CorteXlab's Wiki

access

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-14T12:07:36+00:00

Accessing CorteXlab Note: If you do not have a CorteXlab account yet, please refer to the account section first. Currently, access to CorteXlab is done via a direct ssh connection to the airlock. This is an SSH server whose sole purpose is to provide users with a UNIX home directory and several command line tools (CLI) to interact with the testbed. Whenever you see the

account

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-03-25T16:15:01+00:00

FIT/CorteXlab Account Creation Procedure Before creating your account, bear in mind you'll need the bare minimum to register: * A valid academic or institutional e-mail address. Personal e-mail addresses will be evaluated on a case by case basis and may be subject to rejection

aff3ct_dvbs2_benchmark_example

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-30T17:25:48+00:00

AFF3CT based DVB-S2 benchmark example This tutorial runs a DVB-S2 transmission between two nodes in CorteXlab. It uses the DVB-S2 SDR Transciever developed as part of the AFF3CT project. It is mostly used as a way to demonstrate that it is possible to run AFF3CT based projects in CorteXlab. But can also be a starting example to run more advanced experiments._

bokehgui_for_cortexlab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-16T14:59:41+00:00

Eyes and ears inside CorteXlab In this tutorial we will use the gr-bokehgui module to have a time, frequency and spectrogram visualization of the signal transmitted in the platform in real time. For that, we will modify not only the scenario file as before, but also the running GNU Radio flowgraphs used for the experiment.__

building_a_toolchain

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-01-10T22:31:10+00:00

Building a toolchain The toolchain is the set of tools used to prototype or run a Cortexlab experiment. Actually, there is theorically almost no constraint at all on the toolchain that experimenters could use, since the workflow of execution of an experiment on each node is basically the following:

cache_aided_polar_coding

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2021-10-27T15:24:55+00:00

Cache Aided Polar Codes This tutorial explains how to execute the improved cache-aided transmission based on piggyback coding and Polar Codes proposed in [1] over the CorteXlab testbed. As in the numerical example in [1], a situation is considered with a single server and 5 users: the server is incorporated by node 16 of CorteXlab, user 1 by node 37, user 2 by node 17, user 3 by node 38…

challenge

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-07-02T13:03:21+00:00

French GNU Radio days Challenge : Sniff n Stuff Now that you have taken some control over GNU Radio and hopefully completed the tutorials, let's have some real challenge, more precisely a SDR challenge! Before we start, you have to do the following:

contact

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2024-06-07T07:43:22+00:00

If you have a question, don't hesitate to send us an email at

cortexlab101

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-19T18:41:25+00:00

FIT/CorteXlab 101 We will introduce the usage of FIT/CorteXlab through a simple OFDM transmission between two nodes in FIT/CorteXlab's experiment room, transmitting dummy packets between them. Division of resources will be according to the table below: Group ___________

cortexlab102

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-19T18:59:17+00:00

FIT/CorteXlab 102 We will now use the fft_web tool that allow use to have a spectrum analyzer and to follow spectrum evolution during a CorteXlab experiment from anywhere in the world. Of course, use prerequisite tutorial to connect to CorteXlab, log into the “airlock________

cortexlab103

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-03-30T07:58:08+00:00

FIT/CorteXlab 103 In this tutorial we go one step deeper into the process of running an experiment on FIT/CorteXlab, this time starting from an empty GNU Radio project on your computer. For practical purposes, we will use a readily available GNU Radio example instead of starting from a clean sheet, but this will introduce the same procedure you'll use when you want to run your own project on FIT/CorteXlab. We will also briefly introduce how to add custom C++ blocks to your project.___________

creating_datasets_for_fingerprinting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-11-09T11:15:31+00:00

Creating a dataset for fingerprinting The objective of this tutorial is to create a non biased dataset for transmitter identification. By fixing the reciever on a robot, the distance and the canal is constantly and randomly changing, forcing the deep learning process to learn on the RF fingerprints. This tutorial explains how to use FIT/Cortexlab to create this dataset.

