Software Defined Radios in Communications Engineering Classroom

This work-in-progress paper describes the implementation of software-defined radio-based experiments for ELE 483: Communications Engineering at the University of Southern Maine. Starting the spring of 2024 this course is required for both electrical and mechanical engineering undergraduates. This new integration of disciplines poses new challenges to the instructor in terms of demonstrating the applicability of the course, in mechanical engineering in addition to electrical engineering. Given that the course contains heavy mathematics, the best way to show the applicability of communications engineering in day-to-day applications such as radio broadcasting, and aircraft navigation. The fastest and the most cost-effective way to design these hands-on experiments is by using software-defined radios or SDRs. The SDRs are being used in hobby applications to high-end research applications. This work-in-progress paper describes the content of the course and the SDRbased experiments that will be integrated into the course.