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Releases: charlie-foxtrot/RTLSDR-Airband

Version 4.1.0

30 Apr 13:54
ea0f191
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  • Changes in this release:
    • Add channel_squelch_level to stats file, see #332
    • Support "default" values in lists for squelch_snr_threshold and notch_q,
      see #334
    • Set cmake ENABLE_EXPORTS property, see #339

What's Changed

Full Changelog: v4.0.3...v4.1.0

Version 4.0.3

11 Jan 00:51
5dcda8d
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Changes in this release:

  • Add channel_squelch_level to stats file, see #332
  • Support "default" values in lists for squelch_snr_threshold and notch_q, see #334
  • Set cmake ENABLE_EXPORTS property, see #339

Other items to note:

Version 4.0.2

29 Dec 21:20
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  • Added a new PLATFORM value default (which, as the name says, is the new
    default). It results in a portable binary without any architecture-specific
    optimizations. This also allows the program to be built with compilers that
    do not support -march=native option (notably Clang on Apple M1) (#303).

Version 4.0.1

14 Nov 17:02
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  • Fixed compilation error on RaspberryPi OS 11 (Bullseye)

Version 4.0.0

18 Oct 22:19
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  • RTLSDR-Airband is now built with CMake. Refer to the wiki for updated
    compilation instructions.
  • When compiling the program, a new PLATFORM value native can now be
    specified. It enables -march=native -mtune=native compilation options. This
    causes the compiler to apply the most appropriate optimizations for the
    hardware on which the app is being built (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • BACKWARDS-INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: Signal level and noise level estimates
    displayed in the textual waterfalls are now expressed in dBFS (decibels
    related to the full scale of the analog-to-digital converter). The main
    benefit of the new approach is that these values do not depend on the
    fft_size value(thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • BACKWARDS-INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: Improved squelch algorithm with new
    configuration parameters. squelch keyword has been replaced with
    squelch_threshold which takes an absolute signal value in dBFS as an
    argument. Alternatively, a minimum signal-to-noise ratio (in dB) that should
    trigger the squelch might be configured using squelch_snr_threshold option
    (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • BACKWARDS-INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: include_freq config option for file outputs
    now causes the frequency to be appended after the timestamp rather than
    before it. This feature now works correctly in scan mode, when
    split_on_transmission feature is enabled. (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • BACKWARDS-INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: sample format in files produced by rawfile
    outputs has been changed from CS16 to CF32. File name suffix is now .cf32.
  • Improved squelch indicator in the textual waterfalls. In addition to the *
    character indicating that the squelch is open, there is also a ~ character
    indicating that the channel has a signal that is being suppressed because it
    is outside the band of the channel filter (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • New output type udp_stream for sending uncompressed audio to another host
    via UDP/IP (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added multiple_output_threads global option. When set to true, a separate
    output thread is spawned for each device (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Modulation in scan mode is now configurable per channel (thx
    @charlie-foxtrot).
  • SoapySDR errors like TIMEOUT or OVERFLOW are no longer treated as fatal. They
    often appear intermittently, especially when the CPU usage is high. There is
    no point in failing the input in this case.
  • Added .tmp suffix to the names of the output files currently being written
    to. The suffix is removed when the file is closed. External applications that
    consume recorded files can now figure out which files are not yet complete.
  • Added logging and statistics for output thread overruns and mixer
    input/output overruns (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • The program can now be built on MacOS.
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes and code cleanups.

Version 3.2.1

13 Nov 20:16
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  • Fixed a compile error when using libshout older than 2.4.0

Version 3.2.0

08 Nov 20:33
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  • Added split_per_transmission output file option which allows creating
    a new file for every transmission on the channel (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added include_freq output file option, which causes the channel frequency
    to be appended to the file name (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added support for notch filters for eliminating narrowband interference,
    like CTCSS tones (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added bandwidth channel option which causes the channelized I/Q signal
    to be lowpass-filtered before demodulation. This might help in situations
    where neighboring channels are closely spaced and interfere with the channel
    of interest. It also reduces the bandwidth of the resulting audio signal,
    and thus eliminates the high-frequency noise (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added support for multithreaded demodulation. Each device can now have its
    own demodulation thread. This allows spreading the demodulation work across
    multiple CPU cores. Enable with multiple_demod_threads global option
    (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Added support for highpass/lowpass MP3 filters for mixers (thx @charlie-foxtrot)
  • Added support for frequency usage statistics (thx @charlie-foxtrot).
  • Workaround for Fitipower tuner problem of not honoring the first gain
    setting when the device is first used (thx @eshaz).
  • Finalize the MP3 file properly before opening a new one (thx @jratke).
  • Close the RTL device properly on program exit (thx @jratke).
  • Updated the SoapySDR input driver to reflect changes in SoapySDR library API.
  • Minor cleanups.

Version 3.1.0

19 Jan 15:19
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  • SoapySDR: added support for complex float 32-bit samples
  • SoapySDR: allow using AGC if the device supports it. Gain setting for
    soapy devices is now optional - if it's not specified, the program will
    try to enable AGC.
  • Use lowpass/highpass filters provided by LAME library to improve audio
    quality of MP3 streams. Filter cutoff frequencies may be configured per
    output, using highpass and lowpass config options. Credit: clydebarrow.
  • Added log_scan_activity global config option. When set to true, a
    log message is written whenever a squelch opens on a scanned channel,
    effectively producing a channel activity log. Credit: clam-i-am.
  • Improved squelch behaviour in some corner cases.
  • Fix for incorrect naming of pulseaudio context. Name set in the config
    was not used as it should. Credit: Darryl Pogue.
  • Don't fail when the configured gain value is negative. Some SDRs support
    this (eg. FC0012-based dongles).
  • Fix a bug which in some cases could prevent the icecast output from
    reconnecting with the Icecast server after the connection has failed.

Version 3.0.1

16 Feb 17:34
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  • Fix for squelch staying constantly open when configured manually
    with NFM=off (#84)

Version 3.0.0

10 Feb 22:48
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  • Major overhaul of the SDR input code - now it's modular and hardware-agnostic (no longer tightly coupled with librtlsdr).
  • Support for SoapySDR vendor-neutral SDR library - any SDR which has a plugin for SoapySDR shall now work in RTLSDR-Airband.
  • Support for Mirics DVB-T dongles via libmirisdr-4 library.
  • Support for RTLSDR is now optional and can be disabled at compilation stage.
  • Removed the 8-channels-per-device limit in multichannel mode.
  • Configurable per-device sampling rate.
  • Configurable FFT size.
  • Support for multibyte input samples.
  • Support for rawfile outputs (ie. writing raw I/Q data from a narrowband channel to a file for processing with other programs, like GNUradio or csdr).
  • INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: removed rtlsdr_buffers global configuration option; buffer count can now be adjusted with a per-device buffers option.
  • INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: removed syslog global configuration option; syslog logging is now enabled by default, both in foreground and background mode. To force logging to standard error, use -e command
    line option.
  • Added -F command line option for better cooperation with systemd. Runs the program in foreground, but without textual waterfalls. Together with -e it allows running rtl_airband as a service of type "simple" under systemd. Example rtl_airband.service file has been adjusted to reflect this change.
  • Added type device configuration option. It sets the device type (ie. the input driver which shall be used to talk to the device)."rtlsdr" is assumed as a default type for backward compatibility. If RTLSDR support has been disabled at compilation stage, then there is no default type - it must be set manually, or the program
    will throw an error on startup.
  • Frequencies in the config can now be expressed in Hz, kHz, MHz or GHz for improved readability.
  • Lots of bugfixes.
  • Rewritten documentation on Github Wiki.