PlutoSiege

ISM-Band RF Capture & Replay Tool for PlutoSDR

REGULATORY DISCLAIMER
RF transmission is regulated by local authorities. Replay only signals you own or are permitted to transmit, into a dummy load or at the lowest power required.

About

PlutoSiege is a terminal application (TUI) for recording and replaying short ISM-band RF bursts (e.g. 433 MHz, 868 MHz) from car remotes, garage doors, doorbells, and wireless sensors.

Built for the ADALM-Pluto (AD9363/AD9361) SDR architecture, it saves recordings in standard SigMF (Signal Metadata Format) so they can be opened in other SDR tools like URH, IQEngine, GNU Radio, or Inspectrum.

Hardware Compatibility

Fully supports both official Analog Devices ADALM-Pluto hardware (Rev. B / Rev. C) and third-party clones/analogues based on the same AD9363/AD9361 transceivers (such as Pluto Nano, Pluto Plus, and other custom PlutoSDR boards).

Features

• Level Metering: Real-time dBFS level meter with saturation (SAT!) warning.
• Threshold Detection: Automated noise floor estimation or manual threshold setting.
• Pre-Trigger Buffer: Keeps a ring buffer of history before trigger so preambles are not missed.
• SigMF Format: Saves .sigmf-meta and .sigmf-data pairs.
• GPS Geotagging: Records precise coordinates in SigMF metadata via gpsd and displays geotags during replay.
• Digital Loopback Test: Built-in test screen to check hardware loopback and SNR.
• Linux Native: Built and optimized specifically for Linux environments (supports all major distribution families: Debian-based, RPM-based, Arch-based, etc.).

Installation

1. System Drivers (libiio)

Install the required IIO system drivers for your distribution family:

Debian-based (Ubuntu, Debian, Kali, Mint, etc.):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y libiio0 libiio-dev libiio-utils

RPM-based (Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Rocky, etc.):

sudo dnf install -y libiio python3-iio libiio-utils

Arch-based (Arch Linux, Manjaro, etc.):

sudo pacman -S libiio

2. Optional: GPS Support (gpsd)

If you plan to use GPS geotagging for SigMF recordings, install the gpsd daemon and tools:

Debian-based:

sudo apt install -y gpsd gpsd-clients

RPM-based:

sudo dnf install -y gpsd gpsd-clients

Arch-based:

sudo pacman -S gpsd

Note: Configure and start the gpsd service according to your specific GPS receiver hardware (USB dongle, UART module, Bluetooth, or virtual source) so that it listens on 127.0.0.1:2947. Once running, enable GPS in PlutoSiege Settings (Enable GPS (gpsd): yes).

3. Install & Run PlutoSiege

Option A: Via pip / pipx (Recommended)

Install directly from PyPI:

pipx install pluto_siege
# or: pip install pluto_siege

Launch from any terminal:

pluto_siege

Option B: From Source (Clone Repository)

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/SketchTurnerDev/pluto_siege.git
cd pluto_siege
pip install -r requirements.txt

Launch via the main script:

python pluto_siege.py
# or: python -m pluto_siege

Demo

Application Menu

The main menu provides access to all core operations:

1. Capture

Listens for incoming RF bursts on the configured receiver frequency (rx_freq).

• Real-time dBFS level meter with saturation (SAT!) warnings.
• Automated noise floor estimation or manual threshold detection.
• Pre-trigger history ring buffer to preserve signal preambles.
• Saves captures as standard SigMF (.sigmf-meta and .sigmf-data) pairs with optional GPS geolocation tags.

2. Transmit

Browse and replay saved SigMF recordings.

• Displays recorded timestamp, center frequency, sample rate, sample count, and GPS coordinates.
• Replays signals via the PlutoSDR transmitter on the configured frequency (tx_freq).
• In-place deletion of unwanted recordings (D or Delete).

3. Loopback Test

Internal hardware diagnostic to verify the SDR transceiver and USB/DMA pipeline.

• Transmits an internal digital test tone through the AD936x loopback path.
• Calculates received Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) to confirm hardware health.

4. Settings

Configures radio parameters, trigger behavior, GPS integration, and interface preferences. Settings can be edited directly in the TUI and are saved to settings.json.

License

Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). See LICENSE for details.