Calling all Free and Open-Source Radio Enthusiasts!
Wondering what Amateur Radio and Software-Defined Radio are all about? We’ve got you covered with a clear introduction – check out the “Recommended Topics” section! We’re calling on developers and users of Free Software in these fields to contribute their projects and experiences to this exciting event.
Ready to share your knowledge? Read our Call for Presentations below and get involved!
Length: Aim for a 45 minutes long slot which includes a 15minutes Q&A.
Scheduling: The final schedule will be available on Pretalx and the official FOSDEM website. Please note that all times will be in Brussels Local Time (CET).
Content: While slideshow presentations are welcome, we encourage you to showcase your demos and prototypes. This is a software community conference, so please avoid marketing-style presentations. We’re eager to delve into the technical details of your work.
Let’s make this devroom a showcase of innovation and knowledge sharing in the world of Free and Open-Source Radio!
Recommended Topics
The FOSDEM 2025 Radio Devroom will cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to:
SDR frameworks and the tools that make them useful
New SDR-based developments in ham radio modes
Cellular/telecom software
Amateur radio operator software tooling
Free / Open radio hardware
Wireless security research
Entertaining wireless hacks
SDR& ham radio in mass and higher education
Satellite, spacecraft and interplanetary communication
VLF systems, radioastronomy, propagation monitoring systems
Everything linked to radio waves
Software-Defined Radio (SDR) empowers radio signals to be processed and generated algorithmically, often using general-purpose processors but also FPGAs and GPUs. Free and Open Source (FOSS) Software Radio enables these algorithms to be inspected and improved. With the rise of IoT, satellite mega constellations, and 5G/6G, wireless technology is a rapidly expanding field of interest in the FOSS realm.
Ham Radio, also known as amateur radio, is more than just a hobby. It’s a passion that combines electronics, human interaction, and communication. At its core, ham radio is about building connections with people, technology, and the world. It’s a free and open community effort that fosters collaboration and innovation.
Travel Aid
If you’re unable to cover the costs of travel and accommodation to Brussels, we encourage you to reach out to us as soon as possible. Please provide a detailed estimate of your financial needs in the “Submission Notes” section of your proposal.
We can offer financial assistance to up to two contributors.
Don’t let financial constraints prevent you from sharing your work at FOSDEM. We look forward to hearing from you!
Important Dates
Submission Deadline: 1st December 2024
Announcement of selected talks: 15th December 2024
On February 3 and 4, 2024, the FOSDEM conference will again be held in Brussels.
What exactly is FOSDEM again?
FOSDEM (“Free and OpenSource Developers European Meeting”) is the largest conference for developers of open source software and open source hardware in Europe. The conference has been held annually during the first weekend of February since 2001 and takes place at ULB’s Solbosch campus.
The term open source includes open source software (also known by the term “FOSS”), open source hardware (“OSHW”), as well as open data and knowledge (think e.g. of the widely known website wikipedia).
FOSDEM is totally organized by volunteers and is free for visitors. In recent years, the conference attracts about 6000 visitors each year.
What does this have to do with our hobby?
Also amateur-radio uses more and more opensource technology, .. and because FOSDEM 2024 will , for the first time, have its own corner dedicated to the amateur-radio hobby.
But let’s first look at how FOSDEM operates: Given the large number of different topics, the conference is divided into about 40 different “devrooms” (literally, “a room for developers”). Each devroom groups a number of presentations and demonstrations on a similar aspect of open source and is organized by its own team of volunteers.
Previous editions of FOSDEM already included a devroom “SDR (Software Defined Radio)” but new for 2024 is that this devroom has now been expanded to “Software Defined Radio and amateur radio.”.
In other words, for the first time, FOSDEM will provide a place for all open source projects around the amateur radio hobby.
If you are a software developer or a hardware designer of amateur radio project, this is a unique opportunity to showcase not only your project to other radio amateurs, but also to other developers! Since FOSDEM is a conference by developers for developers, this offers the opportunity to boost and grow your project with the help of other radio amateurs and developers from all over Europe.
Wasn’t there something about radio amateurs at FOSDEM in previous years?
Indeed, last years radio amateurs were already present at FOSDEM with an information booth about the amateur radio to promote our hobby to the more than 6000 visitors during the weekend.
However, 2024 is the first year that the radio amateur hobby will also be part of a devroom.
How does such a devroom work?
The first step in the organization of devroom is the CfP (“Call for Presentation”). That is ‑as the name says- the call from the organizers of a devroom to whoever wants to give a presentation or demonstration at the devroom.
The link to the CfP can be found at the bottom of this post.
If you have an idea for a presentation, demonstration or activity, the second step is to submit a proposal. To do so, follow the procedure described in the CfP.
