The UDOO x86 is a smart little single board computer that is packed with features. The Advanced Plus version used in this demo integrates a quad-core 2.4 GHz processor with 4 GB DDR3 RAM, 32 GB eMMC storage (with support for SATA, M.2, and microSD), Gigabit Ethernet, 3 x USB 3.0, HDMI, 2 x miniDP++, and an Arduino-compatible MCU with a bunch of GPIO.

What’s particularly interesting for our use case is that the UDOO x86 board also has Intel HD 400 graphics which are supported by the Intel OpenCL SDK, meaning that we can use it with the immensely cool fosphor block for GNU Radio to provide an RTSA-like (real-time spectrum analyser) display. Unfortunately, fosphor use is not possible with many SBCs since it requires OpenCL-capable hardware for accelerating DSP functions and OpenGL for graphics display.

In the video below, I run up the osmocom_fft application in fosphor mode and give a quick demo showing some 433 MHz remote and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signals being displayed. While limited signals were available to show due to the small antennas attached and the workshop being something of a Faraday cage, it’s easy to see how this hardware combination could be put to use in creating an incredibly useful lab tool at a very low cost, with no shortage of other potential uses also.

Andrew and the LimeSDR Mini Team