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07. KrakenSDR Troubleshooting

krakenrf edited this page Mar 15, 2024 · 17 revisions

Please note that we can only provide troubleshooting advice for our ready to use Pi 4 images. Due to the huge variation in PC and computing hardware, we are unable to provide direct support for custom installs other than through our forums.

Common Issues

The KrakenSDR web interface only shows a header with three buttons.

This is due to cookies being totally disabled by your browser settings. Please enable cookies as the dash backend requires them to load and save settings.

The KrakenSDR graphs are updating very slowly, or the UI is slow

It could be that your Pi 4 overheating and throttling the CPU, or insufficiently powered and also throttling.

Connection and sync status remain red in the Web GUI / The KrakenSDR web interface loads, but shows no activity

This indicates that the Kraken isn't connecting to the software correctly.

The first most likely cause of that is a poor quality or low current power supply being used with the KrakenSDR. KrakenSDR draws up to 2.2A, so a 2.4A or better 5V power supply is required. If a 1A or 2A power supply is used the unit will be unable to power up when the software requests it to start.

The second most likely cause is booting the Pi or running the software without the Kraken plugged in and powered up. The Kraken must be powered and connected before booting the Pi.

The third most likely cause is a poor quality USB data cable.

The Android App shows no bearings

Make sure that you have entered the correct IP address of the device the Kraken is running on in the app settings. Note that if you are creating a mobile hotspot from your phone, entering hostnames like krakensdr will not work since mobile providers block hostnames. You must enter the actual IP address.

Secondly, ensure that you have actually started the DOA logging in the app by pressing the start DOA button, which looks like a thin diagonal arrow. It is the button second from the bottom on the bottom right. Do not get confused with the fat north pointing arrow button above it, which is for activating turn by turn directions.

I edited the number of channels in the heimdall config file, but now heimdall doesn't work

Currently if you edit the num_ch you will also need to edit the en_bias_tee string to a matching length. For example

num_ch = 2

en_bias_tee = 0,0

General Troubleshooting Tips

Check Channel Power Levels

By default the spectrum only shows the spectrum from CH-1. If you want to check that all channels are receiving signals correctly, under VFO Configuration, change the Spectrum Calculation value from Single Ch to All Ch (TEST ONLY). Now in the spectrum window you will see all five spectrum graphs. Check that all graphs are receiving the signal.

Make sure you change back to Single Ch mode after, as the spectrum calculation mode affects how the squelcher works.

SSH/Terminal Login

You can log into an SSH terminal by using any Terminal software (eg. PuTTY), and connecting to IP_ADDRRESS:22. The login details are "krakenrf/krakensdr. Note that if you expose port 22 to the internet, we strongly recommend changing the default password.

Alternatively, just connect an HDMI screen and keyboard, and the terminal will automatically login on boot. Note that there is no GUI, the OS is terminal only.

View and Enable Logging

If you have installed the software from scratch, and suspect some issue with missing packages or similar you can enable error logging to try and diagnose the problem. Edit the daq_chain_config.ini text file with nano ~/krakensdr_doa/heimdall_daq_fw/Firmware/daq_chain_config.ini, and change log_level = 2. Log files will be written to krakensdr_doa/heimdall_daq_fw/Firmware/logs.

Also, you can enable logging on the DOA DSP software by editing the settings.json text file nano ~/krakensdr_doa/krakensdr_doa/settings.json and setting logging_level = 2. The DOA DSP logs will be written to ~/krakensdr_doa/krakensdr_doa/_share/logs/krakensdr_doa/ui.log.

Remember to turn logging off again by setting the logging levels to 5 after the issue is fixed, to avoid a large log file growing on the SD card.

Tuner Test

Here we will confirm that all the tuners in the KrakenSDR system are seen by the computing device.

Connect an HDMI monitor and keyboard, or SSH into the terminal as shown above.

In a terminal window run “kraken_test -d0” (NOTE: Older image files will use "rtl_test -d0"). You should see a message like the following.

Found 5 device(s):
  0:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 1004
  1:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 1000
  2:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 1001
  3:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 1002
  4:  Realtek, RTL2838UHIDIR, SN: 1003

Using device 0: Generic RTL2832U OEM
Found Rafael Micro R820T/2 tuner
Supported gain values (29): 0.0 0.9 1.4 2.7 3.7 7.7 8.7 12.5 14.4 15.7 16.6 19.7 20.7 22.9 25.4 28.0 29.7 32.8 33.8 36.4 37.2 38.6 40.2 42.1 43.4 43.9 44.5 48.0 49.6
Sampling at 2048000 S/s.

Info: This tool will continuously read from the device, and report if samples get lost. If you observe no further output, everything is fine.

Reading samples in async mode...
Allocating 15 (non-zero-copy) user-space buffers

Type “CTRL” + “C” to exit the test.

Try again with another tuner, by running “kraken_test -d1”, and so on until “kraken_test -d4”.

If all the tuners showed similar messages, then we have confirmed that all the tuners are functional.

Power Supply Test

Remember that the KrakenSDR must be powered with a 5V/2.4A+ capable external power supply. No power is provided over the USB data port.

Open four terminals, and in each individual terminal run kraken_test for an individual tuner. (NOTE: In older images use rtl_test instead of kraken_test if kraken_test is missing)

kraken_test -d0 kraken_test -d1 kraken_test -d2 kraken_test -d3 kraken_test -d4

Confirm that all tuners can be running at the same time. If there is a tuner that runs normally by itself, but fails to start when others are running then, it is likely that your power supply is providing insufficient current.

Other things to check

  • Ensure that you are using a high quality and short USB-C data cable.
  • Double check with another USB device that the USB port on your computing device is not faulty.

Android App Troubleshooting

Bearings and heatmap not updating

By default, the Android app will not update when you are stationary. The start DOA button will be orange to indicate that DOA is paused due to being stationary. This is to stop bogus GPS readings from affecting results, since the GPS requires motion to calculate a heading. You can disable this setting in the Settings under Pause Data Collection When Stationary, or simply begin moving.

If it is not this, double check that you have the correct server address input in the settings.

Check if you can see the DOA data page at http://IP_ADDR:8081/DOA_value.html from your Android device.

The initial connection can sometimes take a few seconds to come through.

RDF Mapper upload not working

Check that you have included the /save.php part of the RDF mapper server address.

Check the data the RDF mapper server has received at http://RDF_MAPPER_SERVER/read.php?id=mystationname