SDRConnect

Modern Python library for SDR connectivity and data collection. Focused exclusively on connecting to SDR devices and collecting raw IQ data.

Features

• SpyServer Support: Connect to SpyServer instances for remote SDR access
• Modern Python: Built with Python 3.8+ and modern packaging standards
• Simple API: Clean, intuitive interface for SDR data collection
• Type Hints: Full type annotation support
• Extensible: Easy to add new SDR backends

Installation

pip install sdrconnect

Quick Start

SpyServer Example

import sdrconnect as sdr
import numpy as np

# Create configuration for SpyServer
config = sdr.SDRConfig(
    host="localhost",  # Change to your SpyServer host
    port=5555,         # Change to your SpyServer port
    frequency=100_000_000,  # 100 MHz
    timeout=5.0
)

try:
    # Create and connect to SpyServer
    print("Connecting to SpyServer...")
    client = sdr.SpyServerClient(config)
    
    with client:
        # Set up the SDR
        client.set_frequency(config.frequency)
        client.set_sample_rate(config.sample_rate)
        client.set_gain(None)  # Auto gain
        
        # Start streaming
        print("Starting streaming...")
        client.start_streaming()
        
        # Collect data for duration_seconds seconds
        duration_seconds = 5.0
        print(f"Collecting IQ data for {duration_seconds} seconds...")
        iq_data = client.read_samples_timeout(duration_seconds)

        # Save data for later processing
        np.save("iq_data.npy", iq_data)
        
        print(f"Collected {len(iq_data)} IQ samples")
        print(f"Sample rate: {config.sample_rate} Hz")
        print(f"Center frequency: {config.frequency / 1e6:.1f} MHz")
        
        # Analyze the data
        spectrogram, mean_psd, freq_axis, time_axis, _ = sdr.analyze_signal(
            data=iq_data,
            sample_rate=config.sample_rate,
            fft_size=1024
        )
        
        print("Analysis complete!") 
        
except sdr.SDRConnectError as e:
    print(f"Connection error: {e}")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Unexpected error: {e}")

Configuration

SDRConnect uses configuration objects for easy management:

# Create config
config = sdr.SDRConfig(
    host="localhost",
    port=5555,
    frequency=433_920_000,  # 433.92 MHz
    gain=20,                # Manual gain
    iq_format="complex64",  # or "uint8"
    timeout=30.0
)

# Save config
config.save("my_sdr_config.json")

# Load config
config = sdr.SDRConfig.load("my_sdr_config.json")

Supported SDR Devices

• SpyServer: Remote SDR access via SpyServer protocol
• RTL-SDR: Coming soon

Data Collection Best Practices

1. Use Frequency Offset: Avoid DC spikes by offsetting from your target frequency
2. Choose Appropriate Sample Rate: Balance between bandwidth and data size
3. Monitor Connection: Use context managers or proper exception handling
4. Data Format: Use uint8 for bandwidth efficiency, complex64 for precision

API Reference

SpyServerClient

• connect(): Connect to SpyServer
• disconnect(): Disconnect from SpyServer
• set_frequency(freq): Set center frequency in Hz
• set_sample_rate(rate): Set sample rate in Hz
• set_gain(gain): Set gain (None for auto)
• start_streaming(): Start IQ streaming
• stop_streaming(): Stop IQ streaming
• read_samples(n): Read n samples
• read_samples_timeout(duration): Read for duration seconds

SDRConfig

Configuration class with validation and JSON serialization support.

Author

Isak Ruas - isakruas@gmail.com

License

Apache License 2.0 - see LICENSE file for details.