Introduction to Software Defined Radio (SDR)⚓
Author : Thierry LE GALL, R&D Engineer
IMT Atlantique / Mathematical & Electrical Engineering Dpt.
Warning
Under construction not yet in production for teaching (draft)
This course is an introduction to Software Defined Radio (SDR). SDR technology is in the heart of modern communication systems. Therefore, nowledge about SDR technology is part of the expected skills in Communications Systems Engineering (CSE).
What is Software Defined Radio ?⚓
Definition⚓
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) organization defines the SDR technology as follow :
Definition (IEEE) : Software Defined Radio
A type of radio in which some or all of the physical layer functions are software defined.
See also : waveform processing. Contrast : hardware radio.
System Overview⚓
A conventional SDR communication system can be seen as in the figure below. The transmitter (TX) and the receiver (RX) have four parts in order to process waveforms :
- Digital Base Band (DBB)
- Analogical Base Band (ABB)
- Radio Frequency (RF)
- Antennas
The DBB is to process waveforms digitally around the null-frequency (\(f_0=0\)) whilst the