Wiki SDR SA PRO
What SDR SA PRO is
SDR SA PRO is the paid edition of SDR Signal Analyzer. It is a separate app that installs next to the free one: it does everything the free version 0.9.49 does and adds three receivers, the Scanner, trace markers and power measurements. The PRO features are enabled by a key for this computer; without a valid key the app works as the free edition. This page explains how PRO differs, how the key window and the Help → License menu work, what happens without a key, what PRO does not have yet and which vendor libraries its package carries. PRO
A separate app next to the free one 0.9.27
- Its own name. The windows, the start window and the key window are titled “SDR SA PRO”. PRO neither replaces nor changes the free app: both can be installed on the same computer.
- Its own data folder. In the installed package the settings, calibration and key live in
Documents\SDR SA PROrather thanDocuments\SDR Signal Analyzer, so the settings of the two apps never mix. The other folder rules are the same as for the free app (Settings, files and language), just with the name “SDR SA PRO”. - IQ recordings go by default to the same folder,
C:\sdrsa-rec, in both apps. - The same interface. Tabs, panels, sweep, traces, detectors, receiver and recording work as described in the rest of this Wiki. PRO only adds its own parts.
What PRO adds
- ADALM-Pluto and Pluto+ 0.9.33
- Over the device's own network link — USB or, on Pluto+, Ethernet. Receive only, one channel. No libiio needed.
- Fobos SDR 0.9.43
- RigExpert, through the vendor's libraries: 50–6900 MHz, 8–80 MS/s. With the special scanning firmware the instrument does the sweep itself 0.9.44.
- bladeRF 2.0 micro 0.9.45
- Nuand, over USB 3: 70–6000 MHz, 0.52–61.44 MS/s. Losses are counted from the device's timestamps; the app recovers from a USB stall by itself 0.9.46.
- The Scanner 0.9.38
- A tab that searches for signals in a sweep and at a fixed tuning and keeps a list of them by frequency. Eight detection methods to choose from 0.9.47, a frequency table, alarms, an event log and IQ recording on alarm (at a fixed tuning only).
- Trace markers and power measurements 0.9.40
- Six markers on a trace with peak search and deltas; at a fixed tuning — noise density under a marker, and between two markers band power, OBW and ACPR.
With every PRO receiver, everything that works with any IQ receiver works too: spectrum, waterfall, traces, detectors, sweep, receiver and IQ recording. The levels of these receivers are in dBFS, not calibrated dBm: the dBFS — UNCAL badge on the trust bar stays with them as well. There is no transmitter with them — it exists only with the HackRF One.
The key
The PRO features are enabled by a key — a piece of text sent to you by e-mail. It starts with SDRSA-KEY-1: and ends with a full stop. A key is issued for a particular computer, so getting one needs the code of this computer.
The key window at start 0.9.27
If there is no valid key for this computer, the SDR SA PRO key window opens after the splash screen and before the Select a receiver window. This happens on the first start, after a key's term ends, and after the hardware the key was matched to has been replaced.
- Reason
- The first line says why there is no valid key — for example, There is no key for this computer yet. All reasons are in the table below.
- Key field
- Paste the key from the e-mail in full. Lines broken by the mail program, quote marks and neighbouring words of the e-mail do no harm: the app finds the key between its beginning and its closing full stop.
- Activate
- Checks the pasted text. An accepted key gives a green line Key accepted: … with the name it was issued to, and a Continue button. A refused one shows the reason in amber, and you can paste another.
- Open a file…
- The same from a file:
*.sdrsa-licenseor*.txt. - Code of this computer
- The line for ordering a key, the Copy the code button, and the computer's manufacturer and model with the processor model — see below.
- Continue without a key
- The app goes on with the feature set of the free edition — see Without a valid key.
- Exit
- Closes the app.
A key accepted in this window takes effect in the same run: the Scanner tab, the trace markers and the PRO receivers are already there. The app saves the accepted key as a file; if it cannot save it, it says so — the key then works only until you exit, and you will have to enter it again at the next start.
Why a key is refused
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| There is no key for this computer yet. | No key file was found. |
| There is no key in the text: … | The SDRSA-KEY-1: beginning or the closing full stop is missing. Copy the key from the e-mail in full. |
| The text contains two different keys — paste one. | Two different keys were pasted together. |
| The text is too long to be a key. | Too much text was pasted. |
| The key is damaged: the text was copied incompletely or changed. | The key is cut short or altered. |
| The key signature does not match: the text was changed or copied with an error. | The key text is not the text that was signed. |
| The key carries a signature this version of the program does not know. Update the program. or The key is newer than this version of the program. Update the program. | The key was made for a newer program than this one; the app advises updating. |
| The key was issued for another computer. Mismatch: … | The key was matched to other hardware. After the colon — what exactly did not match: the board, the system number, the memory modules, the disk that holds Windows or the processor model. |
| The key expired on … | The date until which the key was valid has passed. |
| The key is not valid yet: … | The key's start date has not come yet. |
| The key is valid only for version … of the program. | The key is for another version of the program. |
| Key … has been revoked. | This key has been revoked. |
| The code of this computer could not be read, … | The app could not read the hardware the key is matched against; after the colon — which part. |
| The signature could not be checked — Windows cryptography failed: … | The signature was not checked at all — the system failed. |
| The key file cannot be read (…). | A key file exists but could not be read. |
| The file cannot be read (…). | The file picked with Open a file… could not be read. |
Help → License 0.9.33
The License item of the Help menu opens the License of SDR SA PRO window. Up to version 0.9.32 this was a separate side tab.
