The Invisible Language of Wireless: How Open-Source DSP and SDR Cores Are Powering the Next Generation of Radios, Satellites and Chipsets

A phone call.A drone video feed.A satellite downlink.A Wi-Fi packet.A radar sweep.

They all seem simple on the surface — but under every one of these technologies lies the same invisible foundation:Digital Signal Processing (DSP).

DSP is the mathematics that turns radio waves into information.It’s the invisible layer that powers nearly every communication system — from smartphones to satellites.

Two decades ago, this was the territory of defense labs and chip manufacturers.Today, thanks to open-source DSP engines, SDR frameworks, and FPGA/ASIC IP cores, even small engineering teams can design modems, radar processors, and wireless PHYs that once took entire departments to build.

This is the silent revolution powering:

• Software-defined radios

• Private 5G networks

• Drone telemetry

• Satellite modems

• Secure tactical radios

• Custom wireless silicon

  
  

Let’s explore how open DSP tools are changing the future of smart connectivity and embedded innovation.

SDR Is the “Linux Moment” for Radios

Traditional radios were frozen in silicon: if the RF standard changed, you redesigned the hardware. SDR changed that.

A radio became software. Modulation, coding, equalization, filtering, synchronization—all programmable.

And the engine that powers most of the world’s open SDR work is:

GNU Radio

Engineers drag-and-drop DSP blocks to build:

• QPSK and QAM modems

• OFDM waveforms (Wi-Fi, LTE, 5G-like structures)

• telemetry links

• radar processing chains

• audio and voice systems

Research labs use it to prototype PHY layers before committing to silicon. Satellite hobbyists use it to decode CubeSats flying above Earth. Companies use it to test airborne radios before flight.

It is the “MATLAB of SDR,” but open.

Next to it sits Pothos SDR, a visual flow editor that lets engineers design DSP graphs and deploy them to SDR hardware or FPGAs.

And for embedded developers, Liquid-DSP provides all the core building blocks—filters, FEC, OFDM, synchronization—optimized for real hardware.

Even the U.S. Department of Defense released Redhawk SDR, a distributed SDR framework for large tactical radio networks.

Together, these frameworks make SDR the backbone of AI-powered embedded systems and IoT product engineering — from factory automation to aerospace communication.

Software Radios Have Grown Up: Full Cellular Stacks

5G and LTE are not simple waveforms—they are thousands of pages of standards.

Yet open-source stacks exist.

srsRAN

A full SDR implementation of:

• PHY

• MAC

• RLC

• PDCP

• RRC

With srsRAN and SDR hardware, engineers can now deploy private 5G networks for:

• Smart factories

• Autonomous mining fleets

• Precision agriculture

• Defense communication systems

  
  

This is how open DSP stacks are driving digital transformation for infrastructure — enabling secure, localized connectivity that traditional vendors can’t deliver affordably.

When Wireless Goes to Silicon: Open DSP Cores for FPGAs and ASICs

At some point, software is not enough.

High-speed radios, satellite modems, and radar systems often require logic implementation in an FPGA or ASIC. This used to mean expensive IP licensing.

Now, open-source HDL cores exist for:

• OFDM modems

• QAM/QPSK modulators

• CORDIC engines

• FFT/IFFT

• FIR filters

• Viterbi, Turbo, LDPC decoders

OpenCores and GitHub repositories offer complete parameterizable HDL blocks that engineers can drop into a Xilinx, Intel, or Lattice device.

CubeSat developers use these to build radiation-tolerant modems. Defense labs use them to build secure waveforms. Semiconductor startups use them before taping out their first silicon.

This is open-source moving into the world of chips.

RISC-V and DSP: Custom Compute for the Airwaves

A growing wave of wireless systems no longer depend on ARM.They run on RISC-V, often extended with DSP and SIMD accelerators.

• PicoRV32 and VexRiscv deliver configurable, low-power processing cores.

• Engineers integrate DSP logic, hardware MACs, and FFT blocks inside the same chip.

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This fusion of open CPUs and DSP makes Edge AI embedded systems and AI-powered radios possible — smart, efficient, and free from vendor lock-in.

Startups are already using RISC-V DSPs to power:

• Drone telemetry and collision-avoidance links

• Secure defense communications

• IoT and satellite modems

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It’s custom silicon — without custom licensing.

Radar and Sensing: DSP Beyond Communication

DSP isn’t limited to modems. It’s also how machines see, sense, and navigate.

Open radar stacks implement:

• FMCW and pulse compression

• Doppler filtering

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging

• Matched filters for obstacle detection

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Projects like GNU Radio radar, OpenPulse, and openSAR let engineers simulate and prototype radar pipelines — ideal for smart infrastructure solutions like traffic monitoring, drone sensing, and coastal surveillance.

This is how AI for smart infrastructure meets signal processing — merging perception with communication.

Audio, Voice, and Narrowband DSP

Not every wireless link is broadband.Critical systems like aviation radios, industrial sensors, and tactical comms rely on efficient narrowband DSP.

Open audio engines such as SpeexDSP, Opus, and SoX provide:

• Echo cancellation

• Noise suppression

• Voice compression

• Dynamic gain control
  

These tools ensure crystal-clear audio and telemetry even over low-bandwidth links — essential for industrial IoT and automation systems.

Simulation, Testing, and Validation

DSP systems are never deployed blind.Before hardware testing, engineers simulate every filter, modulation, and channel effect.

Open analysis tools:

• GNU Octave, SciPy, NumPy, Scilab, Matplotlib – waveform, constellation, and BER analysis

• Sigrok + PulseView – real-time FPGA timing and I/Q verification
  

This combination enables end-to-end embedded product design — from algorithm simulation to hardware validation — entirely using open tools.

Why This Matters for Modern Infrastructure

Every modern system now depends on radio:

• Drones delivering medicines

• Smart vehicles avoiding collisions

• Private 5G for industrial automation

• Satellite IoT replacing wired networks

• AI sensors in agriculture and energy

  
  

Wireless communication is becoming the nervous system of smart cities and infrastructure.And open DSP frameworks are the brains behind it — enabling small teams to innovate faster, cheaper, and more securely.

They allow a startup to:

1. Prototype a waveform in GNU Radio

2. Validate it in Octave

3. Port it to FPGA using open cores

4. Test it on SDR hardware
   

All without proprietary licenses.

This is the open-source acceleration of wireless innovation.

Final Thoughts: DSP Is the New Infrastructure

DSP used to be locked inside chip fabs and military research labs.Now, it’s open, documented, and programmable by anyone with a laptop.

Open tools like:

• GNU Radio for SDR

• srsRAN for 5G

• Liquid-DSP for embedded PHYs

• OpenCores for HDL logic

• OpenSAR and pyUHD for radar

• Octave / SciPy for analysis
  

Together, they form the open digital backbone for next-generation wireless systems.

EurthTech: Building the Next Generation of Wireless Intelligence

At EurthTech, we collaborate with aerospace, defense, IoT, and telecom companies to build:

• SDR-based communication systems

• Custom wireless PHY and modem architectures

• FPGA-accelerated DSP pipelines

• RISC-V + DSP hybrid SoCs

• Radar and telemetry solutions for smart infrastructure
  

We combine Embedded systems development, AI-powered embedded systems, and IoT product engineering to help clients design secure, reliable, and high-performance wireless ecosystems.

Because the future of communication isn’t just wireless —it’s intelligent, open, and engineered for trust.

Need expert guidance for your next engineering challenge? Connect with us today — we offer a complimentary first consultation to help you move forward with clarity.

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