# cariboulabs/cariboulite

CaribouLite turns any 40-pin Raspberry-Pi into a Tx/Rx 6GHz SDR

Repository: https://github.com/cariboulabs/cariboulite
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cariboulite
Language: C
License Family: other
Topics: sdr, software, defined, radio, rf, raspberry, pi, rpi, fpga, ice40, icestorm, yosys
Last push: 2025-07-24T17:35:47+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 47/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 33, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1907, "days_push": 405, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1329, forks 143 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:23.904809+00:00)

## What it is
CaribouLite is an open-source, OSHWA-certified SDR HAT that turns 40-pin Raspberry Pi boards into a dual-channel Tx/Rx software-defined radio covering up to 6GHz. The repository contains the driver software, SoapySDR API integration, kernel module, and FPGA tooling for the hardware.

## Use cases
- turn a raspberry pi into an sdr transceiver
- receive and transmit rf signals up to 6ghz
- learn software defined radio with cheap hardware
- build a dual-channel sdr for research
- use soapy sdr api with a raspberry pi hat
- rf experimentation and hacking on rpi zero

## When to choose
- you have a 40-pin Raspberry Pi (not RPi5) and want an affordable open-source SDR
- you want SoapySDR-compatible hardware for GNU Radio or custom RF apps
- you need an educational, OSHWA-certified SDR platform

## When to avoid
- you use a Raspberry Pi 5, which is unsupported due to SMI removal
- you need a standalone SDR without a Raspberry Pi host
- you need production-grade RF performance rather than an evaluation/educational board

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: sdk, developer-tools
- domain: hardware, embedded-systems, developer-tools
- platform: python, cpp, embedded, iot
- tags: sdr, software-defined-radio, raspberry-pi-hat, fpga, rf, soapy-sdr, open-source-hardware, radio-transceiver, linux

## Member repositories
- cariboulabs/cariboulite (main) score 47

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:23.904809+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:45:39.004507+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/cariboulabs/cariboulite (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:23.904809+00:00, sha 1ab67693e40c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.