Raspberry Pi

As an alternative to the FEIT lab computers, CDC teams will have access to Raspberry Pi 4 single board computers with 4GB of RAM. These boards can help avoid unforeseen virtualization issues, simplify over-the-air testing, and support project work outside of workshop hours. Note your team will need to investigate the sustainable data rate possible with the processing power of provided by the Raspberry Pi.

Ubuntu Image

To run GNU Radio on the Raspberry Pi, an Ubuntu Desktop 22.04.2 LTS (64-bit) disk image is available with the following pre-installed components.

• GNU Radio
• gr-bladeRF
• gr-cdc

The image can be downloaded from the following link.

• elen90089_2023_rpi_v1.img.zip (3.9 GB)

Once downloaded and unzipped, you can flash the SD card using a tool such as Balena Etcher.

Account credentials are the same as for the FEIT Ubuntu VM.

• username: cdc
• password: sdr

The Raspberry Pi board includes has an installed heatsink case for active cooling. Connect the red and black wires of the heatsink fans to the Raspberry Pi power and ground pins as shown below.

Network Setup

The Raspberry Pis should automatically connect to the Uni wireless network in certain EDS rooms (1, 7, 8, and 10). EDS12 should be added to this list soon. However, you must first update the hostname to match the device number marked on your device (which should be in the range 1 - 10). The expected hostname format is asc##-rpi where ## is the two digit device number. To change the device number, for example on device 1, run the following command.

$ sudo hostnamectl asc01-rpi

The following table lists the hostname and static IP address assigned to each device on the Uni wireless network.

To connect to another WiFi network, e.g., at home, you can either join the network in Settings or run the following command.

$ sudo nmcli device wifi connect <ssid>

You should then be prompted for the network's password.

Remote Access

If your Raspberry Pi has network connectivity, headless access (without connecting a monitor and keyboard) is possible. You will need to install an SSH client on your local machine.

• Windows: PuTTY
• Mac and Linux: OpenSSH (should come pre-installed)

You can then remotely login into the the device.

$ ssh cdc@asc01-rpi.local

Or if on the university network, use the eng.unimelb.edu.au domain name.

$ ssh cdc@asc01-rpi.eng.unimelb.edu.au

Graphical applications (e.g., GRC) can be accessed remotely through X11 window forwarding. This requires you to install an X server on your local machine.

• Windows: Xming
• Mac OS X: XQuartz

First open the X server program and then ssh into the remote machine with X11 forwarding enabled. To enable on Linux or Mac include the -X flag.

$ ssh -X cdc@asc01-rpi.local

For PuTTY, make sure to tick the appropriate configuration box before connecting.

• Connection >> SSH >> X11 >> Enable X11 Forwarding

Graphical applications opened on the remote machine should now be forwarded to your local machine. Make sure there is no monitor connected to the device or certain windows might not get forwarded. You can verify everything is working properly by opening GRC.

$ gnuradio-companion &

You are also welcome to experiment with accessing the Raspberry Pi via VNC or remote desktop, but you will need to configure or install remote access on the device.