CategorySoftware Defined Radio

Clash of the Telecom Codes: Zadoff-Chu vs. Gold Sequences

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If you’ve ever wondered how dozens of cell phones can scream at the same 5G cell tower at exactly the same time without drowning each other out, the answer lies hidden in the mathematics of pseudo-random sequences. For decades, the undisputed king of multiple access was Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), which relied heavily on binary mathematical constructs known as Gold Codes. But as we...

Hacking the Signal from a Remote Control Dog Training Collar – Part 2

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This is a continuation of a previous post in which I examined the signal characteristics of a non-branded dog training collar. I purchased an additional training collar which has two functions: warning, and shock. Our 5 year old lab mix has a dangerous habit of chasing vehicles, and I wanted to curb his behavior as well as keep him safe if he bolted from our front door or gate. With the same...

Hacking the Signal from a Remote Control Dog Training Collar – Part 1

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I picked up a remote control training collar for our 7 year old Maltese to help train her in order to curb barking. In the spirit of keeping everything humane, we only use two of the three functions (alarm, vibrate, and shock), avoiding the shock function for obvious reasons. I became interested in the modulation used to encode the functions, so I used my Real Time Spectrum Analyzer to analyze...