Packages Soapyremote Server

soapyremote-server

Serves a local SDR over the network to software on another machine

• Version recorded: 0.5.2
• Categories: sdr-hardware
• Upstream: https://github.com/pothosware/SoapyRemote/wiki

What it does

Runs a daemon that publishes the SDRs attached to one machine over the network. Any SoapySDR client elsewhere sees them as if they were local, with the samples streamed over the link.

Why you would want it

The antenna and the operator are rarely in the same place. This is what lets a Raspberry Pi in a loft, at a mast base, or at a quiet site hold the dongle while the machine with the screen and the CPU does the work. It is also the cheapest way to escape the noise floor of a modern house.

Before it will work

A network with enough capacity for the sample rate you want -- 2.4 Msps of 8-bit IQ is roughly 40 Mbit/s before overhead, so wired is a different experience from wireless. The matching SoapySDR module on the server, and the remote module on the client.

How it installs

• apt: soapyremote-server

Known problems

Bandwidth is the whole story: a rate that works on the local machine may simply not fit down the link, and the symptom is dropped samples and gaps rather than an error. The server has no authentication -- anyone who can reach the port can use your radio and hear what it hears -- so it belongs on a trusted network or behind a tunnel, and that is a deliberate decision rather than a default to accept.

Keeping it current

• probe: apt policy
• strategy: apt_upgrade

Where to get help with the software itself

The Pothosware project.

Source: catalog/packages/soapyremote-server.yaml