LibreSDR
Simon Brown • January 13, 2025
On Order
After talking on QO-100 with Mike, G0MJW, I've ordered a LibreSDR from AliExpress where it's known as "SDR AD9363 AD9361 ZYNQ7020 ADI Pluto communication experiment platform". The device is available in the OpenSourceSDRLab Store.
Reasons for the order:
- This device is becoming quite popular,
- Is compatible with the ADALM Pluto from Analog Devices,
- Has an ethernet port,
- Offers more bandwidth than the ADALM Pluto, something I've been looking for.
When it arrives and I have it working I'll report back with another blog entry.
Specification
- Using XC7Z020-2CLG400I chip 7z020-2I
- The AD9363 chip is configured as the AD9361 chip, the frequency range is 70MHz~6GHz, and the maximum sampling rate is 61.44MHz. As a result, the laboratory test shows that it is significantly different from the AD9361
- PS 1GB DDR3 32bit bit width, frequency 1066M
- 32MB QSPI Flash, support TF card
- Onboard JTAG circuit and USB to serial port, one line for power supply and debugging
- Support USB OTG, can be master or slave, all USB interfaces use TYPE-C interface, OTG mode is automatically recognized, and the USB port is turned on for power supply
- Adopt VCXO, support PPS or 10MHz tame Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
- Adopt 10-layer PCB wiring, impedance matching, signal integrity design
- The product adopts CNC shell to strengthen heat dissipation and ensure strength;
Images Etc.
Images and text in this post from
AliExpress. If the links change then just search for "Software defined radio SDR AD9363 AD9361 ZYNQ7020 ADI Pluto communication experiment platform".
All image copyright AliExpress and Open Source SDR Lab. They're not mine.
SDR Television v1.0.1 October 29th, 2025: Fixed a fatal bug in the receive AGC if the output soundcard sample rate is 96kHz or 192kHz. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
Previous: Version 1.5.2 This release fixes a bug, improves the user interface and adds a new calendar. Download link is at the bottom of this page.
And the award goes to...
Version 1.5.1 This is a mainly cosmetic update to version 1.5, nevertheless well worth installing.
SDR Television This release is actually beta 6 with a few small updates, so I've left the beta 6 text here. I hope to start working on this in November 2025, adding the Gardner timing error detection which should improve the decoding with low SNR. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
Hello Again I'm now back to 90% SDR Console support, so here's the first beta for at least eight months. Scroll to the bottom for a link to the beta kit. The source is fully archived, so crash dumps can be analysed.
SDR Television Improved phase detection at the start of each frame (SOF, PLS) which in turn improves sensitivity. Added 2,000 ksps receive, confirmed as working with GB3NQ. Sensitivity still not as good as a Serit 4334 NIM as used in the MiniTioune receiver, what's missing is synchronisation timing, I will be using Gardner timing error detection (TED). This will be added in Q1, 2026 when this project is extended for terrestrial use. Downloads are at the bottom of this page.
SDR Television Found and fixed an unused massive memory allocation (up to 10GB), may have caused systems to freeze. Fixed fatal bug in matched filter array allocation. Changed the default transmit bandpass shaping filter roll-off to 0.20 in transmit and receive. Please look at the images below and apply the change. SDR Pluto Now show the AGC gain and RSSI. Added Default link to select the recommended gain - Fast Attack, 0dB visual. Known Problems Add support for tracking transmissions with (?) non-standard PCR data, example is G8GKQ. Using Pluto & variants, sensitivity is not as good as a NIM (hardware tuner). Will compare with SPECTRAN ECO in a week or so.
Unexpected Beta #4 I wasn't planning to release another beta, but there was an error with a download link in the Blog post for Beta #3, also a few worthwhile improvements have been made, so here I go.
