ProjectUltra

High-performance HF modem for amateur radio

Last updated: 2026-02-12

EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE - WORK IN PROGRESS

This project is under active development and is not ready for production use. Features may be incomplete, untested, or broken. APIs and protocols may change without notice. Performance numbers are from simulation only - real-world HF testing is ongoing. Use at your own risk for experimentation and development only.

ProjectUltra is a software modem that achieves reliable, high-speed data transfer over HF radio. It uses adaptive waveform selection to maintain communication across varying ionospheric conditions - from quiet bands to disturbed polar paths.

---

Alpha Reality Snapshot (v0.2.4-alpha)

• Stable baseline: MC-DPSK plus OFDM DQPSK (R1/4 to R2/3) are the most reliable paths in current testing.
• Control path hardening landed: DISCONNECT now uses a hardened 1-codeword control profile (R1/4) with seq=0xFFFF; recent 10-seed simulator check showed 10/10 pass and 0 disconnect timeouts.
• File transfer gate passed: recent 2048-byte OFDM test (SNR=20, good fading, R1/2) passed 5/5 seeds with 0 retransmissions and 0 timeouts.
• Still experimental: D8PSK and coherent high-order modes can show higher run-to-run variability on fading channels; keep these as opportunistic/expert modes for now.
• OTA status: on-air testing is active, but this is still alpha software and not production-ready.

---

Features

• Adaptive Waveforms: Automatically selects optimal waveform based on channel conditions
• Wide SNR Range: Operates from -11 dB to 30+ dB (DPSK tested at -11 dB)
• Strong FEC: LDPC codes with rates from R1/4 to R5/6
• ARQ Protocol: Reliable delivery with automatic retransmission
• GUI Application: Real-time waterfall, constellation display, and message log
• CLI Tools: Frame-level transmit/receive for testing and debugging

---

Performance

Raw waveform throughput (1024 FFT, 59 carriers, CP=96, 42.9 sym/s):

SNR	Mode	Data carriers	Throughput	Notes
5+ dB	MC-DPSK (8 carriers)	8	938 bps	100% verified, ±50 Hz CFO
10+ dB	OFDM DQPSK R1/4	59 (no pilots)	1264 bps	100% verified, fading OK
15+ dB	OFDM DQPSK R1/2	53 (6 pilots)	2271 bps	100% verified, good + moderate fading
20+ dB	OFDM DQPSK R2/3	53 (6 pilots)	3028 bps	100% verified, good fading
20+ dB	OFDM DQPSK R3/4	55 (4 pilots)	3536 bps	100% verified, AWGN only
20+ dB	OFDM D8PSK R1/2	53 (6 pilots)	3407 bps	Works in strong channels; fading reliability still being hardened

Coherent modes (stable channels only):

SNR	Mode	Data carriers	Throughput	Notes
20+ dB	OFDM QPSK R1/2	47 (12 pilots)	2014 bps	Coherent path, sensitive to phase/fading
25+ dB	OFDM 16QAM R3/4	44 (15 pilots)	5657 bps	Stable paths (NVIS, ground wave)
30+ dB	OFDM 32QAM R3/4	44 (15 pilots)	7071 bps	Maximum throughput

When to use coherent modes (16QAM/32QAM): Stable propagation paths like ground wave or direct cable connection. These paths have stable phase, allowing coherent demodulation with pilot-assisted channel estimation.

Waveform Strategy

ProjectUltra uses adaptive waveform selection based on channel conditions:

SNR Range           Waveform              Why
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
5-10 dB             MC-DPSK (8 carriers)  Robust sync, differential encoding
10-17 dB            OFDM-CHIRP 1024-FFT   Dual chirp sync, 59 carriers
17+ dB              OFDM-COX 1024-FFT     Schmidl-Cox sync, max throughput
25+ dB (NVIS)       OFDM 16QAM            Coherent mode, ~5.7 kbps

MC-DPSK (Multi-Carrier DPSK): 8 carriers with differential encoding. Works reliably at 5+ dB SNR with ±50 Hz CFO tolerance. Uses dual chirp synchronization for robust timing recovery.

D8PSK (8-Phase DPSK): +50% throughput over DQPSK (3 bits/symbol vs 2). This mode is currently treated as opportunistic. It performs well in AWGN and some strong fading runs, but remains more variable than DQPSK in sustained HF fading. A two-pass decoder uses the embedded DQPSK grid to estimate and correct phase drift before D8PSK decoding.

