Low-cost software-defined radio for electrical engineering education

Prototype wireless communication systems can be designed using discrete components, e.g., a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier (PA), mixers, filters, frequency synthesizers, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), etc. Different circuit boards have to be designed, fabricated, assembled, tested, and connected with wires. Consequently, iterating on these prototypes will increase the overall cost, size, power consumption, and complexity of the system. In contrast, software-defined radios (SDRs) integrate multiple functional blocks on a single microchip to reduce the cost, size, and power consumption. Furthermore, SDRs combine both digital processing and analog radio frequency (RF) to offer more flexibility to be reconfigured and controlled. Therefore, SDRs achieve more frequency- and bandwidth-flexible RF design, which enables the seamless transmission and reception of data. In addition, the ease of use and reduced expense of SDRs permit students to own the portal equipment. This increases student engagement through hands-on experiential learning.