Hardware Librevna

librevna

LibreVNA — open-hardware two-port vector network analyser, 100 kHz to 6 GHz, over USB

Vendor: LibreVNA project (open hardware)

Status: untested — catalogued from documented sources, not yet proven here.

Not maintainer-verified: nobody on this project has run this hardware yet. The two facts are recorded separately on purpose (D-027) — a correct recipe and a tested device are different claims.

What it is

An open-hardware vector network analyser: two ports, 100 kHz to 6 GHz, measuring reflection and transmission (S11, S21, S12, S22) for antennas, filters, amplifiers and cables. It also works as a spectrum analyser and a signal generator. Hardware, firmware and the PC program are all published under open licences by the project.

What you can do with it

Tune and check an antenna across a band, measure a filter's passband or a cable's loss and length, and see where an amplifier is matched -- the work nanovna-saver does for a NanoVNA, for this instrument. Everything goes through the librevna program, which has a firmware-update dialog (firmwareupdatedialog.cpp); the device has no screen of its own.

Setup

Install librevna. The device is opened through libusb, so the account needs access to the raw USB device: upstream's README installs its own udev rule, which sets MODE 0666 (every user on the machine). This entry asks for plugdev instead, and because its identifiers are unconfirmed no rule is generated from it yet: until one is, the program finds the device only when run with access to it. Calibrate before every measurement session, with a calibration kit at the end of the cable you will measure through.

Known problems

Upstream's own udev rule makes the matching USB devices writable by every account on the machine (MODE 0666, no group). That rule is not installed by this project. The GUI can also update the device's firmware; that writes to the device, and nothing here has done it. Unmeasured here: the device itself, on any target.

How it identifies itself

USB id	What	Confirmed	Node
1209:4121	LibreVNA	no	libusb
0483:4121	LibreVNA, on STMicroelectronics' vendor identifier	no	libusb
0483:564e	LibreVNA, the original identifier	no	libusb

What is not yet known

The three identifiers this entry carries are the ones upstream's GUI accepts as a LibreVNA (librevnausbdriver.cpp at v1.6.5) and the three its own udev rule names; which one a given unit presents, by hardware revision and firmware, has not been seen on a bench here. The maintainer does not own one, so closing this needs lsusb output from an owner. Upstream's LibreCAL calibration kit is a separate device (0483:4122, 1209:4122) and is not carried.

Who can close it: nobody on this project owns one — an operator who does can close it with one lsusb (how).

Access and permissions

Group membership required: plugdev — added at install, applies at next login.

Software that makes it useful

librevna

Upstream: https://github.com/jankae/LibreVNA