A Software Defined Radio for Everyone

LimeSDR is a low cost, open source, apps-enabled (more on that later) software defined radio (SDR) platform that can be used to support just about any type of wireless communication standard. LimeSDR can send and receive UMTS, LTE, GSM, LoRa, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, and Digital Broadcasting, to name but a few.

While most SDRs have remained in the domain of RF and protocol experts, LimeSDR is usable by anyone familiar with the idea of an app store - it’s the first SDR to integrate with Snappy Ubuntu Core. This means you can easily download new LimeSDR apps from developers around the world. If you’re a developer yourself, you can share and/or sell your LimeSDR apps through Snappy Ubuntu Core as well.

The LimeSDR platform gives students, inventors, and developers an intelligent and flexible device for manipulating wireless signals, so they can learn, experiment, and develop with freedom from limited functionality and expensive proprietary devices.

From Radio Astronomy to Personal Telcos

Here are just some of the applications that are possible with the LimeSDR:

Radio astronomy
RADAR
2G to 4G cellular basestation
Media streaming
IoT gateway
HAM radio
Wireless keyboard and mice emulation and detection
Tire pressure monitoring systems
Aviation transponders
Utility meters
Drone command and control
Test and measurement:
Many more...

With state-of-the-art technical specs, fully open hardware and toolchain, and integration with Snappy Ubuntu Core’s app distribution platform, LimeSDR is limited only by our collective imagination.

Features & Specifications:

RF Transceiver: Lime Microsystems LMS7002M MIMO FPRF (Datasheet)
FPGA: Altera Cyclone IV EP4CE40F23 - also compatible with EP4CE30F23
Memory: 256 MBytes DDR2 SDRAM
USB 3.0 controller: Cypress USB 3.0 CYUSB3014-BZXC
Oscillator: Rakon RPT7050A @30.72MHz (Datasheet)
Continuous frequency range: 100 kHz – 3.8 GHz
Bandwidth: 61.44 MHz
RF connection: 10 U.FL connectors (6 RX, 4 TX)
Power Output (CW): up to 10 dBm
Multiplexing: 2x2 MIMO
Power: micro USB connector or optional external power supply
Status indicators: programmable LEDs
Dimensions: 100 mm x 60 mm
Antenna accessory pack pledge
Four antennas with SMA connectors included
Four U.FL to SMA cables included - 8" (~203mm) cable, not measuring connectors

Block Diagram:

Comparisons:

HackRF One	Ettus B200	Ettus B210	BladeRF x40	RTL-SDR	LimeSDR
Frequency Range	1MHz-6GHz	70MHz-6GHz	70MHz-6GHz	300MHz-3.8GHz	22MHz-2.2GHz	100kHz-3.8GHz
RF Bandwidth	20MHz	61.44MHz	61.44MHz	40MHz	3.2MHz	61.44MHz
Sample Depth	8 bits	12 bits	12 bits	12 bits	8 bits	12 bits
Sample Rate	20MSPS	61.44MSPS	61.44MSPS	40MSPS	3.2MSPS	61.44MSPS (Limited by USB 3.0 data rate)
Transmitter Channels	1	1	2	1	0	2
Receivers	1	1	2	1	1	2
Duplex	Half	Full	Full	Full	N/A	Full
Interface	USB 2.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 3.0	USB 2.0	USB 3.0
Programmable Logic Gates	64 macrocell CPLD	75k	100k	40k (115k avail)	N/A	40k
Chipset	MAX5864, MAX2837, RFFC5072	AD9364	AD9361	LMS6002M	RTL2832U	LMS7002M
Open Source	Full	Schematic, Firmware	Schematic, Firmware	Schematic, Firmware	No	Full
Oscillator Precision	+/-20ppm	+/-2ppm	+/-2ppm	+/-1ppm	?	+/-1ppm initial, +/-4ppm stable
Transmit Power	-10dBm+ (15dBm @ 2.4GHz)	10dBm+	10dBm+	6dBm	N/A	0 to 10dBm (depending on frequency)
Price	$299	$686	$1,119	$420 ($650)	~$10	$299 ($289 pre-order)