You have until December 1 to submit your proposal.
Then, by December 15, the devroom organizers will publish the list of presentations selected. The selection is done based on the number and content of the proposals received and time constraints imposed by the FOSDEM organization.
But my project is so small and insignificant…
Although a lot of large and complex projects have already been discussed at FOSDEM, it is not that there is only room for those kinds of projects at the conference.
The open source world also consists of lots of smaller projects, each of which has a specific small niche application. This is something we also wish to bring to FOSDEM.
So, even if you only have a small project that you can discuss and demonstrate in 10 or 15 minutes, do not hesitate to submit your proposal! That too is part of the open source world.
Approximately three million people worldwide benefit from amateur radio, a means of global communication utilizing radio waves. To expand its reach in Africa, the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) have signed a landmark agreement which will also allow for expanded use of amateur radio during emergency telecommunications operations.
The agreement seeks to leverage ATU’s membership of 51 African countries and IARU’s global membership of communities in 160 countries, including 36 in Africa — allowing IARU and ATU to combine valuable expertise and knowledge, empowering amateur radio operators in Africa through capacity building initiatives specified in the agreement.
Signing the agreement, the ATU Secretary General John OMO said, “One of the most remarkable aspects of amateur radio is its resilience during times of crisis. When disasters cripple conventional communication infrastructure, leaving communities cut off and isolated, amateur radio operators step up to bridge the communication gap. Therefore, we warmly embrace this agreement for the immense value it brings to our continent.”
Part of the agreement underscores the importance of emergency communications in Africa. Both IARU and ATU commit to supporting the development and deployment of emergency communication systems and infrastructure, and to cooperate in disaster preparedness and response activities.
The agreement further focuses on: the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in Africa through the use of Amateur Radio applications; joint efforts to advocate for amateur radio policies across African countries; and, the sharing of best practices in policy development. Additionally, the agreement emphasizes capacity building by aligning on training programs and workshops.
Also speaking at the signing of the agreement, IARU’s Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Northern Asia President, Sylvain Azarian, said, “We are excited to sign this agreement even as we acknowledge the significance of addressing regulatory challenges for amateur radio in Africa. This is our first step to initiating a collaborative approach that is keen to find solutions and to ensure a conducive environment for amateur radio operations in the region.”
Step by the IARU Open Innovation Zone, where we invite you to explore exciting projects from our community. From software-defined radio to powerful digital signal processing tools and captivating citizen science initiatives, you’ll witness the future of amateur radio unfold before your eyes.
Active members of our community will introduce you to their projects, expertise and inspiring stories that will ignite your imagination and propel you into your own exciting radio adventures. Discover the possibilities, connect with fellow enthusiasts, and be part of a revolution that pushes the boundaries of amateur radio.
This initiative is organized in collaboration with the ICSSW.
Program
We are happy to invite you to discover the following projects:
The M17 Project
SatDump
GNU Radio
Web Radio Control
Charly 25
SPINO
MESHCOM 4.0
YOLOn Air
The M17 Project : M17 is developing a new digital radio protocol for data and voice, made by and for amateur radio operators.
This freedom to build, understand, and innovate is core to amateur radio, but has been missing from the commercially available digital voice modes. This is part of why amateur radio digital voice modes have largely stagnated since the 1990s and we’re almost wholly dependent on commercial products that aren’t well designed for amateur radio users. M17 is about unlocking the capabilities that amateur radio hardware should already have. Led by Wojciech Kaczmarski (SP5WWP), M17 Project received ARRL’s Technical Innovation Award in 2021.
The team has received funding from the ARDC and is currently working on the OpenHT. The Team will showcase OpenHT and Module17 devices. Additionally, handhelds running OpenRTX firmware will be presented to the audience. OpenRTX is a free and open source alternative firmware for ham radios.
SatDump is a free & open-source software dedicated to receive, demodulate and process data from satellites. It is able to handle a very long list of meteorological or scientific satellites, compatible with most of the SDR receivers you can find on the market.
Alan, the creator of SatDump, will present and explain his software.
GNU Radio is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. It is widely used in research, industry, academia, government, and hobbyist environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems.
Marcus Müller, who contributes directly to the design of the GNU Radio project, will propose demos and tutorials to introduce the magic of this great open source application.
Web Radio Control is a project supported by the IARU “Shaping the Future” initiative. Web Radio Control allows you to operate your amateur radio station using a web browser. The built-in reservation calendar makes sharing of a club station effortless: operators may book the station for exclusive access. The actual software runs at your station on a Raspberry Pi, a credit card sized computer. You don’t need expensive radio equipment: a radio transceiver capable of computer control and a wire antenna are enough to get started! A specific program dedicated to the IARU Region 1 member societies is detailed here.
