2-9 October, Vancouver BC
Informal meetups, workshops, salons, food, and tours.
Lots of digital amateur microwave discussions with friends.
Interested? write fpga at openresearch dot institute and help us be as DUM as we can be.
Q: Will there be a schedule?
A: Yes. It will be posted on the website, on our Slack, and to the ORI mailing list.
Q: Are there going to be proceedings?
A: We will publish what we call “DUM Notebooks”. This isn’t a formal proceedings, but it will capture the content of the meetups in notebook format, probably Jupyter notebooks. There may also be video recordings of some of the events and lab sessions.
Q: Tell me about the lab?
A: A lab will be set up for the event that includes computers, PLUTO SDRs, spectrum analyzers, other test equipment, and access to full Vivado/Vitis licenses for the larger FPGAs used for the topics under consideration.
Q: What are the topics of the workshop?
A: Topics include but are not limited to the following.
1) An OFDM-based drone physical link work for project Neptune, featured in not one but two upcoming ARRL QEX articles. This is at 5 GHz and leverages 5G waveforms. Unlike commercial options that use the amateur bands without benefiting amateur radio, Neptune is by hams for hams and provides a competitive option to proprietary and commercial designs.
2) Opulent Voice (can also be found in QEX) was used during the most recent RockSat-X launch at Wallops by University of Puerto Rico, a “frequent flyer” in NASA’s university space program. Opulent Voice is a microwave-ready minimum shift keying protocol with very high voice quality. No more scratchy digital audio. It delivers data seamlessly, without a clunky separate packet mode. If you’re not familiar with MSK or minimum shift keying, then this is an excellent project to get to know, as the entire design is open source. Available now at https://github.com/OpenResearchInstitute/pluto_msk
3) Omnidirectional 10 GHz investigations. Inspired by requests from the contensting community, we look at how 10 GHz mobile contesting can be improved by taking a hard look at antenna designs. MATLAB antenna analysis tools will be used to quantify traditional and proposed designs.
4) Polyphase and multirate processing for amateur microwave, where powerful FPGA-based techniques can channelize large swaths of our microwave bands and put more people in touch with each other. A polyphase channelizer is at the heart of the open source GEO/HEO design under active development. Downlink is DVB-S2. That part of the design is working and available today at https://github.com/OpenResearchInstitute/dvb_fpga
Q: Where is this going to be held?
A: At AirBNBs and local restaurants.
Q: Where are people staying? In some DUM hotel?
A: We don’t have an official DUM hotel. Attendees that aren’t local are at AirBNBs or hotels near the VanDusen Botanical Garden. Lodging coordination is on our Slack. To join ORI and access the Slack, please visit
https://openresearch.institute/getting-started
A: Next, you’re going to tell me about how great public transit is in Vancouver.
Q: How did you know??
Q: If I’m at MUD, can I also attend DUM?
A: Yes of course. However, the MUD hotel is on the other side of a tunnel with frequent bad traffic. We hope you have a great time at MUD.
Q: What if I don’t feel I’m smart enough to attend?
A: If you feel DUM, you will fit right in.
Q: Does it cost anything?
A: There is no additional cost to be DUM. Food, lodging, and transportation are the responsibility of the individual participating.
Q: I have a call sign from the US. Can I operate in Canada?
A: AB2KT/VE7 explains “There is complete reciprocity between Canada and the US as far as ham operating is concerned. People are free to bring gear and use it if they’re so inclined.”