Course 5001: Fundamentals of Software Defined Radio (SDR)

A software-defined radio (SDR) system is a radio communication system which uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals. The goal of SDR is to produce a radio that can receive and transmit a new form of radio protocol just by running new software.

The hardware of a software-defined radio typically consists of a superheterodyne RF front end which converts RF signals from and to analog IF signals, and analog to digital converter and digital to analog converters which are used to convert a digitised IF signal from and to analog form, respectively.

SDR technologies provide software control of a variety of modulation, interference management and capacity enhancement techniques over a broad frequency spectrum (wide and narrow band), while ensuring secure communications management. Radios built using SDR concepts offer:

• Standard architecture for a wide range of communications products
• Non-restrictive wireless roaming for consumers by extending the capabilities of current and emerging commercial air-interface standards
• Uniform communication across commercial, civil, federal and military organizations
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Potential for significant life-cycle cost reductions
• Over the air downloads of new features and services as well as software patches
• Advanced networking capabilities to allow truly "portable" networks
• Worldwide interest and investment in the SDR technologies is growing significantly, with key standardization and development efforts now taking place throughout Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, and China.
• In addition to the broad benefits listed above, SDR technologies offer unique benefits to players on every tier of the value chain

The course covers the details of SDR.

After successfully completing the course the student will:

• Understand the purpose of implementing of SDR
• Understand how the network can support the implementation of new services, the impact that these services will have on the network including the security, charging, and quality of service considerations.

Course Content and Topics

• SDR Based End-to-End Communication
• Worldwide frequency band plans
• Benefits of SDR to Consumers
• Benefits of SDR to Operators
• Benefits of SDR to Manufacturing
• Software Communications Architecture
• SDR Design and Performance Modeling Tools
• Example SDR Radios
• Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)
• Software Defined Radio & RFID Technology
• Amateur software radios
• Multi-Path Route Analysis
• Route Set Computation Algorithm
• Modeling SDR Requirements
• Modeling SDR Application and Architectures
• Properties of SDR HW architectures
• Modeling Physical Layer Software
• Modeling Protocol Software
• Smart Antenna Base Station Open Architecture for SDR NetworkRadio Frequency Design
• Noise and channel capacity
• Link budget
• Path loss models
• Digital up (DUC) and down (DDC) converters
• Baseband Signal Processing Hardware Components
• Smart Antennas and Capacity Enhancing Techniques using SDR
• Phased array antennas
• Applying SDR principles to antenna systems
• Smart antenna architectures
• Low Cost SDR Platform
• Requirements and system architecture
• Low level design example
• Potential applications