SDR Pathfinder for Understanding Transient and Noise-Level Interference in the Karoo (SPUTNIK)

In this work, the SDR Pathfinder for Understanding Transient and Noise-level Interference in the Karoo (SPUTNIK) is presented. We describe how a low-cost radio frequency interference (RFI) monitoring system, using solely consumer-off-the-shelf (COTS) components, directly contributes to the analysis efforts of a precision 21 cm cosmology instrument. A SPUTNIK system overview is provided, as well as a generalized software-defined radio (SDR) internal calibration technique to achieve wideband, +/- 1:5 dBm-level accuracy and a measured dynamic range of >= 40 dB.