This video is a recording of the Open Research Institute (ORI) FPGA projects meetup from April 22, 2025. The meeting includes updates from participants on their projects and discussions on organizational activities. Aaron reports on testing the Pico tuner for amateur television and GSC, comparing USB and Ethernet interfaces and planning to integrate and test a DVBS2 encoder. Paul details the retrieval and setup of remote lab equipment, specifically a server named "Chub," addressing hardware issues (disks) and outlining plans for benchmarking, updating the unRAID server software, and improving VM performance. Michelle provides an overview of the Remote Lab West setup, discusses outreach efforts with universities and companies for the open source satellite project (Opulent Voice uplink, DVBS2 downlink), and mentions potential equipment divestment. A significant portion of the meeting is dedicated to regulatory matters, including ORI's comments filed in FCC proceeding 25-133 ("delete delete delete") focusing on deregulating the 219 MHz band and supporting other filings. The discussion expands to the perceived legality of multicarrier data modes (like OFDM) under current amateur radio rules and proposes potential rule changes, seeking feedback from the community.
Open Research Institute FPGA Projects Meetup - April 22, 2025
0:00:11 Meeting Introduction: Welcome to the ORI FPGA projects meetup, discussing weekly progress, plans, roadblocks, and resource needs.
0:01:00 Aaron's Pico Tuner Update: Aaron successfully built and tested the Pico tuner for amateur television and GSC.
0:01:43 USB vs. Ethernet Performance: Testing revealed the USB interface is too slow for high-bandwidth DVBS2 signals, while the Ethernet interface successfully supported up to 10 megasamples per second.
0:02:34 Future Plan (Aaron): Aaron plans to integrate his developed DVBS2 encoder and test it against the Pico tuner receiver to evaluate its performance.
0:03:46 Paul's Remote Lab Setup: Paul has retrieved all remote lab equipment from Little Rock, including the "Chub" server, and is working on reassembling and getting it operational at Remote Lab West.
0:04:29 Server Progress & Issues: Networking is working, but one hard drive has issues due to a damaged power connector tab. The server runs on unRAID, which has slow reboot cycles.
0:05:26 Duplicated Lab Environment: The ORI South lab setup, including the Raspberry Pi WireGuard gateway, has been duplicated at Remote Lab West with minor local network changes.
0:06:21 Performance Testing Plan (Paul): The plan is to benchmark the server's VM performance in its current configuration, then update to unRAID version 7 and re-benchmark. Lessons learned will be applied to the main "Chunk" server to improve VM performance.
0:07:26 Potential SSD Purchase: Discussion about potentially purchasing more SSDs to fill out the server, as current prices are low and disk space is always needed for software like Xilinx and Vitis.
0:09:35 Remote Lab West Overview: Michelle provides a visual tour of the Remote Lab West bench in San Diego, showcasing various network-accessible equipment including a spectrum analyzer, oscilloscopes, power supplies, and Pluto SDRs used for the Opulent Voice uplink project.
0:12:31 Remote Lab South Future: The computer from Remote Lab South ("Chub") will be restored (including replacing broken glass with acrylic) and used to help fix performance issues on the main lab server.
0:12:53 Outreach Efforts: ORI is developing curriculum and project proposals for local universities and companies in San Diego to gain involvement in their open-source satellite project.
0:13:50 Statement of Work & Equipment Divestment: Regardless of outreach success, a solid, updated statement of work will be created. If equipment isn't needed, the lab might be sold to fund operations.
0:14:21 Regulatory Updates (FCC 25-133): ORI has filed reply comments in the FCC's "delete delete delete" proceeding, advocating for the removal of burdensome regulations (notification/permission) in the 219 MHz band, which has chilled activity.
0:15:54 Supporting Other Filings: ORI filed comments supporting ARRL, Association of American Railroads, Wispa, and Steve Stro's filings, specifically agreeing with the deletion of baud/symbol rate/bandwidth limitations and restrictions on learning about/using digital codes.
0:17:05 Multicarrier Data Modes Legality: Discussion on whether modes like OFDM (used in LTE/5G and ORI's Neptune project) are implicitly illegal under current amateur radio rules because their emission types aren't defined.
0:17:54 Proposed Rule Changes: ORI is proposing specific updates to FCC rules to clarify the legality and use of multicarrier data modes and is seeking feedback on a draft article/comments about this.
0:18:36 Future Regulatory Actions: Plans include publishing the draft article (potentially in QST), attempting a Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), or working with ARRL's regulatory team.
0:19:01 Getting Involved: Encourage interested individuals to visit openresearch.institute to introduce themselves and get involved via Slack, the announcement email list, or the Git repository.