Wideband Spectrum Analyzer with USRP X300 @ UoSC E-Week Open House for K-12 outreach programs

Post date: Feb 23, 2020 6:5:39 PM

Here is the snapshot of a simple wideband spectrum analyzer that I have developed with my USRP X300 + UBX160 for the University of South Carolina E-Week Open House for K-12 outreach programs.

https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/engineering_and_computing/outreach/eweek/

I capture the signal for 50 MHz BW (I decimate the signal by a factor of 4, but it is adjustable), change the carrier frequency of the radio, and do the acquisition again. After calculating&stitching the power spectral densities, I can monitor the activity for a large bandwidth such as 3 GHz span with this simple method. I used a single antenna for the demonstration. The GUI is in MATLAB. The MATLAB codes are attached. For other USRPs, you may need to modify the code slightly.

The code worked 3 hours non-stop during the event. However, I don't claim there are no bugs :)

Please feel free to use/modify the code for your lectures/demonstrations or even research. We don't really need very expensive VSAs to do basic things!