Mikael OH3BHX will present his tool on the IARU Booth.
Charly25 is a project created by Erwin (DL1FY), Edwin (DC9OE), Markus (DG8MG) and Markus (DG8GM), from the DARC club C25. The team started in 2014 to explore the capabilities of SDR technology.
The knowledge acquired over the years allowed them to build their own high-quality transceivers including all the bells & whistles commercial products would offer plus their own ideas on top. The Charly 25 project started with the idea to build a small CW-transmitter with a class E amplifier and the receiver was meant to be a realized using an SDR-Stick – the aim was to inspire our young members in electronics and telegraphy. In the meantime, the team ended up with a real SDR transceiver which covers all bands from 630 m to 6m and in the near future it will work up to the 9cm band (plus Oscar 100 of course).
The team will come to present their project.
SPINOis a versatile telecommunication solution suitable for nanosatellites and Cubesats. Operating in UHF and VHF bands, it features tight integration with amateur radio service and the worldwide amateur radio community. The development of the SPINOSC board was initiated by enthusiats involved in non-profit / educational space projects. Since 2019, the project is supported by the joint efforts of two non-profit organizations: AMSAT-Francophone (site.amsat‑f.org) and the hackerspace Electrolab (electrolab.fr).
The SPINOSC board features functions dedicated to the spacecraft infrastructure :
Receiver function for remote control commands from ground…
Managed or Autonomous beacon (support for OBC failure)
Data stream (uplink and downlink)
Antenna deploy support And functions dedicated to the amateur radio community :
a versatile digital transponder
a digital mailbox service
The SPINOSC board will be a pre-validated open source brick available off the shelf for any nanosatellites mission. Daniel F6JMV and Michel F1AFW will be on the booth to introduce the board and explain how it works.
MESHCOM 4.0
The Institute of Citizen Science for Space and Wireless Communication an innovative project called “MESHCOM4.0“, which is a very flexible and resilient Mesh-network based on an idea of Mike, OE3MZC, to use very robust and effective LoRa spread spectrum modulation in Amateur Radio.
MESHCOM4.0 allows for CHAT-type of data communication using your smartphone as user interface (APP by Rainer, OE1KFR). The MESHCOM4.0 software created from scratch by Kurt, OE1KBC, co-founder of ICSSW, and well known to the Amateur Radio community from his activities in DMR (IPSC2-server network), D‑Star, TETRA and other digital voice systems via HAMNET, is running on a variety of hardware boards, including ESP32 micro controller and SX12xx LoRa-Chipset, like Heltec, TBeam, LilyGo TLora and RAK modules.
The MESHCOM4.0 protocol is entirely based on the existing APRS-Standard protocol stack and fully compatible to transport short messages, position data, weather and telemetry data in correct format, that it can be shown on aprs.fi. (http://www.aprs.org/doc/APRS101.PDF). The mesh-architecture, which makes every user to act as an intelligent repeater, iss elf structuring and self healing and makes MESHCOM4.0 a very resilient communication toll for Emergency Communication situations (EMCOMM).
MESHCOM4.0 is operating primarily on 70cm band (433MHz) and with power of 100mW distances of 5km (urban) to 30km(rural) can be expected. The MeshCOM4.0 network is enhanced by a powerful backbone network using gateways connected via HAMNET or the internet. This allows to connect mesh-clouds of different cities in different countries over longer distance. It also allows for an informative DASHBOARD, that shows all active nodes , gateways and messages on the system. (https://srv08.oevsv.at/meshcom/#)
In the sense of “unified communication“ MESHCOM4.0 also offers interfaces to existing messaging systems like APRS, HAMMESSENGER, DMR, VaraAC and DAPNET, just to name a few of the possible future options. MESHCOM4.0 will also support CITIZENSCIENCE approaches, by transmitting observations and warnings regarding extreme weather situations or earthquakes even from remote areas.
More developments are to be expected. Come and join the fun!
YOLOn Air
Today emergency communications are not only voices exchanges during a crisis situation, we can do more ! A lot of new technologies are available, but most of them are using internet or mobile datas to communicate. Why not let them communicate on our bands and try some experiments with them using our reliables systems to communicate ?
Let’s see together what we can do with AI, SDR and programming to improve our capacities in case of major crisis or to prevent it.
Enzo F4IAI will introduce you to Yolo (You Look Only Once) connected to GNU Radio
In response to recent world events, the International Amateur Radio Union has issued the following statement:
“IARU is an apolitical organization focused on promoting and defending amateur radio and the amateur radio services. The amateur radio service is about self-instruction in communications and friendship between people.”
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