"As far as we’re aware it’s the smallest DVB transmitter announced so far,” stated Danny Webster, Lime’s Principal RF design engineer. “It’s certainly the most compact one assembled from off-the-shelf components and powered by open source software!"

"Electronic enthusiasts, hobbyists and makers searching for a hardware platform to develop high-performance and logic intensive digital and RF designs, may be interested in a development board and full-duplex USB stick radio called the LimeSDR Mini."

"The LimeSDR Mini is a free and open source project that supports the company’s entirely open-source LimeSuite host-side software that supports a range of SDRs."

"Lime has partnered with Ubuntu, launching an app store for LimeSDR systems. Using these, developers can download apps and get a mobile, IoT or other wireless network running in minutes."

"The development card is based on open source and is supported by companies such as Ubuntu, Vodafone and BT / EE."

"The company launched a $ 399 card for just over a year ago called LimeSDR, now comes a low cost version for $ 139 called the LimeSDR Mini."

"Lime hopes that by simplifying wireless system development and cutting the cost it can attract a new generation of talented minds to wireless system design, and with it speed innovation."

"The LimeSDR Mini development board is a hardware platform for developing and prototyping high-performance and logic-intensive digital and RF designs that use Altera’s MAX 10 FPGA and Lime Microsystems’ LMS7002M RF transceiver."

"Simply put, the LimeSDR Mini is a smaller, less expensive version of the original LimeSDR. However, it still packs a punch – at its core, the LimeSDR Mini uses the same LMS7002M radio transceiver as its big sibling."

"...the price has been set to make it affordable for virtually anyone to develop applications using “cutting edge” hardware."

"Like its larger sibling, the LimeSDR Mini is a “free and open source project” that supports the company’s “entirely open-source” LimeSuite host-side software that supports a range of SDRs."

"Another plus of the LimeSDR products is that they are fully open source...These are exciting times for SDR enthusiasts with cheap TX capable radios now starting to proliferate on the market!"

"[LimeSDR] was launched last year with the promise of integration with Ubuntu Snap Store allowing to easily download and install various radio implementations such as LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, LoRa, etc… [now there's] a cheaper and low end version"

"This is very inexpensive and very fun - on the Crowd Supply page, you can see a demo of a LimeSDR mini set up as an LTE base station, streaming video between two mobile phones. These are the golden days of hobbyist SDR."

The European Space Agency has officially backed the LimeSDR Mini campaign. Read the full update here.

The LimeSDR Mini development board is a hardware platform for developing and prototyping high-performance and logic-intensive digital and RF designs that use Altera’s MAX 10 FPGA and Lime Microsystems’ LMS7002M RF transceiver.

LimeSDR vs LimeSDR Mini

The LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini are members of the same family of software-defined radios. One does not replace the other. Rather, they are complementary.

Simply put, the LimeSDR Mini is a smaller, less expensive version of the original LimeSDR. However, it still packs a punch - at its core, the LimeSDR Mini uses the same LMS7002M radio transceiver as its big sibling. The Mini has two channels instead of four, and, by popular demand, SMA connectors instead of micro U.FL connectors. Check out the comparison table below for more details.

We’ve already shipped thousands of LimeSDR boards and they are now available for purchase from stock. The LimeSDR Mini is built on the LimeSDR supply chain, dev tools, and community in a way that makes software-defined radio more accessible than ever.

Features & Specifications

RF transceiver : Lime Microsystems LMS7002M

: Lime Microsystems LMS7002M FPGA : Intel Altera MAX 10 (10M16SAU169C8G) 169-pin FBGA package 16 K Les 549 KB M9K memory 2,368 KB user flash memory 4 x fractional phase locked loops (PLLs) 45 x 18x18-bit multipliers 130 x general purpose input/output (GPIO) Single supply voltage Flash feature FPGA configuration via JTAG

: Intel Altera MAX 10 (10M16SAU169C8G) EEPROM memory : 2 x 128 KB for RF transciever MCU firmware and data

: 2 x 128 KB for RF transciever MCU firmware and data Flash memory : 1 x 4 MB flash memory for data

: 1 x 4 MB flash memory for data General user inputs/outputs : 2 x dual color (red + green) LED 8 x FPGA GPIO pinheader (3.3 V)

: Connectivity : USB 3.0 Type-A (FTDI FT601 controller) 2 x coaxial RF (SMA) connectors (each can be switched between high and low frequency bands) U.FL connector for external clock source FPGA GPIO headers FPGA JTAG connector

: Clock system : 30.72 MHz onboard VCTCXO Possibility to tune VCTCXO with onboard DAC External clock input via U.FL connector