dl-datasets

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-05-02T12:13:12+00:00

Datasets for Deep Learning Here is a list of datasets generated with FIT/CorteXlab for training Neural Networks: Transmitter identification

doc

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-07-09T10:06:15+00:00

Documentation & How-to Here you will find documentation and how-to about the environment used by CorteXlab and provided to users. CorteXlab Experimental workflow The process of running experiments on the FIT/CorteXlab testbed involves several steps:

docker

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-09-28T15:24:37+00:00

Docker Since November 2019, a new way to conduct experiments is implemented in CorteXlab. Why The legacy way of running experiments is to run one (or more) commands on each node of the experiment. These commands are run from the minus task. This has some drawbacks:

docker_images

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-22T12:16:10+00:00

Docker Images Here is the list of docker images provided by the CorteXlab team: Image name Registry Dockerfile os python gnuradio version uhd version bokehgui fftweb ghcr.io/cortexlab/cxlb-gnuradio-3.10:1.5 debian 12 3.11 3.10.12 master (

embedding_oot_modules_or_custom_libraries_binaries_in_minus_scenario

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-04-21T15:06:00+00:00

Embedding OOT modules or custom libraries/binaries in a minus scenario Cortexlab users do not have direct access to the cortexlab radio nodes. They have to package their experiment in a minus scenario and launch it from the frontend (airlock). This is simple as long as the scenario is made, for example, from simple python scripts or static binaries, using the right version of libraries and/or gnuradio than installed on the nodes. But things get more complex as soon as users want to make use of…

ephyl_framework

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-06-01T12:42:56+00:00

Framework for channel access policies in IoT network This tutorial demonstrate the use of the updated EPHYL framework. IoT transmissions suffer from extensive collisions when an ALOHA-style transmission policy is used. The study of new decentralized channel access policies is promising to reduce energy consumption, latency and errors due to retransmission induced by such collisions. In this tutorial we use a modular and open-source slotted framework for multi-user access protocols developed i…

ephyl_framework_v2

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-11-30T16:09:28+00:00

S3_CAP, a modular framework for slotted transmission This tutorial shows how to use the S3_CAP framework inside the FIT/CorteXlab testbed and implement a access policy. The framework allows you to change the used PHY layer, as described here, but the tutorial will only show you how to implement the access policy.

experimental_workflow

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2015-09-16T08:39:52+00:00

The Experimental workflow The workflow consists of these steps: * book nodes by submitting a job to the OAR scheduler * submit experimental tasks, with Minus Book nodes with OAR The booking of the testbed in order to launch and experiment is done the the OAR tool and the oarsub command. This is explained here:

experiment_picosdr

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-03-22T17:15:00+00:00

How to use PicoSDR within CorteXlab Bitstream You can either provide your own PicoSDR bitstream or use the one we provide by default. If you want to use your own bitstream, you have to specify it in your scenario file and add the bitstream file in your experimentation folder. For ____

experiment_usrp

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-12-11T13:02:44+00:00

Experimenting with the USRPs Providing USRP programs In CorteXlab, USRPs are programmed using the GNURadio toolchain. GNURadio is a free and open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. In order to avoid arbitrary changes coming from the GNURadio development community, CorteXlab maintains a copy of the GNURadio repository, which contains the exact same version of GNURadio as the one installed on the CorteXlab nodes. This distribu…

exp_create_task

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-14T18:15:01+00:00

Create an experiment Now that all the experiment material has been successfully uploaded on the airlock you will have to create a task file. The task file is a simple tar.gz archive file that contains your experiment material alongside an experiment description file:

exp_download

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-06-17T15:45:41+00:00

Downloading results from the airlock To download the results from the airlock to your own computer, we recommend using the same technique as when uploading experiment material on the airlock, but the other way around. tl;dr: use scp.

exp_get_results

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-08-22T12:34:07+00:00

Gathering experiment results By default, the standard output and error channels will be retrieved on each node in dedicated txt files: stdout.txt and stderr.txt. Any other file produced by your scripts and code will be also retrieved if they exist. All these files will be zipped into a tar.gz archive file, one for each node involved. These archive files will then be put into a

exp_monitor

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-08-22T12:33:43+00:00

Monitoring the experiment progress You can check the status of your experiment through the testbed scheduler. To do so, use the Minus CLI: you@srvairlock:~$ minus testbed status num total tasks: 2540 num tasks waiting: 0 num tasks running: 0 tasks currently running: (none)

exp_submit_task

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-05-18T15:17:25+00:00

Submitting an experiment Now, you have a .task file containing your experiment. In order to run it, you need to submit it to the testbed scheduler. For now, the scheduler is a simple FIFO queue, but a more advanced scheduling mechanism will be implemented in next versions of CorteXlab.

