The open-source project combines ESP32-P4 hardware, radio modules and touchscreen controls for portable RF scanning and signal decoding.
Software-Defined Radio (SDR) receivers have changed the way signals are analysed by shifting hardware-based filtering and demodulation to software-based implementations. On the other hand, the need for capturing and visualisation of wide band radio signals in real time requires interfacing of USB-based SDR dongles to laptops, tablets, or single board computers that are power hungry. The open-source LakeShark project eliminates these external host devices by turning compact microcontroller hardware into an autonomous, pocket-sized RF spectrum scanner and signal visualiser.
At the heart of the project stands the ESP32-P4. Being driven by the two high-frequency cores of RISC-V application processor type, the processor has enough computing power to calculate the FFT in real time on board. Using native MIPI-DSI displays, the device drives capacitive touch screens to show waterfall diagrams, frequency spectra, and signal strength meters without any frame drops.
The software platform interfaces with low-cost SDR hardware to tune across extensive radio frequency bands. Users can inspect local RF activity across sub-GHz industrial bands, amateur radio allocations, and aviation frequencies. It also supports LoRa radio modules such as the SX1262 and LR2021 LakeShark renders touch-optimised menus and controls for adjusting center frequency, gain levels, bandwidth spans, and visualisation parameters directly on its built-in display.
Transition from a generic operating system used in a desktop computer to an embedded microcontroller results in significant improvements in energy efficiency and compactness of the device. In particular, the scanner turns on very quickly. It requires little energy from its internal lithium-polymer battery, and is easily portable. As such, it can be used efficiently by field engineers who need to carry out local signal scans, find radio interference sources, or evaluate wireless telemetry communications.
The LakeShark project is fully open source, with its firmware, source code, hardware details and build instructions available on GitHub. Developers can access the complete project, modify its software, adapt supported hardware configurations and contribute to further development. This allows engineers and radio enthusiasts to build, customise and extend the portable SDR scanner for their own RF experimentation.
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