- Key state
- The key is valid (green) or There is no valid key (amber), and under it a line about what the key enables in this version.
- Details
- With a valid key — Issued to, Key number, Valid until, Computer matched by and Key file. Without one — Reason in the same words as in the table, and the file if one was found.
- Enter the key…
- Opens the same key window as at start, except that it has Close instead of Exit and no Continue without a key. An accepted key takes effect at once, without a restart: the state in this window updates as soon as the key window closes, and “About” shows the new state when you open it.
- Code of this computer
- The same code as in the key window, with the Copy the code and Save to a file… buttons (the default file name is
SDRSA-REQ.txt). - Close
- Closes the window.
The app adds the Scanner tab and the trace markers only at start. So if a key is entered from this window in the middle of a session, they appear from the next start of the app. The receiver, too, is chosen only at start: to open a PRO receiver, restart the app — it finds the saved key by itself, and the key window will not come up at start.
The “License” section in “About” 0.9.31
The Help → About window has a License section: the key state and the same details as in the License window. The state is taken at the moment the window opens, so a key entered through the menu shows here without a restart. Since 0.9.49 “About” no longer shows the computer code 0.9.49 — the key window and the License window show it.
The code of this computer
The code is the line a key for this very computer is issued against. In the window's own words it holds not the board, processor, memory and disk numbers themselves but their fingerprints, plus the board model. Under the code stand the computer's manufacturer and model (as the firmware table records them) and the processor model — a hint for you; they are not part of the code. If part of the hardware could not be read, the window says so in an amber line The code is incomplete — part of the hardware could not be read: ….
The code is not sent anywhere by itself: you copy it with Copy the code or save it to a file and send it along with your request. The key window names the address support@sdrsa.net.
Where the key is kept
The app saves an accepted key as a *.sdrsa-license file in the pro-license folder of its data folder; if it cannot write there, in the first of the two folders below that it can write to. At start it looks for keys there and also in Documents\SDR SA PRO\pro-license and %ProgramData%\SDR SA PRO\pro-license. Several files are not an error: the app checks them all and takes the one valid for this computer.
Without a valid key
If you press Continue without a key, the app works with the feature set of the free edition:
- The Pluto, Fobos SDR and bladeRF receivers are visible in the Select a receiver window — so that it is clear the app knows them — but every row ends with — an SDR SA PRO key is needed. After Connect the Could not open the source window appears with the reason An SDR SA PRO key is needed and the advice: restart the app and enter the key in the window at start, or open a recording or the demo signal and enter the key through Help → License.
- There is no Scanner tab at all.
- There is no Trace markers group and no Marker here item in the spectrum context menu.
- The Help → License menu and the License section in “About” remain: a key can be entered from there at any time.
How to get PRO
Price and terms on request. Write to us through the form on the home page; the editions are compared in The free app and PRO. For a key you will need the code of this computer from the key window or from Help → License.
What PRO does not have yet
Version 0.9.49 does not have:
- amplitude calibration in dBm — the Pluto, Fobos SDR and bladeRF levels stay in dBFS;
- a neural-network signal classifier: the class in the Scanner is only the name and type of a range from the frequency table;
- coherent channels and detection across them;
- a frequency counter with ppm correction and a peak table;
- in the Scanner — a plan of several non-adjacent ranges and a recording pre-trigger;
- on the Fobos SDR — HF below 50 MHz (direct sampling) and an external reference;
- on the Pluto — the chip's FIR filter and the second receive channel.
Vendor libraries in the package
For the Fobos SDR and the bladeRF, the PRO package carries the device makers' libraries and FPGA images, unchanged. They lie as separate files in the drivers-pro folder next to the program.
| File | What it is | Licence |
|---|---|---|
fobos.dll | libfobos 2.4.0 (RigExpert) — for a Fobos SDR with the standard firmware | LGPL-2.1 |
fobos_sdr.dll | libfobos-sdr-agile 3.3.0 (RigExpert) — for a Fobos SDR with the special scanning firmware | LGPL-2.1 |
bladeRF.dll | libbladeRF 2.6.0 (Nuand) — for the bladeRF 2.0 micro | LGPL-2.1 |
hostedxA4.rbf, hostedxA5.rbf, hostedxA9.rbf | FPGA images 0.16.0 (Nuand) for the three chips of the bladeRF 2.0 micro | HDL — MIT |
- The app links the LGPL-2.1 libraries dynamically, and each can be replaced by another build of the same library.
- The licence texts and provenance lie in the same
drivers-profolder, next to the libraries:LICENSE-libfobos.txt(one text for both Fobos libraries),LICENSE-libbladeRF.txt,LICENSE-bladeRF-fpga-MIT.txt,COPYING-bladeRF.txtandPROVENANCE.md. - These libraries bring no
libusb-1.0.dllof their own into the package: they use the one the free part already carries. - The Pluto needs no third-party libraries: the client for the device protocol is the app's own, and libiio is not needed.
- Device firmware, the driver from the Nuand installer and the Analog Devices Pluto driver are not in the package.
The components shared with the free edition are listed in the terms of use.
Limitations
- The levels of the PRO receivers are in dBFS, uncalibrated.
- The PRO receivers only receive; the transmitter exists only with the HackRF One.
- The Scanner tab and the trace markers appear only at start; a key entered mid-session enables them from the next start.
- The receiver is chosen at start; to switch to another one, the app has to be restarted.
The common list of limitations is on the Limits and roadmap page.