: Board dimensions : 69 mm x 31.4 mm

: 69 mm x 31.4 mm Board weight: 20 grams

Block Diagram

LimeSDR Mini block diagram

Comparison Table

HackRF One Ettus B200 Ettus B210 BladeRF x40 RTL-SDR LimeSDR LimeSDR Mini Frequency Range 1 MHz - 6 GHz 70 MHz - 6 GHz 70 MHz - 6 GHz 300 MHz - 3.8 GHz 22 MHz - 2.2 GHz 100 kHz - 3.8 GHz 10 MHz - 3.5 GHz RF Bandwidth 20 MHz 61.44 MHz 61.44 MHz 40 MHz 3.2 MHz 61.44 MHz 30.72 MHz Sample Depth 8 bit 12 bit 12 bit 12 bit 8 bit 12 bit 12 bit Sample Rate 20 MSPS 61.44 MSPS 61.44 MSPS 40 MSPS 3.2 MSPS 61.44 MSPS 30.72MSPS TX Channels 1 1 2 1 0 2 1 RX Channels 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 Duplex Half Full Full Full N/A Full Full Interface USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.0 USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.0 Programmable Logic Gates 64 macrocell CPLD 75k 100k 40k (115k avail) N/A 40k 16K Chipset MAX5864, MAX2837, RFFC5072 AD9364 AD9361 LMS6002M RTL2832U LMS7002M LMS7002M Open Source Full Schematic, Firmware Schematic, Firmware Schematic, Firmware No Full Full Oscillator Precision +/- 20 ppm +/- 2 ppm +/- 2 ppm +/- 1 ppm ? +/-1 ppm initial, +/-4 ppm stable +/- 1 ppm initial, +/- 4 ppm stable Transmit Power -10 dBm+ (15 dBm @ 2.4 GHz) 10 dBm+ 10 dBm+ 6 dBm N/A max 10 dBm (depending on freq.) max 10 dBm (depending on freq.) Price $299 $686 $1,119 $420 ($650) ~$10 $299 $159

Accessories & Options

In addition to the LimeSDR Mini iteself, we’re also offering a few accessories and options.

LimeSDR Mini Aluminum Kit

Enclosure

We’ve designed a custom acrylic enclosure to protect your LimeSDR Mini and make it easy to throw it into your pocket or bag without worrying about damaging the board.

Prototype LimeSDR MIni and acrylic case

Antennas

We’re offering omni-directional antennas with SMA connectors, optimized for frequency ranges of 800-960 MHz, 1710-2170 MHz, and 2400-2700 MHz. These are the same same antennas used with the full-size LimeSDR.

LimeSDR Mini antennas with SMA connectors

Grove Starter Kit

We’ve partnered with Seeed Studio to develop a new low-cost kit based around the LimeSDR Mini, Grove platform, and Raspberry Pi, that together provides everything you need to get started learning SDR basics and developing IoT applications.

The kit packages a LimeSDR Mini with antennas optimised for 433/868/915 MHz unlicensed bands, plus a GrovePi+ and selection of incredibly useful Grove sensors and outputs, many of which are supported by a Scratch extension. When combined with our ScratchRadio extension, this will allow the creation of simple and fun applications that integrate SDR capabilities and peripheral I/O.

Of course, use is not limited to Scratch and educational environments, and we’ll also be putting together examples that demonstrate how the kit can be used to develop applications that integrate with existing off-the-shelf systems, such as wireless thermostats and remote controls.

Kit Contents

1 x LimeSDR Mini

2 x Antennas optimised for 433/868/915MHz unlicensed bands use

1 x Acrylic base plate

1 x Short USB extension

1 x GrovePi+

1 x Grove - Ultrasonic Ranger

1 x Grove - Temp&Humi Sensor

1 x Grove - Temperature Sensor

1 x Grove - Rotary Angle Sensor

1 x Grove - Button

1 x Grove - Light Sensor v1.2

1 x Grove - 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer (±1.5 g)

1 x Grove - Relay

1 x Grove - Sound Sensor

1 x Grove - LCD RGB Backlight

1 x Grove - Buzzer

1 x Grove - Red LED

1 x Grove - LED Bar 2.0

1 x Grove - Touch Sensor

1 x Grove - Piezo Vibration Sensor

Grove Starter Kit for LimeSDR MIni

Free & Open Source

As with the original LimeSDR, the LimeSDR Mini is a free and open source project made in collaboration with the Myriad-RF project. We will be releasing code, firmware, schematics, layout, and associated project files shortly.

LimeSuite

The LimeSDR Mini uses the same host-side software, called LimeSuite, as the full-size LimeSDR. LimeSuite is entirely open source and supports a variety of software-defined radios. You can learn more about LimeSuite at its GitHub repository and Myriad-RF project page.

Snappy Ubuntu Core

A big part of the LimeSDR ecosystem is the Snappy Ubuntu Core app store being developed jointly with Canonical and the LimeSDR community. Because the LimeSDR and LimeSDR Mini use the same drivers and APIs, the snaps developed for one should work equally well for the other so long as they are within the operating specification.

Risks & Challenges

As in the original LimeSDR campaign, the supply chain is the biggest risk — parts shortages could delay production. However, since the critical parts we’re using in LimeSDR Mini are the same as those in the LimeSDR, the Mini will benefit from the considerable work we’ve already put into creating the LimeSDR supply chain.

Shipping & Fulfillment

All orders will be shipped from Crowd Supply’s warehouse in the United States. For a product of this scale, maintaining a separate fulfillment operation in Europe is not economically feasible and would actually increase the overall cost to the end customer. You can find out more about Crowd Supply’s shipping fulfillment in their Guide.

Support & Documentation

If you have a question about ordering, paying, or shipping, please refer to The Crowd Supply Guide.

If you have a technical question about the operation of the LimeSDR Mini or any of its applications, please ask your question on the Myriad-RF forum.