Learn SDR : Tutorials with Videos

Link to the webpage: https://gallicchio.github.io/learnSDR

All GNURadio flowgraphs are at https://github.com/gallicchio/learnSDR

Link to the YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_9p_rXULM&list=PLywxmTaHNUNyKmgF70q8q3QHYIw_LFbrX&index=1

We use the GNURadio software along with RTL-SDR and ADALM-PLUTO hardware to explore the world of digital communication. We build up to a simple QPSK modem and rudimentary GPS reception.

References

Software Defined Radio (SDR) and Digital Communications Books:

Chaudhari; Wireless Communications from the Ground Up: An SDR Perspective – The book I first used to understand tricky things like timing synchronization. Lots of pictures and intuition. Explains GNUradio blocks. I wish he wouldn’t avoid complex numbers, because it makes many things messy and opaque with lots of trig identities.
Rice; Digital Communications: A Discrete-Time Approach – The second good book I read on this topic. A bit more mathy than Chaudhari, but great explanations. Introduces and uses complex notation. Many of my lessons are inspired by this book, including Symbol Timing Recovery and Carrier Phase Synchronization.
Collins et al; Software-Defined Radio for Engineers A free PDF from Analog Devices. Uses Pluto as an example, which is good, but isn’t always as well written as the above.
Proakis; Digital Communications 5th Edition Advanced and very mathy; proves optimality under certain conditions; only book here to really talk about FSK, MSK, GMSK and code-division multiple access (CDMA) with pseudo-random streams.
PySDR: A Guide to SDR and DSP using Python (online book) https://pysdr.org/ Very good if you want to go to python directly without the live visual GNURadio flowgraphs.

Digital Signal Processing DSP Books

This topic includes sampling, noise, FIR filters, correlation and convolution, quadrature (complex) signals, and all Fourier techniques DFT, FFT.

Smith; Scientist & Engineer’s Guide to Digital Signal Processing – online and in print. A very concrete start. My only criticism is that I wish he’d introduce complex numbers earlier.
Lyons; Understanding DSP – another good self-study book with lots of figures.
Oppenheim and Schafer; Discrete-Time Signal Processing – the standard textbook. Assumes more background and introduces mathy things like z-transforms too early, at least for our applications.
Learning DSP Illustrated: https://dspillustrations.com/ Lots of little python examples with plots. Confusing organization, popups, and ads.

Borre et al; A Software-Defined GPS and Galileo Receiver – where I started. Talks about acquisition through Fourier correlation and feedback-loop tracking.
Tsui; Fundamentals of GPS Receivers A Software Approach – I think this is the second thing I read.

Hardware

RTL-SDR v3 or v4 with Dipole Antenna Kit (~$55) — This is used from lesson 1 and used as the receiver in lessons where we have a seperate transmitter.
Pluto SDR from Analog Devices (ADALM-PLUTO) (~230) — You can buy these from Digikey, Mouser, or Newark. This is for transmitting, starting in Lesson 8. It’s a great little platform that runs embedded Linux and uses basically the same chip as the USRP B200 and B210. I haven’t tried clones that are sold on eBay or AliExpress.
Adafruit Keyfob 4-Button RF Remote Control ($7) — Any similar RF remote would work, as long as you know its transmit frequency. This is used only briefly in Lesson 5.
GPS Antenna with SMA ($9) — For Lesson 23. These contain an amplifier, which is powered by 3V to 5V going up the cable. The RTL-SDR can be configured to provide this voltage. The ~1.5 GHz signal comes back down to the RTL-SDR.

Contact

I’m Jason Gallicchio. Email me at jason@hmc.edu.