exp_upload

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-05-18T15:16:41+00:00

Uploading an experiment on the Airlock Note: This guide is also useful to upload any file on the airlock. From Linux The standard scp command is the ideal tool for this situation: you@your-pc:~$ scp -P 2269 -v [-i path/to/your/key] [-r] path/to/local/file username@gw.cortexlab.fr:~/path/to/remote/destination

faq

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2014-06-16T08:24:52+00:00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) What is FIT/CorteXlab development status ? As of April 2014, FIT/CorteXlab is still in Alpha, however the closed Beta is scheduled for June 2014 with extended features, a more friendly CLI for experiment management and an open access (access on demand from willing people). Moreover, you will be able to experiment in the new fully EM shielded room with up to 40 high-end SDR nodes.

fftweb

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-12-13T16:39:50+00:00

How to use FFT web FFT Web is an Out-Of-Tree (OOT) block which sends a signal FFT by UDP to a websocket server. This websocket server packs and broadcasts this FFT data to websockets which can be opened by html/javascript code for real-time display of the fft in web-browsers (don't worry, we are providing that part ;) ).____

fpga_phy_zigbee

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-12-14T15:25:06+00:00

--- Othmane Oubejja 2017/11/30 17:33 FPGA-based IEEE 802.15.4 PHY Transmitter via Custom Bitstream (PicoSDR) IEEE 802.15.4 is part of the IEEE 802.15 communication protocols for WPANs, which includes other famous standards such as IEEE 802.15.1 (Bluetooth), and IEEE 802.15.3 (UWB Wireless).

fr-gr-days

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-07-02T07:21:27+00:00

CorteXlab Hands-on Tutorials for the 1st French GNU Radio Days Utils This tutorial will take place on our lab computers with the whole toolchain already installed. If you want to try this tutorial at home, we provide a virtual machine image which contains a ready to use instance of gnuradio, the same version as the one in the FIT/CorteXlab platform.

from_gnuradio_to_cortxlab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-01-29T13:31:33+00:00

From A to Z: GNU Radio with CorteXlab using USRPs In the first tutorial we introduced the way to construct a CorteXlab “task” given a ready-made GNU Radio script. This tutorial goes one step deeper, through the process of running an experiment on CorteXlab starting from an empty GNU Radio project on your computer.________{_____________

from_gnuradio_to_cortxlab_pico

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-11-15T15:19:52+00:00

From A to Z: GNU Radio with CorteXlab using PicoSDRs This tutorial goes through the process of executing an experiment on CorteXlab starting from an empty project on your computer (and is quite similar to this tutorial, but this time we are using PicoSDRs). For practical purposes, we will use some GNU Radio examples instead of starting from a clean sheet, but it's exactly the same as if you had your own project you wanted to run on CorteXlab.______________*____*_________________________

g5k-fit-school

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-16T09:59:39+00:00

Hands-on Tutorials for the 1st Grid’5000-FIT school Here you'll find all information regarding the hands on tutorials for the G5K-FIT School. ---------- Prerequesites In order to be able to start, you'll need to verify your system is compliant with the course material. Please refer to the instructions below on how to get your system ready for the tutorial.

get_started

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2016-05-18T15:18:43+00:00

Experimental workflow The process of running experiments on the FIT/CorteXlab testbed involves several steps: * Developing an experiment * Uploading the experiment on the airlock * Creating a task from the experiment material * Submitting the task to the experiment scheduler * Monitoring the experiment progress * Gathering the experiment results * Downloading the results from the airlock

gnu_radio_benchmark_example

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-10-24T10:01:30+00:00

GNU Radio benchmark example This tutorial executes an OFDM transmission between two nodes in CorteXlab, transmitting dummy packets between them. We base this tutorial on the example digital OFDM benchmark transmitter and receiver code present in GNU Radio. For more info on the OFDM benchmark, please refer to the GNU Radio documentation.___________

