Capture and Visualisation of Radio Signals with an Open Source, Single Chip Spectrum Analyser

Abstract

This demonstration will present a single chip spectrum analyser that has been developed using the Xilinx Zynq Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC), and the PYNQ software framework. The design uses the RFSoC’s high speed Radio Frequency Analogue to Digital Converters (RF ADCs) to capture 2.048 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth and directly sample signals at frequencies up to 4.096 GHz using higher order Nyquist Zone techniques. All signal processing, software control, and graphical user interface functions are hosted entirely on the same RFSoC chip. As well as presenting the functionality achieved by the spectrum analyser, we will describe its underlying architecture and demonstrate its use in exploring the radio spectrum by showing examples of ambient signals.