Setting up RTL SDR

• Windows
• Mac OSX
• Linux

As part of the setup, you can use a spectrum viewer such as SDRSharp or GQRX. Both pieces of software can also decode FM/AM radio and play it using your sound card.

Setting up Matlab/Octave

Matlab and Octave allow you to create programs which work on matrices. They are highly flexible and easily allow visualization of various data. Matlab is commercial software, whereas Octave is open source software.

In this course, all material will aim to be both MATLAB and Octave compatible. Matlab is quite a mature piece of software with an excellent user interface. Octave on the other hand, only recently has a user-interface.

If you would like to use Octave in this course, here are some setup guides:

• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Linux

Setting up GnuRadio

GnuRadio is a toolkit for communication signal processing. It features a tool called gnuradio-companion which connects different blocks together. It is written in Python / C++. Modules you write are also written in Python and/or C++.

• Windows - recently this is also possible!
• Linux
• Mac OSX

After you set up Gnuradio, and you may want to develop your own blocks for it. Some of the tasks we will be doing in class this semester will require your own blocks.

• Guide to developing your own blocks in Gnuradio