UmTRX development kit seasonal sale!

Between Christmas and Chinese New Year the price of UmTRX v2.2  is dropped from $1500 to $850.

Offer duration: Dec 24, 2014 – Feb 19, 2015

Availability for shipment: 40 pcs starting January, 2015

We hugely appreciate all the effort that goes into making open source telecoms a reality, and in recognition of this we want to do all we can to support the community and to enable more to work in this exciting area and, hopefully one day, become contributors.

With this in mind we are pleased to announce that for a limited time we have significantly dropped the price of our dual-channel, wideband — and open hardware! — SDR transceiver, UmTRX. As a special for developers we are making the recently updated v2.2 hardware available at the more affordable price of $850, instead of the regular pricing of $1,500. This comes supplied complete with a power supply and coax pigtails.

If you place an order now it will be received in January!

This offer is limited to a maximum of 2 lab kits per individual and 10 per university.

What is UmTRX?

For those not familiar with UmTRX, it is a dual-channel wide-band SDR platform with gigabit Ethernet connectivity, developed by Fairwaves and designed to be used as a transceiver (TRX) with OpenBTS and Osmocom GSM base stations.

Given its SDR architecture, UmTRX can easily be used with many other RF applications. Combining FPGA and FPRF (Field-Programmable RF) technology, it has the ability to process data on a CPU or a DSP, which makes it an extraordinarily flexible platform.

Why UmTRX?

In our opinion there are a number of particularly interesting solutions for use with  OpenBTS and Osmocom.

Nuand‘s BladeRF is an affordable solution for hackers who want configure it all by themselves. Host connection is via USB 3.0 and use is supported with Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. It has a single transceiver channel.

The Ettus Research devices provide a flexible solution that is well suited to universities. Their USRP™ platform supports RF applications from DC to 6 GHz, there are a wide range of devices and options, with a product line that spans from affordable hobbyist SDRs to high-end high-bandwidth radios.

Fairwaves UmTRX has been developed with GSM specifically in mind and provides two transceiver channels, host connection is via gigabit Ethernet and it is well suited to use in industrial applications. It includes a TCXO and GPS for frequency stability, and while it is designed to be built into mobile base stations, it can also easily be used with many other applications. Furthermore, an alternate firmware, 4xDDC, can be loaded to provide double the number of receive signal paths (4) for receive-only applications. Expansion is possible via mezzanine cards and the UmSEL daughter board can be used for improved GSM performance.

So, if you need an affordable dual-channel solution for GSM — with GPS-locked frequency stability — UmTRX is a great choice.