KrakenSDR Field Reports and Software Updates

We've recently published an update about KrakenSDR field reports and software updates to our KrakenSDR CrowdSupply page. We are cross posting here as well. This update provides some demonstrations of the KrakenSDR that users have uploaded, and provides some updates on some new software that we have been working on.

We wanted to highlight that our website for direct sales of KrakenSDR and antenna sets is now live at our KrakenSDR shop. Please note that we only have a limited number of KrakenSDRs that we can sell directly, and once they run out, all other sales must go through CrowdSupply again.

Field Reports

User YouTube Demonstrations

Frugal Radio

In this video Frugal Radio unboxes and tests his KrakenSDR and Krakentenna's on a vehicle. He is able to come to the location of two unknown transmitters within minutes.

F4IPO Demo

In this video F4IPO demonstrates his ability to use a KrakenSDR and Krakentennas to locate a TETRA transmitter within 5 minutes.

DragonOS Kraken Pro Cloud Mapper Demo

In this video Aaron, creator of DragonOS demonstrates two networked KrakenSDR devices being used with DF-Aggregator and an alpha version of our Kraken Pro Cloud Mapping software (introduced further below). One KrakenSDR is fixed, and another is on a moving boat. He is able to track a beacon on land.

F1MIJ Demo

In these videos F1MIJ provides multiple screen recordings of the KrakenSDR Android App in action during a drive.

Manuel Lausmann Unboxing Video

In this video Manuel Lausmann unboxes the KrakenSDR.

Matt Blaze Twitter Thread

In this Twitter thread Matt Blaze @mattblaze describes his experience with the KrakenSDR and shows that he was able to determine the location of a 103.5 MHz transmitter. Matt notes that apart from some hardware limitations, his experience with the KrakenSDR is even better than with his extremely expensive high end R&S DDF007.

@cemaxecuter Twitter Demos

Aaron (whom we mentioned earlier) has also been heavily posting on Twitter showing how he's been successful at getting his KrakenSDR running on a SteamDeck, a new type of handheld gaming device from Valve.

He also briefly demonstrates the KrakenSDR being used as five independent receivers in SDRAngel.

KrakenSDR Forum

We have also now released our KrakenSDR forum at https://forum.krakenrf.com. If you have general questions, or support inquires please post there rather than through email so everyone can learn. If there are specific software bugs, please continue to post those as GitHub issues.

Kraken Cloud Pro Alpha Release

We are now releasing an early alpha version of our online 'Kraken Cloud Pro' service. We want to note that this software is still in ALPHA status. That means that all the intended features are not yet implemented, and that it may have multiple bugs. We also do not guarantee any uptime for this service at this time.

Kraken Pro Cloud is our online cloud mapping solution for KrakenSDR devices. It allows you to upload KrakenSDR direction finding data onto our central server, so that you can combine bearing data from multiple geographically distributed KrakenSDR devices. With the right geography of the receivers and transmitter, this allows you to instantly determine the location of a transmitter without needing to take multiple readings with a vehicle.

Documentation on the use of Kraken Pro Cloud is available on our Wiki at this page.

You can also do offline analysis of log files collected from the Android App or recorded via the Web GUI.

Kraken Pro Cloud Timelapse Demo

As part of the testing of the service we recorded a timelapse of a KrakenSDR station tracking a weather balloon.

The above is a video of a simple timelapse demo of the system tracking a weather balloon from a single station. Because it's only a single station, the red estimation dot can be ignored. The yellow dot indicates the actual GPS location of the weather balloon. Once the weather improves we'll be setting up a distributed two-station test.

One interesting thing to note is how the KrakenSDR tracks the balloon accurately, until the elevation angle between the antenna and balloon goes above 45 degrees which happens when the balloon rises higher and comes too close to the station. At this angle the antenna array can no longer track the balloon correctly. Once the balloon falls to a lower altitude and the elevation from the antenna is less than 45 degrees accurate tracking resumes.

In the near future we will be uploading more demonstrations like this with multiple stations set up.

Welcome to KrakenRF

Welcome to our new website for KrakenRF. On this blog we will be posting all our updates relating to KrakenSDR, our software and any upcoming products that we are working on.

We want to thank all the people who backed KrakenSDR during the Crowd Funding campaign on Crowd Supply. We had multiple delays due to the pandemic and the subsequent supply chain crisis but now the KrakenSDR is here! We are still a bit constrained in manufacturing by the supply chain crisis but we are working hard on accelerating our production batches to meet demand.

A brief run down on KrakenSDR history:

KrakenSDR is the next iteration of the KerberosSDR, which is our previously 4-channel coherent RTL-SDR radio that we successfully Crowd Funded back in 2018. While KerberosSDR was a successful product, we wanted to improve on it, making it more rugged and suitable for remote deployments. At the same time we wanted to spend more time on the software, moving from code that was considered as 'demo software' for developers to get started with, to something more production ready and made for radio direction finding end users.

Compared to KerberosSDR the KrakenSDR improves many things:

• Automatic calibration hardware. It is no longer necessary to manually disconnect antennas during calibration. It all happens automatically when you change frequency. This will allow for KrakenSDR stations to be remotely operated.

• Five channels. KrakenSDR has five channels instead of four, which greatly improves-direction finding accuracy.

• Low-noise design. KrakenSDR has a cleaner spectrum with much less internal noise than KerberosSDR.

• USB Type-C ports and rugged, CNC-milled enclosure. KrakenSDR is built for high reliability in the field.

• Interface with external devices. Bias tees on all ports allow for LNAs and other devices to be powered easily.

• Improved DAQ, DSP, and GUI software. Built on the foundation of the KerberosSDR software, the KrakenSDR software adds auto-calibration, tracking of intermittent signals, greater stability, arbitrary processing-block sizes, and a new web-based GUI.

• Software upgrades. Improvements to existing companion software and plans for new companion software.

• Custom Android app Custom Android app that can automatically determine the location of a transmitter and provide automatic turn-by-turn navigation to the transmitter location.

This was our first KrakenSDR prototype:

We moved on to this version:

Before finally settling with this version:

On the final version we decided to incorporate a cooling fan, to ensure the KrakenSDR would work well even in extremely hot and stuffy environments like attic spaces.

What's coming next?

1. Video tutorials (~2-3 months)

2. Orange Pi 4/5 ready to use images (~2-3 months)

3. Complete the release our cloud based direction finding platform for networked devices (est before end of year)

4. Add wideband scanning functionality to the core code (est before end of year)

5. More GNU Radio flowgraph or Python examples including beam forming and interferometry (est by early 2023)

6. More application notes for real world use cases (est 2023)

7. Development of a low-cost, license-free beacon that can be used for animal/asset tracking (est 2023)

8. Development of a coherent downconverter for frequencies above 1.7 GHz (est 2023)

9. Development of precise fixed PCB arrays for various frequencies (est 2023)

10. Other low cost direction finding products that use manual Yagi and TDoA methods are also being investigated (2024?).