Platform for teaching communication systems based on open-source hardware

Engineering education, in the field of Computer science and Information technology, has the greatest challenges today. These challenges are shaped by the rapid growth of communication systems usage and the appearance of new technologies. Currently, there is a variety of emerging technologies such as: Bluetooth Low Energy, IEEE 802.15.4, ZigBee, 6lowWPAN, etc. In order to enable easy and fast implementation of these technologies in University courses, the building of the low-cost, flexible and scalable platform with support of these technologies is required. This paper presents an approach in building the platform for teaching communication systems and related topics based on open source hardware. The experience with this platform is presented as well.