Transmitting ATSC using Gnuradio and a software defined radio is easy. This project is an investigation into transmitting a digital TV signal with only a microcontroller.

Status: working proof of concept

The P2 microcontroller has hardware for generating composite video. The chroma modulator feeds the internal 8 bit 320 MSPS DACs and can be used for RF signals as well.

For proof of concept, I used the Gnuradio ATSC transmitter blocks to add the forward error correction to the video data. The encoded symbols are saved onto a microSD card. The P2 microcontroller transfers the data from the microSD card to the 32MB ram on the P2 edge module. I thought that this was the easiest way to feed a sustained 33mbps into the P2. Well, for 6.19 seconds :) It works! And the 6 seconds of video plays in a loop, with some pixelization as it restarts.


Note: The spectrum is terribly dirty. (see plot) Please do not send this signal into an antenna.