf input would be nice to try, don't have one :(
Detect and record automatically

Tested with the following:

Windows: audio, file, pluto, rtlsdr, rtltcp, socket, funcube
Linux  : audio, file, pluto, rtlsdr, rtltcp, socket, funcube
         soapy(audio, rtlsdr, sdrplay)

On windows make sure you have the correct rlibrtlsdr.dll for your python 32bit/64bit

Examples

Some examples for running from command line

python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py         - Then goto http://127.0.0.1:8080 and configure the source

python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -h      - help

python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -i?     - list input sources that are available

Some default input selections, you normally select through web interface:

  python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -ipluto:192.168.2.1 -c433.92e6 -s600e3   - pluto at 433MHz and 600ksps

  python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -ipluto:192.168.2.1 -c433.92e6 -s1e6 
                          --plugin analysis:peak:threshold:12 
                          --plugin report:mqtt:broker:192.168.0.101     - detect and log signals

  python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -ifile:test.wav -c433.92e6    - a test wav file

  python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -iaudio:1 -s48e3 -iaudio:1    - audio input 

  python ./SpectrumAnalyser.py -irtlsdr:kk -c433.92e6 -s1e6   - rtlsdr

SOAPY:
  python ./src/SpectrumAnalyser.py -isoapy:audio -s48000 -c0  - soapy input
  python ./src/SpectrumAnalyser.py -isoapy:sdrplay -s2e6 c433.92e6

Dependencies

The following python modules should be installed. Optional ones provide specific capabilities.

Required:
    numpy
    websockets
    matplotlib
    
Testing:
    pytest
    
Optional:
    scipy       - another FFT library
    pyfftw      - another FFT library, faster above 8k size (for me)
    pyadi-iio   - pluto device
    iio         - pluto device
    pyrtlsdr    - rtlsdr devices
    sounddevice - audio and funcube devices
    soapysdr    - soapy support
    paho-mqtt   - mqtt plugin (client)
    hid         - funcube control through usb hid, linux only?

AD936x pluto XO support

We can add support for pluto frequency correction in ppm by adding the following to the file ad936x.py when pyadi-iio is installed. You should find the ad936x.py file under the adi directory in the site packages traversed by your environment. Insert the lines in the ad9364 class definitions.

@property
def xo_correction(self):
    return self._get_iio_dev_attr("xo_correction")

@xo_correction.setter
def xo_correction(self, value):
    self._set_iio_dev_attr_str("xo_correction", value)

taskx6004 / pyspectrum