Measuring RSS for Radio Environment Map Construction

[byilmaz]

Hi,

We want to setup a small Radio Environment Map testbed via deploying 20-30 lowcost RSS measuring devices in our campus.

We want to measure the recived signal strength within 2W bandwidth and center frequency fc (fc and 2W are not determined yet, they will be determined after determining the devices)

Could you please suggest a device for this setup.

By little search, I found in the web

1- eZ430-RF2500

2- USB-5680

any other alternative suggestions are welcomed 🙂 thx

[Chris-NI]

Hi byilmaz,

I assume your measurements will be in the high MHz to likely GHz.  Given this assumption, NI's USB power meter (the 5680 you found) will be the best solution we have, but it may be overkill for your application.  Since most of our products (especially RF ones) are meant for lab/industrial grade measurements, the accuracy et al. specs will likely exceed your needs to monitor power in the air.

Of course, if you think you need the performance of our USB power meter, we can look at that further if you'd like more information.

Regards,

[byilmaz]

Actually we are searching for low cost devices like eZ430-RF2500

any other suggestions?

[Chris-NI]

Hi byilmaz,

Unfortunately, NI doesn't offer anything cheaper than the 5680 for RF measurements due to the reasons I cited above.  Perhaps a non-NI employee has a non-NI recommendation .

Regards,

[ErikL]

The NI USRP is ideal for this application. I recommend the NI USRP-2930 or NI USRP-2932 because the integrated GPS provides time sync between nodes and position info as well. The API is also simple to use and the Ethernet connectivity makes it ideal for deployment.

Http://www.ni.com/usrp

[LaThoS]

I think he was looking for a cheaper alternative...

[byilmaz]

Yes we are looking for lowend devices for deploying 50-100 nodes

We decided to use RaspberryPi + DVT receiver (very cheap SDR receiver)

first we will deploy 10-20

maybe later 40 more

and bradcast the measurements to registered academic users