Two OFDM sync modes:

• OFDM-CHIRP: Dual chirp preamble for robust sync, works at 10+ dB
• OFDM-COX: Schmidl-Cox sync for faster acquisition, requires 17+ dB

NVIS/Local optimization: For stable paths like NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave), 16QAM with pilots provides better performance than differential modes. The pilots track slow phase drift and frequency-selective fading. Maximum throughput ~7.1 kbps with 32QAM R3/4.

---

Getting Started

Requirements

• Linux, macOS, or Windows
• CMake 3.16+
• SDL2 (for GUI)
• FFTW3 (required for fast chirp detection)
• C++20 compiler (GCC 10+, Clang 12+, MSVC 2019+)

Building

# Install dependencies
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libfftw3-dev cmake build-essential
# macOS: brew install sdl2 fftw cmake
# Windows: vcpkg install sdl2 fftw3

git clone https://github.com/mfrigerio/ProjectUltra.git
cd ProjectUltra
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make -j4

Running

GUI Application:

./ultra_gui              # Normal mode
./ultra_gui -sim         # Simulator mode (no radio needed)

CLI Tools (individual frames, not full protocol):

# Transmit single frame
./ultra ptx "Hello World" -s MYCALL -d THEIRCALL | aplay -f FLOAT_LE -r 48000

# Decode frames from audio
arecord -f FLOAT_LE -r 48000 | ./ultra prx

# Loopback test
./ultra ptx "Test message" -s A -d B | ./ultra prx

Note: The CLI generates/decodes individual frames. It does not support full protocol sessions (PING→CONNECT→DATA→DISCONNECT). For interactive operation, use the GUI application.

---

How It Works

Protocol

1. PING/PONG - Fast presence probe (~1 sec each) to check if remote station is listening
2. CONNECT - Full callsign exchange after successful probe (FCC Part 97.119 compliance)
3. MODE_CHANGE - Negotiates optimal modulation/coding based on measured SNR
4. DATA - Transfers payload with per-frame acknowledgment
5. DISCONNECT - Graceful termination with callsign ID (regulatory compliance)

The PING/PONG probe allows quick "anyone home?" detection before committing to the full CONNECT sequence. If no response after 5 PINGs (15 seconds), connection fails fast.

Signal Parameters

Parameter	MC-DPSK	OFDM
Sample Rate	48 kHz	48 kHz
Bandwidth	~2.4 kHz	~2.8 kHz
Center Frequency	1500 Hz	1500 Hz
Carriers	8	59
FFT Size	N/A	1024
Symbol Rate	~94 baud	~42.9 baud
Cyclic Prefix	N/A	96 samples (2ms)
Sync Method	Dual Chirp	Dual Chirp or Schmidl-Cox
LDPC Codeword	648 bits	648 bits

LDPC Codes

Rate	Info Bytes	Use Case
R1/4	20	Low SNR, maximum reliability
R1/2	40	Moderate SNR, good balance
R2/3	54	Good SNR, higher throughput
R3/4	60	Very good SNR
R5/6	67	Excellent SNR, maximum throughput

---

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              GUI Application (ImGui + SDL2)             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│     Protocol Engine (Connection, ARQ, File Transfer)    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│        Modem Engine (TX/RX coordination, SNR est)       │
├──────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┤
│       OFDM Mod/Dem       │       DPSK Mod/Dem        │
├──────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────┤
│  LDPC Encoder/Decoder  │  Interleaver  │  Sync/CFO     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                    Audio I/O (SDL2)                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Testing

cd build

# Primary test - full protocol (PING/CONNECT/MODE_CHANGE/DATA/DISCONNECT)
./cli_simulator --snr 15 --fading good --rate r1_4 --test

# Test specific modulation/rate combinations
./cli_simulator --snr 20 --fading good --mod d8psk --rate r1_2 --test
./cli_simulator --snr 20 --mod dqpsk --rate r2_3 --test

# Quick single-frame sanity check (not full protocol)
./test_waveform_simple -w ofdm_chirp --snr 15

# Run unit tests
ctest

CFO Verification (Internal Pre/Post Correction Chain):

# From repository root (one-command gate)
./tests/verify_cfo_chain.sh --cfo 50 --channel awgn --snr 20 --seed 42

# Optional: capture raw TX/RX audio for offline analysis
./build/cli_simulator --snr 20 --channel awgn --waveform ofdm_chirp \
  --mod dqpsk --rate r1_2 --tx-cfo 50 \
  --save-signals 1 --save-prefix /tmp/cfo_probe --test

Useful cli_simulator flags for CFO diagnostics:

• --tx-cfo (alias --cfo) injects TX CFO in Hz across the full transmitted signal.
• --save-signals [N] writes raw TX/RX captures for up to N messages.
• --save-prefix <path> and --save-max-samples <N> control capture naming and size.

