
Explore the advantages and challenges of software-defined radio, including flexibility, reconfigurability, cost efficiency, enhanced performance, and rapid prototyping, balanced against high initial cost, power use, complexity, security, and latency.
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.
Explore the electromagnetic spectrum, wave properties, and how refraction, reflection, diffraction, interference, and polarization influence wireless and fiber-optic communications.
Learn how to convert analog signals into digital form through sampling, understand the Nyquist rate, and prevent aliasing with anti-aliasing filters.
Design and simulate amplitude modulation and demodulation in LabVIEW, using a carrier cosine and a message signal, with modulation index considerations and overmodulation concepts.
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.
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.
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 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.
Are you curious about how wireless communication systems work? Do you want to design your own radio systems and explore real-world applications like 5G, satellite communication, and even aircraft tracking?
This course, Intro to Software-Defined Radio (SDR) From Basics to Design, is your complete hands-on guide to understanding and working with SDR technology using LabVIEW and USRP hardware. Designed for beginners and professionals alike, this course takes you step by step through both the theory and practical implementation of SDR systems.
You’ll start by learning the fundamentals of SDR, its advantages, key components, and how it compares to traditional analog radios. Then, we’ll cover wireless communication basics, modulation techniques (AM, FM, PM, ASK, FSK, PSK, QAM), and digital signal processing concepts like filtering, sampling, and Fourier transforms.
Next, you’ll move into LabVIEW and build fully functional SDR transmitters and receivers. You’ll even complete a final project where you implement a real communication link using USRP.
In the advanced section, we explore exciting applications like SDR in 5G networks, satellite systems, and ethical hacking. You’ll also complete a practical assignment: decoding live ADS-B signals from aircraft in your area.
Whether you're a student, engineer, or hobbyist, this course will give you the skills and confidence to start building your own SDR systems from the ground up.