gnu_radio_docker_benchmark_example

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-10-06T08:58:56+00:00

GNU Radio benchmark example with docker This tutorial executes an OFDM transmission between two nodes using docker in CorteXlab, transmitting dummy packets between them. We base this tutorial on the example digital OFDM benchmark transmitter and receiver code present in GNU Radio. For more info on the OFDM benchmark, please refer to the GNU Radio documentation.__________

gnu_radio_lora_dynamic_phy_layer

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2021-06-23T13:58:01+00:00

GNU Radio LoRa dynamic PHY layer This tutorial executes a LoRa transmission between a node and a gateway using docker in CorteXlab, transmitting dummy packets between them. This implementation stands on the original LoRa version made by EPFL In this tutorial, we will first deploy on CorteXlab a basic upper layer connected to the LoRa physical layer. After showing the functioning of this simple scenario, we will then pull the docker image in order to modify it, add a basic functionnality on th…

hackathon

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-04-11T17:29:48+00:00

CorteXlab Hackathon: Sniff n Stuff Now that you have taken some control over our testbed and hopefully completed the tutorials, let's have some real challenge, more precisely a SDR challenge! Before we start, you have to do the following: * Form teams and give them cool names

infocom

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-01-18T13:08:28+00:00

Experimental Framework for PHY-MAC layers Prototyping in Dense IoT Networks Here you'll find all information regarding the framework demo. ----------

isp-iot-challenge

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-22T13:17:52+00:00

--- Othmane Oubejja 2018/11/17 21:10 CorteXlab IoT Challenge: Uplink Optimization Now that you have taken some control over our testbed and hopefully completed some tutorials, let's challenge ourselves ! We will provide a Wireless IoT framework made for the

isp-iot

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-20T10:41:38+00:00

Hands-on Tutorials for the ISP-IoT Winter school Here you'll find all information regarding the hands on tutorials for the ISP-IoT Winter school. ---------- Prerequesites In order to be able to start, you'll need to verify your system is compliant with the course material. You can proceed by either installing the

lora_dynamic_phy_layer_example

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2021-07-08T09:35:33+00:00

GNU Radio LoRa PHY layer for MAC experimentation This tutorial executes a LoRa transmission between a node and a gateway using docker in CorteXlab, transmitting dummy packets between them. It shows how to use the interface of a plug and play complete LoRa dynamic physical layer, that can be found inside the following

oot_modules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-09-13T09:27:18+00:00

GNURadio OOT modules GNURadio “Out Of Tree” (OOT) modules are custom gnuradio components (C/C++ or python blocks, associated gnuradio-companion block metadata) which are not part of the “default” installation of GNURadio. They can also rely on specific libraries.________

putty

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-15T13:57:48+00:00

Putty Connection On MS Windows, you can use Putty to open SSH connections to remote hosts. Moreover, you can enable X11 forwarding on Putty and use a X11 server on your PC to open remote graphical applications. Xming is a suitable X11 server for Windows. To do so, you must configure your connection.

reserve

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2022-11-18T15:43:42+00:00

Book the testbed with the Cortexlab web application Booking the Cortexlab platform with the Cortexlab web application saves you from using the OAR commands like described in the “Book the testbed with OAR” section below. When logged in (), you can see :

ris_operation_tutorial

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-25T15:51:56+00:00

RIS Operation Tutorial To Fill In This Tutorial assumes that you have followed the basic CorteXlab operation tutorials (at least GNU Radio benchmark example, and Eyes and ears inside CorteXlab, but GNU Radio benchmark, interactive command execution and GNU Radio benchmark example with docker are recommended) Here, we will go through an experiment using and operating the RIS installed in the CorteXlab room, that should showcase all that is necessary to drive it for your own experiments.

running_your_first_experiment

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-07-01T14:58:45+00:00

running_your_task_interactively

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-20T12:29:04+00:00

GNU Radio benchmark, interactive command execution If you haven't already, please follow the first tutorial This tutorial builds on the previous one to more interactively control the execution of the commands on the nodes. Preliminary steps We will be using the same experiment code, in a slightly different way. So first, ensure that you are connected to airlock, as seen before. And ensure you have booked the platform, with the nodes 14 and 16 as we will be using them.__

