SDR-based spectrum analyzer based in open-source GNU radio

Abstract

A low-cost spectrum analyzer is presented, based on a commercial software defined radio and an open-source application package. Fundamentals regarding the receiving operation and its sensitivity are presented, along with measurements, of two 8 and 12-bits software defined radio models. An application, run within GNU Radio, is presented, deployed to overcome the hardware analog-to-digital converter limitation to monitor wide bandwidths. Results are shown for two different frequency ranges, 200 MHz bandwidth.