Adaptive Advisory Smoke Test (log-only, no live MODE_CHANGE yet):

./build/cli_simulator --adpt-test --snr 20 --channel good --waveform ofdm_chirp --seed 42

This test runs two message phases across two channel conditions and prints [ADPT] lines:

• Peer-reported advisory from CONNECT/CONNECT_ACK metrics.
• Local rolling advisory with hysteresis behavior:
  • fast downgrade path
  • delayed upgrade path (hold timer before promotion)

Useful flags:

• --hop-snr <dB> sets phase-B SNR (default: 12)
• --hop-channel <awgn|good|moderate|poor|flutter> sets phase-B channel

Manual Modulation Selection:

The --mod flag allows testing specific modulations:

• dqpsk - 4-phase differential (default, 2 bits/symbol)
• d8psk - 8-phase differential (+50% throughput, 3 bits/symbol)
• dbpsk - 2-phase differential (most robust, 1 bit/symbol)

The --rate flag selects LDPC code rate:

• r1_4 - Most robust (required for fading channels)
• r1_2 - Balanced (default for AWGN)
• r2_3, r3_4, r5_6 - Higher throughput, needs better SNR

GUI Expert Settings:

To force specific modulation in the GUI application:

1. Open Settings (gear icon)
2. Go to Expert tab
3. Set Forced Modulation to desired mode (D8PSK, DQPSK, etc.)
4. Optionally set Forced Code Rate (R1/4 recommended for fading)

When D8PSK is forced on a fading channel, the two-pass decoder automatically activates to improve reliability (uses embedded DQPSK grid for phase correction).

Test Tools:

Tool	Purpose
cli_simulator	Primary - full protocol with two-station interaction
test_waveform_simple	Quick single-frame sanity checks

---

Radio Setup

Requirements

• SSB transceiver with 2.8+ kHz filter bandwidth
• Audio interface (SignaLink, RigBlaster, or direct soundcard connection)
• PTT control (VOX, CAT, or hardware)

Audio Levels

• TX: Adjust for clean signal without ALC compression
• RX: Set for comfortable listening level (avoid clipping)

Recommended Operating Frequencies

ProjectUltra uses ~2.8 kHz bandwidth. Operate in wideband digital segments, not narrow-band FT8/PSK31 areas.

Band	Frequency (USB)	Notes
80m	3.590 MHz	Above narrow digital, below voice
40m	7.102 MHz	Common for wideband digital
30m	10.145 MHz	Check for WSPR at 10.140
20m	14.108 MHz	Above FT8 crowd, wideband digital
15m	21.110 MHz	Above narrow digital segment
10m	28.120 MHz	Plenty of room

Avoid:

• 14.070-14.095 MHz (FT8/PSK31)
• Any .074 MHz frequencies (FT8)
• 14.100 MHz (NCDXF beacons)

Best practice: Listen for 10-15 seconds before transmitting. Use minimum power necessary. Be ready to QSY if causing interference.

---

Current Status

Note: Core waveforms have been verified in loopback and acoustic testing. On-air HF testing is in progress.

What Is Solid Today

Waveform	SNR Range	CFO Tolerance	Status
MC-DPSK (8 carriers)	5+ dB	±50 Hz	Stable baseline
OFDM-CHIRP (59 carriers)	10+ dB	±50 Hz	Stable baseline
OFDM-COX (Schmidl-Cox sync)	17+ dB	TBD	Working, OTA characterization ongoing

Recent simulator release checks (v0.2.4-alpha):

• OFDM disconnect control path (R1/2 data mode, SNR=20, good fading): 10/10 seeds pass, 0 disconnect timeouts.
• OFDM file transfer (2048 bytes, R1/2, SNR=20, good fading): 5/5 seeds pass, 0 retransmissions, 0 timeouts.

Use With Caution (Experimental)

• D8PSK in fading: data decode can be strong, but end-to-end reliability remains more variable than DQPSK baseline.
• Coherent modes (QPSK/16QAM/32QAM): suitable for stable high-SNR paths, not the default for difficult HF fading.
• High-rate operation (R2/3+) still depends on channel quality and control-path stability.

Active Work

• Control-path hardening under deep fades (ACK/SACK diversity and timeout tuning).
• Advisory hysteresis is implemented and testable in simulator logs; next step is wiring controlled live MODE_CHANGE policy.
• Continued OTA multi-station validation and log-driven fixes.

---

Research Roadmap

Goal: Exceed industry-leading HF modem speeds (currently ~8.5 kbps in 2.8 kHz bandwidth)

ProjectUltra is a research platform for investigating advanced modulation and coding techniques for HF channels. Our target is 10+ kbps throughput while maintaining robustness.

