23–26 Sept 2025
Festival Tower
Australia/Adelaide timezone

Cost-Effective Allan Deviation Measurement in SDRs Using Integrated ADCs

25 Sept 2025, 11:00
20m
Level 3 (Festival Tower)

Level 3

Festival Tower

Station Rd, Adelaide SA 5000
Presentations Presentations

Speaker

Mr Alastair Wiegelmann (Flinders University)

Description

This paper presents a novel technique for measuring the Allan deviation of the internal oscillator within a software defined radio (SDR). This modified version of the standard double mixer time difference (DMTD) method utilizes the SDR’s analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to eliminate the need for expensive and specialized equipment. By analysing the phase of the sampled signal through the ADC, the Allan deviation can be determined, providing insight into the stability of the oscillator. The paper demonstrates the effectiveness of this method through experiments conducted on five SDR platforms. The Pluto SDR and Wombat showed low and consistent Allan Deviation measurements, with the RTL-SDR performing better than expected.

Primary author

Mr Alastair Wiegelmann (Flinders University)

Presentation materials

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