Considerations for the design of a hands-on wireless communications graduate course based on software-defined radio

Bazdresch, Miguel

doi:10.1109/fie.2016.7757505

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This is in correspondence with the LOs 1 and 2. TA 2 Project development labs (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) to implement each specific task organized as workshops along 7 sessions, representing 43.75 % of the course. This is in correspondence with the LO 2.…”

Section: Activities and Their Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach and Provide Research Skills on Hardware Design for SDR Applications in FPGA Technology

et al. 2021

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Software Defined Radio (SDR) technologies are today playing an important role in modern wireless networks due to their flexibility to implement re-configurable hardware designs. In light of the importance to operate and develop such technologies, academic programs in the communications engineering field demand an introduction to Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and SDR communication schemes accordingly. Typically, the teaching of this subject is afforded through projects and hands-on activities in classrooms. However, provided their relevance in the current state-of-the-art, this topic also provides a framework to teach soft skills concerning research abilities in students. This paper introduces an academic program to the development of SDR functionality as well as research skills based on exposure to stateof-the-art research. Through projects, hands-on activities are conducted to teach digital signal processing designs using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. The course aims to develop technical skills to implement communication system blocks. Besides, workshops and seminars are prepared to support the development of research and communication skills. The proposed course is flexible to incorporate on a given academic program as an elective subject to further support topics related to communication theory and discrete-time signals. Learning outcomes are designed to develop enhanced technical skills in SDR design and simultaneously a critical discussion of the devised solutions in light of the state-of-the-art. Also, skills related to identifying, formulating, and discussing engineering problems are further reinforced. Results from supported projects developed in the classroom exhibit completed assignments superior to 90 % of participant students. Learning objectives concerning the technical skills were successfully covered (90 %) in comparison to research and communicating skills (80 %). Additionally, research skills and the ability to disseminate knowledge gradually improved in seminars. Finally, results of the current course exhibit improvements of 25 % regarding the acquired skills in digital signal processing in comparison to previous courses.INDEX TERMS Communication engineering education, communications technology, project-based learning, from research to practice.

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Section: Activities and Their Implementationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach and Provide Research Skills on Hardware Design for SDR Applications in FPGA Technology

et al. 2021

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“…The SDR-based concept has gained significant attention in recent years. For example, an excellent SDR book that covers numerous SDR topics was published by Stewart et al, 3,4 and a massive open online course (MOOC) was also recently proposed by Briso et al 5 The idea of providing software-based courses, with or without SDR, is not novel, and few programs suitable for undergrads have been proposed with either Matlab [6][7][8] or GNU Radio 9 used. In this paper, an alternative undergraduate program is proposed.…”

Section: Teaching Wireless Communication With Sdrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hands-on undergraduate course based on software-defined radio and Matlab/Simulink

Bykhovsky

2019

The International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Educa

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Recent breakthroughs lowering the costs of software-defined radio devices have made them very attractive for teaching wireless communication. This paper provides an example of an undergraduate course that incorporates the use of low-cost software-defined radio and Matlab/Simulink software to illustrate the basic principles of practical digital communication systems. This course targets senior level undergraduate electrical engineering students with a background in the fields of communication and signal processing. The course comprises two parts: software-defined radio introductory studies and implementation of a basic digital modem. The second part of this course may also be taught as project-based learning or in a hackathon-style event. Finally, a list of additional project-based learning/hackathon projects is provided.

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“…Even though numerous researchers have explored the use of SDRs in undergraduate electrical engineering education for teaching basic communications engineering concepts, there is a lack of projects exploring more advanced topics of current interest to the wireless communications industry such as cognitive radios and dynamic spectrum allocation at undergraduate level. This paper presents one such project where a dynamic wireless spectrum allocation scheme was implemented using GNU Radio and HackRFs.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic wireless spectrum access using GNU Radio and software‐defined radios

Regula

Gilbert

Sheikh

2019

Int J Communication

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This paper presents the design, implementation, and results from a dynamic wireless spectrum access system built using GNU Radio and software-defined radios (SDRs) as part of an undergraduate senior design project. The project involved designing and implementing a dynamic wireless spectrum access system in which the secondary user (SU) learns the unknown transmission behavior (channel occupancy and time slots) of the primary user (PU) and then opportunistically transmits during time slots and using channels when they are not being used by the PUs. The main design objective was to maximize the throughput of the SU while minimizing the interference to the PU. A transmitted signal energy detection algorithm with an adaptive threshold was employed to set the channel states as occupied or not occupied. Channel state information was used to determine the PU behavior in a deterministic manner such that the unused time slots and channels could be exploited. A channel allocation scheme for the SU is proposed using the PU channel occupancy information to calculate the channel(s) and time slots available to the SU at any given time. Simulation and physical testing of the system validate the proposed algorithms. Students' feedback affirms GNU Radio and SDRs to be an effective platform for introducing abstract mathematical communications theory concepts, such as cognitive radios and dynamic spectrum allocation, in a hands-on manner.

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Considerations for the design of a hands-on wireless communications graduate course based on software-defined radio

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach and Provide Research Skills on Hardware Design for SDR Applications in FPGA Technology

Undergraduate Curriculum to Teach and Provide Research Skills on Hardware Design for SDR Applications in FPGA Technology

Hands-on undergraduate course based on software-defined radio and Matlab/Simulink

Dynamic wireless spectrum access using GNU Radio and software‐defined radios

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