The radio spectrum is full of signals: FM music stations, aircraft transponders, ham radio repeaters, and even an atomic clock broadcasting the exact time. With a $30 USB dongle and some Rust code, you can tune in to all of it.
This talk is an introduction to software-defined radio (SDR) through the lens of Rust. We'll start with what's actually out there on the airwaves: the surprisingly rich world of signals you can receive with cheap hardware. Then we'll walk through the Rust ecosystem for SDR: connecting to an RTL-SDR receiver, working with raw IQ samples, and turning those samples into something meaningful.
Along the way, we'll build three small programs: an FM radio receiver that demodulates broadcast stations, a decoder for a shortwave time signal, and an ADS-B-based flight tracker. Each demo highlights different strengths of Rust for signal processing — zero-cost abstractions for real-time DSP pipelines, strong typing for managing sample rates and frequency math, and the performance needed to keep up with a continuous stream of radio data.
No prior radio or DSP experience is needed. You'll leave with a working mental model of how software-defined radio works and a clear path to start experimenting with Rust and radio yourself.
