SDR Workshop « BSidesROC

SDR Workshop

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Seating for this workshop is limited, so Register Now!

Presented by

  • Jon Szymaniak – one of the developers from Nuand’s BladeRF
  • Alex Page – our local SDR guru and PHD student.

Workshop Overview

Software-defined radios such as the USRP have been available for many years, allowing you to use the same piece of hardware for very different projects/purposes.  Unfortunately, they’re relatively expensive – typically, $1000+. In the last few years, though, the cost of entry into SDR has dropped dramatically due to the emergence of USRP alternatives such as RTLSDR and bladeRF.

In last year’s SDR workshop, we gave lots of examples of projects you could do with RTLSDR, and pointed to the software you could use to do them.  However, we didn’t have time to get into the details of that software, or explain any radio theory.  This year, we are expanding the SDR workshop into a longer, more comprehensive session to cover those topics.

In the beginning, we will talk about radio fundamentals: bandwidth, sampling, modulation, coding, etc.  This will provide you with enough background to understand how things communicate using RF.  Then, we will move on to an example application using gnuradio and other tools.  You will follow along with your own laptop and SDR as we reverse-engineering something wireless and then – if your SDR can transmit – mess with it.