Techniques Under Investigation

Technique	Expected Gain	Status	References
OTFS	20% SE over OFDM, full diversity	Implemented, needs HF testing	arxiv.org/pdf/2302.14224
AFDM	>1 dB over OTFS, lower pilots	Not yet implemented	arxiv.org/html/2507.21704v3
Turbo DPSK	4.65 dB on Rayleigh fading	Planned	Turbo DPSK paper
Faster-than-Nyquist	25% more bits (Mazo limit)	Planned	IEEE ComSoc overview
SC-LDPC	0.07 dB from capacity	Planned	SC-LDPC tutorial
OFDM-IM	2x SE via index modulation	Planned	arxiv.org/html/2501.15437v1

Why These Techniques?

OTFS/AFDM: Traditional OFDM suffers from inter-carrier interference (ICI) when Doppler spread is high. OTFS and AFDM work in the delay-Doppler domain, achieving full diversity over doubly-selective channels. Literature shows AFDM outperforms OTFS by >1 dB with simpler channel estimation.

Turbo DPSK: Our single-carrier DPSK already works to -11 dB SNR. Adding iterative (turbo) processing between the DPSK demodulator and LDPC decoder could push this to -15 dB or improve throughput at higher SNR.

Faster-than-Nyquist: By accepting controlled intersymbol interference and using iterative detection, FTN can transmit 25% more symbols in the same bandwidth (Mazo limit: τ=0.8).

Spatially-Coupled LDPC: Our current LDPC codes are from IEEE 802.11n. SC-LDPC codes achieve threshold saturation, approaching capacity within 0.07 dB on fading channels.

Current Benchmarks

Mode	ProjectUltra	Industry Leader	Gap
Max throughput (verified, differential)	3.5 kbps	8.5 kbps	-59%
Max throughput (coherent, theoretical)	7.1 kbps	8.5 kbps	-16%
Low-SNR floor (verified)	5 dB	~0 dB	Needs work
CFO tolerance	±50 Hz	±100 Hz	TBD

How to Contribute

We're looking for collaborators interested in:

• Implementing AFDM modulation
• Adding turbo processing to DPSK
• Testing OTFS on real HF recordings
• SC-LDPC code design and optimization
• FTN with iterative ISI cancellation

If you have expertise in these areas, please open an issue or reach out!

---

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Areas of interest:

• On-air testing and performance reports
• Documentation and tutorials
• Bug fixes and optimizations

Please open an issue before submitting large PRs.

Help Wanted: Real HF Recordings

We need real-world HF recordings to validate the modem beyond simulation.

If you're a licensed amateur radio operator, you can help by recording your own transmissions via WebSDR. This is legitimate amateur experimentation under FCC Part 97 (advancement of the radio art).

How to record your own signal:

1. Pick a frequency from the recommended list above (e.g., 14.108 MHz USB)
2. Open a WebSDR receiver (websdr.org or kiwisdr.com) and tune to that frequency
3. Start recording on the WebSDR (or use Audacity to capture system audio)
4. Transmit using ProjectUltra (see options below)
5. Stop recording and save the file

What to transmit:

Frame Type	Duration	Best For
PING probe	~1 second	Quick propagation test
Full CONNECT	~8 seconds	Complete handshake test

• PING probe: Short DPSK burst with "ULTR" marker. Fast way to check if your signal is reaching the WebSDR. In GUI: click Connect, recording starts immediately with the PING. Cancel after 2-3 seconds if you just want the probe.

• Full CONNECT: Complete connection attempt with callsign exchange (3 codewords). More comprehensive test of sync, LDPC decode, and protocol parsing.

What to submit:

• Recording file (48kHz mono WAV or F32 preferred)
• Your callsign and transmit location
• Band/frequency and time (UTC)
• WebSDR location used (e.g., "Twente WebSDR, Netherlands")
• Approximate path distance
• Band conditions if known (S-meter readings)
• Frame type transmitted (PING or CONNECT)

Why this helps: Real ionospheric propagation has characteristics that simulation can't capture. Even "failed" recordings where the signal didn't decode are valuable - they help us improve sync detection and weak-signal performance.

How to submit: Open a GitHub issue with the "Recording" label.

---

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

---

Acknowledgments

• Community OTA testers, especially KC3VPB, for sharing real-station logs (receiver_latest_gui.log / init_latest_gui.log) that helped diagnose post-handshake sync rejects and buffer-overflow edge cases.
• Dear ImGui - GUI framework
• SDL2 - Audio and windowing
• FFTW3 - Fast Fourier Transform (required for chirp detection)
• miniz - Compression