Traditional SDR modules are relatively large since they have to incorporate commodity PC hardware as well as radio components into a single package. That makes them rather difficult to transport. A group of engineers in Rolling Meadows, Illinois have been able to shrink their equipment using dedicated integrated circuits. This has made it possible for them to manufacture a handheld SDR transceiver that can be carried anywhere.
The chips used in their handheld SDR transceiver are closer to those used in mobile phones than commodity PCs, which means they consume much less power than other comparable modules. As a result, they don’t have to be outfitted with the massive batteries that are common in the industry. This makes the devices lighter without sacrificing anything in the way of endurance.
In fact, these transceivers might actually outlast other devices with larger chemical batteries simply because they rely on processors with reduced instruction sets. So-called RISC chips perform the same exact function as those with complete instruction sets, but they use less power because they pack far fewer tools into the same sized chip.
Project managers who need to issue a radio to every single member of their team can put together a slew of them all tuned to the same frequency. Since they’re only tuned with a computer program, it’s easy to set them to either VHF or UHF channels. Those who want to cut down on how much noise they have to deal with can bump these up to a microwave channel.
View a complete specifications sheet for a handheld SDR transceiver module by visiting Epiq Solutions at epiqsolutions.com online.
