Development of simple spectrum analyzer based on RTL-SDR

Abstract

SDR is a radio communication system in which the modulation system in hardware is replaced by software implemented on a computer or embedded system. The use of SDR is very cheap (about 20 USD) and small in size, making it cost-effective and the portability requirements are supplemented by the open source GNU radio software. This paper describes the simulation of a spectrum analyzer using SDR technology through the low-cost RTL-SDR R820T2 device, supplemented by the open source GNU radio software. The measured parameters include power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and are compared with the results of a dedicated spectrum analyzer. The experimental results show that the average GNU radio power is -15.28 dBm and the average spectrum analyzer power is -15.2 dBm, so the accuracy of the power measurement on GNU Radio reaches 99.47%, while the average spectrum analyzer SNR is 54.2 and GNU radio SNR is 54.32, so the accuracy of the SNR measurement in GNU Radio reaches 99.78%.

Keywords: RTL-SDR; spectrum analyzer; software defined radio.