Intro to Software-Defined Radio (SDR) From Basics to Design

Explore fundamental concepts of wireless communication, from the electromagnetic spectrum and radio waves to modulation techniques, transmitter and receiver design, and trends like 5G, IoT, Wi‑Fi 6, and satellite links.

Learn how frequency defines cycles per second, bandwidth determines data capacity, and modulation encodes data onto a carrier, with practical uses in FM radio, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks.

Compare analog and digital communication by contrasting continuous versus discrete signals, their noise resilience, and applications in radios, networks, Wi‑Fi, and 5G within SDR contexts.

Explore the electromagnetic spectrum, wave properties, and how refraction, reflection, diffraction, interference, and polarization influence wireless and fiber-optic communications.

Explore the fundamentals of digital signal processing, including sampling, quantization, filtering, and the Fourier transform, applied to manipulating signals in SDR.

Learn how the Fourier transform converts a signal from time to frequency domain, revealing frequency components; study its digital forms (DFT, FFT) and key applications in analysis, filtering, and modulation.

Learn how to convert analog signals into digital form through sampling, understand the Nyquist rate, and prevent aliasing with anti-aliasing filters.

Explore low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass filters, and how to cascade high and low pass stages. Compute cutoff frequencies with f_c = 1/(2πRC), analyze frequency response and rolloff, and compare trade-offs.

Install LabVIEW and configure an SDR design project using block diagrams and front panels to design, simulate, and visualize signals.

Explore amplitude modulation (AM), how a high-frequency carrier is varied by a low-frequency message, and envelope-detection demodulation to recover the information.

Design and simulate amplitude modulation and demodulation in LabVIEW, using a carrier cosine and a message signal, with modulation index considerations and overmodulation concepts.

Explore how frequency modulation (FM) encodes information by varying carrier frequency, its demodulation methods, the spectrum with sidebands, and applications in FM radio and TV sound for noise-resistant high-fidelity transmission.

Design and simulate a frequency modulation and demodulation system in LabVIEW, using sine and cosine carriers and a sinusoidal message signal to illustrate FM, its modulation index, and waveform alignment.

Explore phase modulation (PM) in depth, showing how a carrier's phase varies with the message signal, its modulation index, bandwidth implications, and demodulation methods.

design a phase modulation circuit by setting phase constant from maximum deviation, and drive the carrier with a phase term derived from the message signal in LabVIEW using three signals.

Amplitude shift keying explains digital modulation by varying carrier amplitude to represent binary data, covering modulation and demodulation, spectrum, envelope and coherent detection, and RFID and other applications.

Design amplitude shift keying in LabVIEW by modulating a cosine carrier with binary data to encode 0s and 1s, using a random data generator, comparisons, and waveform generation.

Explore frequency shift keying (FSK), a digital modulation scheme that conveys binary data by switching the carrier frequency between f0 and f1, and learn its modulation and demodulation.

Learn how to design frequency shift keying in LabVIEW by modulating carrier frequency according to binary data, using f1 for ones and f0 for zeros, with demodulation concepts.

Learn how phase shift keying encodes binary data through carrier phase shifts, covering BPSK and QPSK, modulation and demodulation techniques, spectrum behavior, and practical applications.

Design and implement binary PSK by modulating the carrier phase with 0 and 180 degrees according to binary data, using LabVIEW to adjust the phase input.

Learn quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) by illustrating how amplitude and phase encode data via I and Q streams and constellation diagrams, including 16, 64, and 256 QAM.

Design and visualize quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in LabVIEW using a constellation diagram, input bitstream, and pre-designed modulation blocks.

Explore the IQ rate in software-defined radio, where in‑phase and quadrature samples form complex signals, determine bandwidth, and balance sampling to avoid aliasing and processing limits.

Implement a basic transmitter using LabVIEW for USB SDR, opening a transmission session, configuring carrier frequency, IQ rate, and gain, and sending a waveform via USB transmitter data block.

Design a USB transmitter in LabVIEW to send a QAM modulated signal, integrating the QAM block diagram into the transmitter and configuring carrier frequency and IQ rate.

Explore implementing an audio signal transmitter on USRP using LabVIEW, capturing microphone input via USB, configuring sound input vi, and transmitting voice over the air with carrier frequency considerations.

Design a basic USRP receiver in LabVIEW by configuring the session, initiating waveform acquisition, and fetching complex data to demodulate FM signals.

Design and test an SDR communication link using USB transmitter and receiver to transmit and receive data, matching IQ rate, carrier frequency, and gain in LabVIEW transmitter and receiver circuits.

Explore software defined radios (SDR) and software defined networking (SDN) in 5G architectures, highlighting programmable radios, centralized control, reconfigurability, network slicing, and deployment advantages.

Explore how software-defined radios enable flexible, multi-band satellite and radar systems, enabling in-space updates, beamforming, and real-time processing across VSAT, navigation, and weather applications.

Discover how software defined radio enables security analysis and ethical hacking of wireless systems such as wifi, bluetooth, RFID, and GSM using GNU Radio and Universal Radio Hacker.