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Basics of software defined Radios

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599 min

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Telecommunication

Electrical Engineering

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Why enroll

People join this course to gain hands-on and conceptual knowledge of modern wireless systems used in cellular networks, satellite communication, IoT, and defense applications. It is especially useful for electronics and communication engineering students who want to bridge the gap between communication theory and real-world implementation. Learners also join to explore research, prototyping, and industry applications where SDR plays a crucial role.

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Is this course for you?

You should take this if

You work in Telecommunication
You're a Electrical Engineering / Instrumentation Engineering professional
You have 3+ years of hands-on experience in this field
You prefer self-paced learning you can revisit

You should skip if

You're new to this field with no prior experience
You need a different specialisation outside Electrical Engineering
You need live interaction with an instructor

Course details

Basics of Software Defined Radios introduces the concept of implementing radio communication systems using software instead of fixed hardware components. The course explains how traditional radio functions such as modulation, demodulation, filtering, and signal processing can be performed using programmable platforms. It provides a practical understanding of modern wireless communication systems and highlights the flexibility and scalability of SDR in today’s communication technologies.

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Course suitable for

Key topics covered

Introduction to radio communication systems
Limitations of conventional hardware-based radios
Architecture and principles of software defined radios
Analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion
Digital modulation and demodulation techniques
Filtering and synchronization in SDR systems
SDR platforms and tools (USRP, GNU Radio – overview)
Baseband signal processing concepts
Applications of SDR in wireless communication and research

Course content

The course is readily available, allowing learners to start and complete it at their own pace.

20 lectures9 hr 59 min

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Questions and Answers

Q: You're on site doing pre-commissioning of an SDR-based LTE macro. The vendor datasheet says EVM should be <3% at 64QAM, but your field measurement shows 5–6%. You're searching "SDR LTE EVM high during site acceptance despite clean link budget". What should you verify first, before touching any baseband parameters?

A: 3% EVM at 64QAM leaves little margin, and clock phase noise above ~–100 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset will break that budget even if RF power and ACLR look fine. Field SDRs often default to internal TCXO during install, and DPD or scheduler tweaks mask the symptom without removing the phase noise source.

Q: You're selecting an SDR front-end for a 20 MHz LTE carrier with 2x2 MIMO. While googling "choose SDR ADC sample rate for 20 MHz LTE with margin", which constraint actually drives the minimum ADC rate?

A: 30.72 MS/s is the LTE clocking anchor for 20 MHz, tied to a 2048-point FFT and 15 kHz subcarrier spacing. Nyquist-only thinking ignores LTE timing, while extreme oversampling helps noise shaping but doesn't set the minimum viable rate.

Q: You're reviewing an SDR block diagram in a design package and search "SDR block diagram DDC vs DUC symbol confusion". The RX path shows an NCO feeding a mixer before decimation. What does that imply?

A: An NCO plus digital mixer ahead of decimation is the telltale of digital downconversion, typically after IF sampling. Undersampling would omit the digital mixer entirely, and analog mixing wouldn't be drawn inside the FPGA fabric.

Q: A deployed SDR eNodeB shows good RSRP close-in but rapid throughput collapse beyond 400 m. You're searching "SDR LTE poor cell edge throughput high close-in RSRP". What root cause best fits all symptoms?

A: Phase noise barely hurts high-SINR users but becomes dominant when SINR drops, effectively shrinking the usable constellation. Antenna or scheduler issues would affect RSRP or latency patterns differently, and LNA gain errors usually show up as noise figure penalties everywhere.