Free and Open Source

Over the last three years, we’ve worked on numerous open source projects, all made available through Myriad-RF. This is no different, open source is central to LimeSDR:

Board schematics: Altium project files available under CC BY 3.0 licence.
Board layout: Altium project files available under CC BY 3.0 licence.
Manufacturing: Gerbers, drill, and pick & place files are also available under CC BY 3.0 licence.
FPGA: Altera Quartus project available under CC BY 3.0 licence.
Host connectivity: Cypress FX3 USB 3.0 controller firmware sources available under Apache 2.0 licence.
Host software: driver and GUI sources available under Apache 2.0 licence.
Programming toolchain packages: GNU Radio, Pothos, SoapySDR, UHD.
Documentation: transceiver datasheets are NDA-free.
Downloadable apps: Snappy Ubuntu Core, licensing up to app developers.

Like the move to open source software with general purpose computers, the programmable, fully open source LimeSDR represents a fundamental shift away from the traditionally single-function and heavily proprietary wireless domain.

Robust Developer Toolchain

We’ve put significant effort into ensuring that backers will have a first class out-of-box experience by providing support for a vast array of open source SDR ecosystem software. This is thanks to a host driver architecture that supports both the SoapySDR and UHD APIs. With this support, you can be up and running with many existing applications in no time at all. In addition to providing the streaming interface, the driver also supports advanced features such as timed TX bursts and RX sample timestamps, as required for use with GSM and other time-sensitive protocols.

Detailed Use Case: Wireless Multi-tool

LimeSDR and its toolchain have already been used to create a Wireless Multi-tool for IoT, including complete source code that demonstrates:

Bluetooth Low Energy decoding

RC mains switch control

Integration of BLE decoding with RC mains switch control

Of course, these examples don’t take advantage of the performance and high data rates available with LimeSDR, but they do demonstrate the basics.

Host Driver

The LimeSDR’s host driver is built on top of Lime Suite, a low level library that takes care of programming and calibration for the LMS7002M FPRF transceiver. Lime Suite also provides a GUI that lets you directly read and write to registers, update the Cypress FX3 USB 3.0 controller firmware and Altera Cyclone IV FPGA bitstream, and display FFT plots.

We used SoapySDR, the vendor/platform neutral SDR support library, to provide a C++ API with C wrapper and Python bindings. This architecture is modular and supports plugins, such as the UHD module, which lets LimeSDR use the UHDTM API, allowing access to a diverse array of existing SDR ecosystem software. The library also enables remote access support, which allows LimeSDR to be accessed transparently over the network by applications running on other hosts.

Rapid application development is further enhanced with the combination of Pothos dataflow programming software suite and GNU Radio. With an extensive collection of DSP and related blocks, together with GUI environments that allow all manner of applications — from Bluetooth and WiFi to RADAR and radio astronomy — this combo lets you rapidly and easily build an application stack.

The development environment is made even more accessible by the fact that the host driver, Lime Suite, and SoapySDR are all open source, as are Pothos and GNU Radio. The full Altium design database for LimeSDR, along with the USB controller firmware and FPGA RTL is also open source, meaning that if you need to implement some new firmware or FPGA feature, you can — in fact, you’re even free to make your own variant of the LimeSDR hardware and use elements of it in your own designs. In addition, a KiCAD recapture and layout is planned.

Package Includes:

1 x LimeSDR USB Type-A

LimeSDR USB Type-A

Brand: Crowd Supply
Product Code: CS-LimeSDR-USB-Type-A
Reward Points: 801
Availability: In Stock

रo 78,250.00
Price in reward points: 80174
2 or more रo 76,522.00

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LimeSDR USB Type-A

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