What Happens When You Put Two SDRs in Manhattan?

What do the NV800/ NDR318 engineering tradeoffs actually look like to an operator in a real RF environment?

We have two recent papers that explore the pros and cons of different radio architectures, with one taking two well-regarded software defined radio (SDR) models with similar headline attributes and comparing how their pricing and performance differ. Each has 8 receive channels, cover from around 50 MHz to 6 GHz, and provide VITA 49 streaming to applications such as 3 dB’s Sceptre. However, they use different architectures under the hood and occupy different size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) points.

To these two comparison papers we can now add a third entry thanks to Gerald Wilson, who has put the NV800 and NDR318 through their paces in the busy RF environment of New York City. Gerald is an experienced RF and signal-analysis practitioner who spent many years with 3dB Labs and previously served as a U.S. military operator. He now leads Half Wave Technology, where he works on RF systems, testing, and operational applications.

So, what did he do? Gerald was already very familiar with the NDR318, having used it successfully many times before. To compare performance, he took an NDR318 and an NV800 to a high vantage point in Manhattan. He took 42 recordings of 21 simultaneous frequency stares from 94 MHz to 5.5 GHz using identical antennas for each radio, appropriate for each band. He then used Sceptre to simulate a SIGINT-type analysis and an ELINT-type analysis to compare performance, and the results surprised him.

To find out more, download the paper below. Big thanks to Gerald, who may be contacted about this work or his other services at gerald@halfwavetech.com, https://halfwavetech.com.