Saturday, June 02, 2018

Will We See The RFSpace CloudSDR This Year?

The excellent 0-56 MHz Cloud-IQ has been out for quite some time, and will likely have HDSDR support in not too long, along with the NetSDR. Its "big brother", the CloudSDR, was expected to arrive not much later, but apparently has been delayed. Recent tweets from RFSpace may indicate that it may be on its way. Their web page state Q4-2018 for release.

The CloudSDR uses a 122.88 MHz ADC for the HF part up to 56 MHz, and a silicon tuner above, up to 1000 MHz or more. It may look like the HF is part is just another Cloud-IQ, but its spurious-free dynamic range is 7 dB better, and it has 3 dB better SNR. Sensitivity claims are identical.

The I/Q sampling on the tweet images is 2048000 Hz, a bit more than the Cloud-IQ which stops at 1807058 Hz (1536 kHz alias-free). I guess VHF DX-ers would love to be able to sample a lot more. but there is no indication of that so far.

There are separate antenna inputs for HF and VHF/UHF use. I  have been wondering if the CloudSDR would offer the same dual-antenna, software-selectable input as the Cloud-IQ has. The latest 3D model may suggest such a solution, as an "Aux RF" input has been added. It would be very cool to be able to change antennas via software

There are two other inputs as well, one for 10-MHz reference, and one trigger input, neither found on its smaller brother.

Input voltage will be 5VDC, and preliminary specs suggest that it needs 1.3mA, a little less than the NetSDR. The Cloud-IQ can be powered from a USB 3.0 port (even a good-quality USB 2.0 port), which makes it a perfect SDR for a mobile setup with a PC connected to a 12VDC battery. I hope that the CloudSDR's final design will require a little less current.

The MSRP is USD 999. We'll see if it ends up there.
All images from RFSpace.


4 comments:

Karel Honzík said...

Bjarne, it is interesting and strange at the same time: the RFSpace CloudSDR was tested already in January 2015, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06T7Pspfz8g
Now it is new again. How is that possible?

Thanks, Karel

Anonymous said...

Karel,

A few prototypes were built.
In the process of testing, a much bigger FPGA (Xilinx Artix 7) was decided for.

This gives the CloudSDR much more "on board" processing power.
And more power, higher resolution and possibly more features means more data more and developing time :-)

I am definately still looking forward to it!

73
Paul
PD0SWL

Anonymous said...

BTW: Apparantly a digital up conversion transmitter (DUC) board for CloudSDR is also under development.
You may have noticed the "PTT" button in RemoteSdrClient.

73!
Paul

Karel Honzík said...

Paul, thank you very much.

73, Karel