This video from the Open Research Institute (ORI) reports on two successful August 2025 events: their extensive exhibit at the Defcon hacker conference and a university rocket launch.
At Defcon's RF Village, the ORI team showcased a range of open-source digital radio projects. Key live demonstrations included the Locutus MSK modem, the Locus conference server, and the Interlocutor human-radio interface, which was praised for its focus on accessibility. Other projects presented were the RFBitBanger kit, Ribbit Radio, and a low-cost synthetic aperture radar system built with GNU Radio and a Pluto SDR. A significant outcome was the decision to integrate the Atkinson's hyperlegible font into Interlocutor to improve usability for individuals with visual or other impairments.
The second major announcement was the successful RockSat-X launch in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico. The student-built payload, utilizing an FSK version of ORI's Opulent Voice system, successfully transmitted data from space. The presentation concludes with reflections on the value of engaging with the broader radio community, educating newcomers on complex topics like IQ modulation, and observing talent demands in the field.
Open Research Institute's Defcon Showcase and Rocket Launch Success
0:00 Defcon 2025 Showcase: The Open Research Institute (ORI) reports on their largest event of the year, a successful open-source digital radio exhibit at the Defcon hacker conference's RF Village in Las Vegas.
0:43 Live Project Demonstrations: The team presented several live demos of their open-source projects, including:
Locutus: An MSK modem demonstrated with a Pluto SDR and a spectrum analyzer.
Interlocutor: A human-radio interface running on a Raspberry Pi, allowing attendees to interact with it directly.
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): A low-cost SAR system using GNU Radio, a Pluto SDR, and "cantenna" hardware, adapted from an MIT course.
2:09 Community and Regulatory Projects: The booth also featured poster sessions and hardware for their regulatory work, the RF Bitbanger kit (available on eBay), and Ribbit Radio, a project many attendees were already familiar with.
4:37 A Key Focus on Accessibility: Following conversations at the conference, the team decided to integrate the Atkinson's hyperlegible font from the Braille Institute into the Interlocutor project. The goal is to make their radio products the easiest to use for people with visual, hearing, mobility, or cognitive challenges.
7:59 Successful RockSat-X Launch: ORI announced a successful RockSat-X launch in partnership with the University of Puerto Rico. The student team's payload used an FSK version of ORI's Opulent Voice radio system and achieved successful data transmission from space.
9:02 Positive Attendee Feedback: Attendees were uniformly impressed with the audio quality of the Opulent Voice system, even in the loud conference hall. The demo allowed users to experience the system through headphones.
12:02 Educating the Radio Community: The event served as an important outreach opportunity. The team helped newcomers to software-defined radio (SDR) understand challenging concepts like complex baseband (IQ modulation) and provided guidance to newly licensed amateur radio operators.
14:50 Identifying Industry Talent Gaps: Through conversations, the team observed a significant industry shortage of professionals with combined expertise in FPGAs, digital signal processing (DSP), and hardware design.