scenario_file_format

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-08-29T13:29:30+00:00

The scenario of a minus task is a file named scenario.yaml, located at the toplevel of the task directory. Syntax The syntax of the file is YAML, a popular file format. The full YAML specification is quite large but only a small subset of YAML is needed for scenario files, and this subset is very intuitive, and easily understandable just by looking at a

sharing_the_testbed_with_other_users

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-12-08T11:12:16+00:00

Sharing the testbed with other users This tutorial is based off of the GNU Radio Benchmark example to show how to enable the sharing of the testbed with other users. Why would you want to do this? While CorteXlab was made to allow a single user to operate the testbed at a time, mainly to avoid harmful interference to the experimenter, a few situations might require sharing the testbed:___________

sidebar

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-16T10:09:16+00:00

Welcome to FIT/CorteXlab -> Create an account -> Access the testbed -> Book the testbed -> Follow some tutorials Experimental workflow -> Uploading your experiment -> Creating a task -> Submitting the task -> Monitoring the experiment -> Gathering results -> Downloading the results Documentation & How-to -> Docker -> Docker Images -> Using Docker Containers -> Scenario file format -> Experimenting with the USRPs -> How to use PicoSDR within CorteXlab -> Building a toolchain -> GNURadio OOT mod…

spectrum_analyser_example

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-11-15T15:25:22+00:00

Spectrum analyzer example Sometimes you want to know what's happening in the testbed, and for this you need a spectrum analyzer. Luckily we have done almost all the work for this, thanks to FFT web (all the technical details are explained in the link). In this tutorial we won't talk about how FFT Web works, but instead how to integrate it within a scenario. For this we will be using _____

ssh_key_help

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-14T12:03:01+00:00

SSH key creation procedure This little guide is there to help you with the creation of your SSH key. This key will then be used for SSH connections to your personal account on the testbed. Linux/Unix/MacOS The SSH key generation is fairly straightforward on Unix systems:

start

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-28T09:40:28+00:00

Welcome to CorteXlab a precursor infrastructure of News * 7-11/07/2025: Tutorial and presentation at the SLICES-FR School in Lyon. * 3-6/06/2025: Presence at INSTINCT Booth of EUCNC 2025 in Poznan: Remote CorteXlab demonstrations * 21/05/2025: INSTINCT project meeting at INSA, with hands-on tutorial on CorteXlab usage

toolchain

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-16T10:01:25+00:00

The FIT/CorteXlab Toolchain Each node of the FIT/CorteXlab is controlled by a dedicated computer, either embedded as for the WSN or on the side as for the SDR nodes (USRPs and PicoSDRs). The CorteXlab toolchain consists of all the software deployed on the controlling PCs to operate their radio nodes. For the SDR nodes, it is a full GNU Radio distribution that is installed.

tutorials

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-11-25T15:30:37+00:00

FIT/CorteXlab Tutorials Here are some tutorials, in increasing order of complexity. We advise beginners to follow the tutorials in the order they're presented. Important : Some of these tutorials (Ex 4) are based upon the use of docker installed on your computer. This will be the only requirement as we will provide you images with environments suitable for your local computer and the platform

tuto_fpga_pico

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2017-11-15T15:22:51+00:00

Using a custom bitstream with a PicoSDR This tutorial shows how to use a custom bitstream when you are making experiments with PicoSDR. For this we will be using a Nutaq example about OFDM transmission. This example provides a bitstream and a GNU Radio Companion (GRC) file interacting with the bitstream. All the OFDM work is done within the FPGA. Basically you send raw data to the PicoSDR, the FPGA makes the OFDM modulation, TX antenna of card 2 makes the emission and RX antenna of card 2 rece…

tx-id

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2019-07-03T09:42:21+00:00

Transmitter Identification Files Mono receiver: Dataset The setup used to generate this data (GNURadio blocks and flowgraphs, FIT/CorteXlab scenarios and example usage) can be found in this GitHub repository Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Background Hardware imperfections in RF transmitters introduce features that can be used to identify a specific transmitter among others. Currently, header size sometimes outweigh the payload size in IoT type small packets. Furthermore, headers…

using_docker_containers

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-09-04T09:13:35+00:00

Using docker containers Current conventions for the GNURadio images provided by CorteXlab Use prebuilt images Prebuilt images are listed here. These can be used either directly, if one wants to run a very simple GNU Radio flowgraph, or as the basis for a custom image.