Kraken SDR Passive Radar

The Kraken devs decided to remove the passive radar code from their repo: https://forum.krakenrf.com/t/where-has-the-passive-radar-code-gone/98. Forks of it exist [1] [2] [3] but are unmaintained and do not provide instructions on directory structure or software configuration.

This repo includes instructions on setup and removes the need for conda in favor of pip.

Quickstart Raspberry Pi 4 Image

There is currently no premade Pi image available. If this changes a link will exist in this section.

Docker Container

WIP - will update here when tested and ready

Manual Installation

This is only required if you are not using the premade images, and are setting up the software from a clean system.

1. Install the prerequisites

sudo apt update
sudo apt install libfftw3-3 libfftw3-dev python3-pip

2. Install Heimdall DAQ

If not done already, first, follow the instructions at https://github.com/ss32/heimdall_daq_fw to install the Heimdall DAQ Firmware.

3. Clone the `krakensdr_pr`` software

cd ~/kraknrf
git clone https://github.com/ss32/krakensdr_pr

4. Install Python dependencies

python3 -m pip install requirements.txt -U

Running

Directory Structure

Assuming you have followed the instructions including installing Heimdadll DAQ you should have a directory structure in ~/krakenrf that looks like this

.
├── heimdall_daq_fw
│   ├── config_files
│   │   ├── kerberos_default
│   │   ├── kraken_default
│   │   ├── kraken_development
│   │   ├── pr_2ch_2pow16
│   │   ├── pr_2ch_2pow20
│   │   ├── pr_2ch_2pow21
│   │   ├── pr_2ch_2pow22
│   │   └── unit_test_k4
│   ├── Documentation
│   ├── Firmware
│   │   ├── _calibration
│   │   ├── _daq_core
│   │   │   └── __pycache__
│   │   ├── _data_control
│   │   ├── _logs
│   │   ├── __pycache__
│   │   └── _testing
│   │       ├── test_logs
│   │       └── unit_test
│   └── util
└── krakensdr_pr
    ├── _receiver
    │   └── __pycache__
    ├── _signal_processing
    │   └── __pycache__
    ├── _UI
    │   └── _web_interface
    │       ├── assets
    │       └── __pycache__
    └── util

Local operation

Use CH0 to connect your reference antenna, and CH1 for your surveillance antenna.

Start

./kraken_pr_start.sh

Expected output after entering sudo password:

$ ./kraken_pr_start.sh 
[sudo] password for krakenrf: 
Config file check bypassed [ WARNING ]
kernel.sched_rt_runtime_us = -1
Desig FIR filter with the following parameters: 
Decimation ratio: 1
Bandwidth: 1.00
Tap size: 1
Window function: hann
FIR filter ready
Transfer funcfion is exported to :  _logs/Decimator_filter_transfer.html
Coefficients are exported to:  _data_control/fir_coeffs.txt
Starting DAQ Subsystem
Output data interface: Shared memory
      )  (     
      (   ) )  
       ) ( (   
     _______)_ 
  .-'---------|
 (  |/\/\/\/\/|
  '-./\/\/\/\/|
    '_________'
     '-------' 
               
Have a coffee watch radar
Starting KrakenSDR Passive Radar

Browse to 0.0.0.0:8080 if running locally or <HOST_IP>:8080 if running on another machine on the same network.

By default the .ini that is loaded is configured for passive radar, but others are available in the dropdown menu. Alternatively, copy the contents of one of the pr_2ch_xxxx config files to heimdall_daq_fw/firmware/daq_chain_config.iniprior to starting.

Please be patient on the first run, at it can take 1-2 minutes for the JIT numba compiler to compile the numba optimized functions, and during this compilation time it may appear that the software has gotten stuck. On subsqeuent runs this loading time will be much faster as it will read from cache.

Click Start Processing and wait for all statuses to go green.

Check the waterfall interface to confirm you have clean signals. If everything is working as expected you can go to the Passive Radar interface and should see low correlation at all offsets other than 0Hz.

To stop the software run the stop script:

./kraken_pr_stop.sh

Data Logging

To enable data logging edit settings.json and set one or both of save_radar_plots and save_raw_radar_data to true.

  "save_radar_plots": true,
  "save_raw_radar_data": true,
  "data_output_directory": "/tmp/radar_data"

You may also specify where to save the data. By default this is /tmp/radar_data.

Known Issues

Warnings from numba are expected and due to a future deprecation of jit objectType compilation. See https://numba.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/deprecation.html#deprecation-of-object-mode-fall-back-behaviour-when-using-jit for more information.

Troubleshooting

• Check the contents of krakensdr_pr/ui.log
• Check the contents of the logs in heimdall_daq_fw/Firmware/_logs/

If the issue is a problem with this repo please open a bug report.