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The LimeSDR Mini and Raspberry Pi Zero have been used to create an open-source pocket-sized DVB (digital video broadcasting) transmitter, which is believed to be is the world’s smallest.
Developed by Evariste Okcestbon, the open-source prototype streams live images from a Raspberry Pi camera (PiCam) and implements avc2ts, dvb2iq and limetx software to encode and transmit H.264 video on the 1.2 GHz amateur TV band.
The boards are connected via USB, with the Raspberry Pi Zero board measuring 65 x 30mm and the LimeSDR Mini measuring 69 x 31mm.
Its signals broadcasted to a receiver based on the Raspberry Pi 2, connected to an RTL SDR stick and HDMI-connected monitor, this time running rtl_sdr, leandvb, kisspectrum, ts2es and hello_video software.
Dr Danny Webster, Lime’s Principal RF design engineer, said: “The LimeSDR and Raspberry Pi share the principle of getting these hardwares (radio and computing) into as many people’s hands as possible so we can create the next generation of engineers.
“This is a fantastic example of what can be achieved with the LimeSDR Mini and Raspberry Pi and as far as we’re aware it’s the smallest DVB transmitter announced so far. It’s certainly the most compact one assembled from off-the-shelf components and powered by open source software!”
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