A Primer on Software Defined Radios

Abstract

The commercial success of cellular phone systems during the late 1980s and early 1990 years heralded the wireless revolution that became apparent at the turn of the 21st century and has led the modern society to a highly interconnected world where ubiquitous connectivity and mobility are enabled by powerful wireless terminals. Software defined radio (SDR) technology has played a major role in accelerating the pace at which wireless capabilities have advanced, in particular over the past 15 years, and SDRs are now at the core of modern wireless communication systems. In this paper we give an overview of SDRs that includes a discussion of drivers and technologies that have contributed to their continuous advancement, and presents the theory needed to understand the architecture and operation of current SDRs. We also review the choices for SDR platforms and the programming options that are currently available for SDR research, development, and teaching, and present case studies illustrating SDR use. Our hope is that the paper will be useful as a reference to wireless researchers and developers working in the industry or in academic settings on further advancing and refining the capabilities of wireless systems.

MELODY: A Platform-Agnostic Model for Building and Evaluating Remote Labs of Software-Defined Radio Technology

“…The selection of SDR devices for educational purposes hinges on variables such as the academic level (undergraduate or graduate) and the scope of the course. The SDR community provides an extensive array of devices, each differing in attributes such as bandwidth, transfer rate, channel count, external synchronization capabilities, dynamic range, and more [51].…”

RHLab: Digital Inequalities and Equitable Access in Remote Laboratories

“…In 2022, the research team of the Remote Hub Lab (RHLab) developed a Software Defined Radio (SDR) Remote Laboratory (RELIA) to be used in teaching signal processing and system communications [18]. SDR technology has the advantage of building multiple wireless communication prototypes by only modifying a few lines of software which is optimal for engaging students who can probe communications theory in the real transmitter and receiver hardware [19]. The RELIA project is open source and educators will be able to replicate the software, and the setup and use it in their institution with the open-source WebLab-Deusto9 software.…”