Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] re: Low cost hardware option, the "total GNUsolution"

[Moeller]

On 18.01.2011 12:03, Patrik Tast wrote:
> Yes, very important and I like what you are designing, 
> you bet I will get one if I can get it as already tuned.

What is "already tuned"?

The design was just a RF/ADC board, without FPGA.
But possibly it could be attached to a cheap FPGA
development board of about $150-$250.
In sum it would be still half price compared to USRP.

> What I worry about the GNU SDR is (and I bet most are?):
> - if it is available as parts listed on a web page, 
> the cost of test equipment (if you don't have them)
> to verify I soldered everything ok exceeds an commersial USRP by far.

Our local PCB manufacturer wants 50€ for a 1dm^2 PCB incl. testing.
That's for a single PCB, the prototype offering
They also offer low-lost SMD robot soldering.
For small series (10-40) it's much cheaper.

For hardware debugging, there are friends who could help with
logic- and spectrum analyzers. If the design is correct, you can
also perform self-tests within the SDR.
You don't need all the calibration and perfectionism of expensive
commercial products. Look at the USRP, there is also no part to calibrate.

It's a commercial model to calculate all costs from development, experimenting,
production, testing, ... One or a small group is investing, all consumers pay 
the price.
A collaborative project like GNU is different. There are lots of different small
contributions, somebody draws diagrams, somebody knows how to produce PCB,
another one donates some time with his test equipment. Maybe even companies 
would
like to donate for a community project. Also university projects could 
contribute
to open-source hardware projects, testing, developing ... (i.e. graduate 
projects).

> There are lots of SDR examples on the web that got wasted since too few 
> dare to touch these delicate pieces.

If there is only one person involved, it could fail easily.
Large community projects like GNU gain a lot of attention.

> - if I was a student then alles ok, school got the tools needed. 
> If not, they will get em (hopefully)

If the hardware design is published, it would be a great contribution
to the community.

> - if a company would try (to solder) the SDR in EU, the price would be around 
> $4k/month/person

A large community could share the development cost.
PCB production is not that expensive, including SMD robot, drilling, soldering 
...

> If an already tuned GNU SDR Kit was available, We for sure would  found your 
> idea, that I a fact!

First it needs an open-source public-domain design (incl. all EDA files).
Later I'm sure some people would do the business of selling it for a moderate
profit of let's say 20%. This way, also educational institutions in development
countries could organize this kind of hardware. Their budget is very limited.
Of course it's not a big business, more like GNU and Linux within a commercial 
world.