v2021.08-gr38

gr-radio_astro

This package provides GNUradio OOT modules and grc flowgraphs that fascilates Radio Astronomy Observations with software defined radio devices.

There are two flavors of this projects:

1. NSF Integrate and Detect softwares that allow for HI measurements and also event detections from cosmic ray detections, developed by Dr. Glen Langston. See here and the lightwork memo series for more details.
2. DSPIRA software developed for and by High School Teachers part of the NSF funded RET program called Digital Signal Processing in Radio Astronomy (DSPIRA) at WVU university from the summers of 2017 to 2021. For more details visit the webpage and the companion website called dspira-lessons that has lessons, guides and more material help one to use radio astronomy in a high school classroom. This material is designed by the High School teachers part of this program.

Installing from Source

1. Install GNUradio
2. Install gnuradio external python dependencies and SDR drivers by typing the following and hit enter:

      sudo apt install gnuradio gr-osmosdr airspy python3-h5py python3-ephem git cmake liborc-0.4-dev -y
   

3. To clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro.git

4. Switch to the gr-radio_astro directory: cd gr-radio_astro
5. Make a build directory: mkdir build, and then move to it: cd build
6. Then run the following in the build directory:

   cmake ..
   sudo make
   sudo make install
   

Additional Steps for setting the proper Python environment:

8. Edit your .bashrc file and add this to the bottom to set Python path: export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH
9. Additionally you can create appropriate symbolic links
   1. Check which python is the installed version of GNURadio by opening gnuradio-companion in a terminal window and click on Help --> About and noting the python version on the dialog box that opens.
   2. Go to the following by typing: cd /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages or cd /usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages for the appropriate python version.
   3. Type ln -s /usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages/radio_astro

Running from a bootable USB Flash Drive with preinstalled software:

Instructions to set up a persistant USB flash with preinstalled software drive are here

Installng on a Raspberry Pi.

Supported Raspberry Pi Devices

All devices must have RAM greater than 4GB

1. Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
2. Raspberry Pi 400

Installing Ubuntu image with radio astronomy preinstalled on a Raspberry Pi

This image requires a minimum of 16GB of space on the SD card.

1. Download the image here
2. Unzip the .zip file.
3. Use Raspberry Pi Imager to install this image.
   1. Insert SD card into your card reader on your computer
   2. Open Raspberry Pi imager.
   3. Click Choose OS, and choose Use Custom.
   4. Select the correct image file downloaded in step 1 and 2 from your system.
   5. Click Choose storage and select your inserted SD card.
   6. Click write.
   7. More info here and a video
4. Insert SD card to Raspberry Pi and power it up.
5. The default user name is pi, with password raspberry. Change the password after first boot.

Tested Package for GNURadio 3.8 - August 2020 release

Download

From links below or clone at this tag git clone -b v2020.08-gr38 https://github.com/WVURAIL/gr-radio_astro.git

Use your existing repository with latest Version

git fetch --tags
git checkout $(git describe --tags `git rev-list --tags --max-count=1`)

FOR Ubuntu 20.04 (on a Fresh install of OS)

1. Install GNURadio

Install Guide

1. Download and unzip the source code from below and go to gr-XXX folder create a build folder

mkdir build

2. Change directory into the build folder

cd build

3. run the following commands

cmake ..
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

Additional Steps for setting the proper Python environment:

1. Open a terminal window.

2. Make sure you are at the home directory (type cd ); type gedit .bashrc. This opens the bashrc file in an editor.

3. Scroll to the very bottom of this file, add a space, and then copy and paste the following code:

   export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python3/dist-packages:/usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages:$PYTHONPATH

4. Save and close (x in upper right corner).

5. Go to the folder by typing: cd /usr/local/lib/python3.8/dist-packages

6. Type ls

7. If the folder radio_astro exists, delete it by typing sudo rm -rf radio_astro.

8. Check for proper installment by opening a new terminal window and starting Gnuradio (gnuradio-companion)

9. Run spectrometer_w_cal.grc. If no error occurs, installation was a success!

10. Run GNU Radio Companion to check if the modules were installed.

Tested package of the latest gr-radio_astro for GNUradio 3.8

FOR Ubuntu 20.04 (on a Fresh install of OS)

1. Install GNURadio

Install Guide

1. Download and unzip the source code from below and go to gr-XXX folder create a build folder

mkdir build

2. Change directory into the build folder

cd build

3. run the following commands

cmake ..
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

4. Run GNU Radio Companion to check if the modules were installed.

Tested package of the latest gr-radio_astro for GNUradio 3.7

Install Guide

1. Download and unzip the packages from below

mkdir build

2. Change directory into the build folder

cd build

3. run the following commands

cmake ..
sudo make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

4. Run GNU Radio Companion to check if the modules were installed.