Installing gr radio_astro - WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro GitHub Wiki

Installing gr-radio_astro for GNURadio 3.7

GNURadio 3.7 is not longer support. gr37_maint branch is the last 3.7 codebase.

Installing gr-radio_astro for GNUradio 3.8

GNURadio 3.8 is the latest GNURadio version, the package has been completely reworked to work with GNURadio 3.8 and python 3.

Note: on Ubuntu 20.04 apt has GNUradio 3.8 is installed by default. Ubuntu 20.04 and up work with this software out of the box

Aside: Installing GNURadio

  • Open Terminal
  • Install gnuradio, external python dependencies and SDR drivers

sudo apt install gnuradio gr-osmosdr airspy python3-h5py python3-ephem

  • Also install the following packages

sudo apt install git cmake liborc-0.4-dev

Installing the latest tested build

  • Unzip the build release v2020.08-gr38 and move to the unzipped gr-radio_astro folder
  • make a build directory mkdir build and go inside it cd build
  • run the following in the build directory
cmake ..
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

and then run the following command to make sure it is installed in the python environment the same as GNURadio

Additional Steps for setting the proper Python environment:

  1. Open a terminal window.

  2. Make sure you are at the home directory (type cd ); type gedit .bashrc. This opens the bashrc file in an editor.

  3. Scroll to the very bottom of this file, add a space, and then copy and paste the following code:

    export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH

  4. Save and close (x in upper right corner).

  5. Go to the folder by typing: cd /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages

  6. Type ls

  7. If the folder radio_astro exists, delete it by typing sudo rm -rf radio_astro.

  8. Check for proper installment by opening a new terminal window and starting Gnuradio (gnuradio-companion)

  9. Run spectrometer_w_cal.grc. If no error occurs, installation was a success!

Installing from github

  • Open Terminal
  • Clone the repository

git clone -b v2020.08-gr38 https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro.git

  • Move into the cloned repository cd gr-radio_astro
  • make a build directory mkdir build and go inside it cd build
  • run the following in the build directory
cmake ..
sudo make
sudo make install

Additional Steps for setting the proper Python environment:

  1. Open a terminal window.

  2. Make sure you are at the home directory (type cd ); type gedit .bashrc. This opens the bashrc file in an editor.

  3. Scroll to the very bottom of this file, add a space, and then copy and paste the following code:

    export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH

  4. Save and close (x in upper right corner).

  5. Go to the folder by typing: cd /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages

  6. Type ls

  7. If the folder radio_astro exists, delete it by typing sudo rm -rf radio_astro.

  8. Check for proper installment by opening a new terminal window and starting Gnuradio (gnuradio-companion)

  9. Run spectrometer_w_cal.grc. If no error occurs, installation was a success!

developing for GNURadio 3.8

Restrict all development and testing to the gr38-dev branch

  • switch to the gr38_dev branch
git clone http://www.github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro
cd gr-radio_astro
git checkout gr38_dev

  • Submit pull request to merge into the gr38 release branch

  • A simple way to do this on github.com is by going to this Link. Compare the changes, of satisfied click the create pull request button.