ICT role in 21st century education and its challenges
Software Radio Course
1. A!
“Software Radio” course
Special session
SNhANCE Study Tour
Kalle Ruttik
Department of Communications and Networking
School of Electrical Engineering
Aalto University
2. A! Content
Course information
Background, target group …
Course structure
Content of the course
Gnu radio platform
Research projects around the used platform
Demo
3. A! History of the course
”Software radio” is a new laboratory works based course
that is introduced in fall 2013
Current bachelor level laboratory works are build for
illustrating and validating the communication theory
It repeats the content of “theory” courses
New laboratory works course
Strengthen students software skills
Build a bridge between communication theory and
programming
Show how to apply theory in practice
4. A!
Basic courses (70 op)
Aalto-studies + obligatory (10 op)
Program defines(60 op)
Major (60 op)
Program main course
Degree program
subject related
courses
Bachelor degree
(10 op)
Minor (25 op)
Elective (25 op)
Bachelor degree
• Basic studies (70 op)
- Aalto-courses + obligatory courses
- Courses definded by the program
• Major (60 op)
- Basic courses of the program
- Bachelor thesis (10 op)
• Minor (25 op)
- Minor subject courses offered by
schools of Aalto.
• Elective courses (25 op)
- Additonal course in major and
minor subject
- Strengthening minor (mobility)
- Short minor
4
5. A! Information theory (IT), major 60 cr
Elective studies, Special courses (25 cr)
Select 5 courses:
• Applied signal processing 5 cr (SA)
• Random processes in
telecommunications 5 cr (SA)
• Basics of Internet technology 5 cr
(TLV)
• Application programming 5 cr (TLV)
• Transmission methods 5 cr (TLV)
• Software radio (Ohjelmistoradio) 5 cr
(TLV)
• Bachelor thesis and seminar
10 op
• Basics of information theory,
5 cr (TLV+SA)
• Basics of automatics and
system analysis, 5 cr (AS)
• Information theory, 5cr (TLV)
• Digital signal processing and
filtering, 5 cr (SA)
• Modeling and analysis of
communication networks, 5
cr (TLV)
• Elective studies 25 op
6. A!
Elective courses 25 CR
•Basics of information theory, 5 cr (TLV)
•Information theory, 5cr (TLV)
•Digital signal processing and filtering, 5
cr (SA)
•Modeling and analysis of
communication networks, 5 cr (TLV)
•Signals and systems (TLV) 5 cr
•Applied signal processing 5 cr (SA)
•Random processes in telecommunication 5
cr (SA)
•Basics of Internet technology 5 cr (TLV)
•Application programming 5 cr (TLV)
•Transmission methods 5 cr (TLV)
•Software radio (Ohjelmistoradio) 5 cr (TLV)
Information theory (IT), minor 25 cr
7. A! Background information
The course belongs into bachelor degree program of
Communication engineering
Course combines theory and experiments
About 50 -60 students per year
Prerequisites
“Signals and Systems”
“Transmission methods”
The laboratory works also explores and explains system
level issues not treated in any other bachelor level
course in our curriculum.
9. A! Educational aspects of laboratory works
Learning outcomes specific to Laboratory works
experimental skills
real world experience
experience for constructing actual systems
discovering the results predicted by the theory
familiarization with equipments
motivation due to the clear practical results
teamwork
networking with outsides, searching information from different sources and contacts
communication skills.
Broader educational targets
investigation of a phenomena
practicing problem solving skills
practicing inquiring about the phenomenas.
10. A! Observed problems with laboratory works
Course organization related problems
Students have different studying styles,
strict instructions vs “playing around” with equipments
Course assessment related problems
Students drive to get “right answers”
Too much freedom does not lead to good learning
Need of feedback from “authority”
Practical experiments implementation related issues
The course too extensive, too much time spend on practical
measurements
The equipments are not reliable
Student groups may malfunction
11. A! Challenges
Mismatch between the teacher intention and students
perception of the experimental work targets
Students just measure and do not understand what is going on
Provide experiments with open ended questions
Students tend to follow only the measurement instructions
Use wider set of assessment methods
Not only assessments on measurement reports
12. A! Guidelines
Plan inquiry type laboratory exercises
Balance between the type of experiments
Open ended questions
Strict instructed measurements
Balance between the work in small groups and larger
class based events
13. A! Structure of a lab work
Preliminary exercises
Student learn the background material
First class
Students plan the measurements
Laboratory measurements
Done in two person teams
Measurements can be done during certain days, no strict time
limits
Follow up class
Analysis of the experiment results
What was done, what can be concluded
14. A! Teaching objectives
Transceiver related topic
After this course, you know how a radio transceiver is constructed.
You understand how the practical receiver differs from the
theoretical models. You know how to model a non-ideal
transceiver and how to measure the errors produced by the non-
ideal behavior of the transceiver.
Software project
You understand the structure of a software project and you are
able to participate in a large software project with multiple
programmers. You know the basics of problem solving methods
and you are able to apply those methods in your own projects.
Communication systems related issues
You understand what the interference is. You can predict how the
interference impacts radio links and radio communication systems
in general.
15. A! Core content Complementary
knowledge
Specific
knowledge
Scientific
skills
Measurements: planning,
implementation and analyze.
Modeling of radio systems.
Modeling and analyzing of errors
Interference concept and
modeling.
Problem solving strategies.
Impact of radio
environment and
transceiver
implementation
errors on a design of
a radio system.
Professional
skills
Programming of radio
transceivers.
Software management with
version control systems.
Testing of software radios
Knowledge about
measurement
equipments use in
testing of radio
systems.
How large are the
errors in existing
systems.
16. A! Course structure
The course contains four laboratory works and an
independent project. The laboratory works use software
radios that are implanted by using the universal software
radio platform (USRP) and GNU-radio framework.
During the course, the students study the performance
of the software radio transceiver. They learn how the
radio performance is described and how it is measured.
By using GNU-radio as an example, students learn how
to structure a software project, how to handle version
control and how to create and add new functions to the
software based transceiver chain.
17. A! Topics of the lab exercises
Study of a transceiver chain
Visualizing the theory taught on previous theory courses
Tranceiver performance measurements
Learning about non-ideal behavior of the
Radio communication system measurements
Interference and its impact
Software project management
Cooperation with other programmers and software version
control
Learning problem solving methods
Problem solving strategies and their use in small personal
project
18. A! Assessment method
Assessment based on the reports per group
2 person groups
Preliminary exercises: 30 points
Measurement plans: 20 points
Measurement reports: 50 point
19. A! Students workload
Laboratory work Load
Introduction to a transceiver chain 25 h
Transceiver performance measurements 25 h
Interference in a radio environment 25 h
Implementing a function for a software radio 25 h
Independent project 33,5 h
One labwork Load
Preliminary exercises 10 h
Contact teaching 2 h
Measurements 3 h
Measurements reports 10 h
20. A! Workload
Lectures/contact hrs 0 h
Exercise/contact hrs 0 h
Laboratory works hrs 40 h
Independent study 90 h
Examination 0 h
21. A! Teachers workload
In a week Total
Teacher 24 h 108 h
Assistent 21 h 84 h
Teacher
Preliminary reports: 1x20 min total 30x20 10 h
Measurement reports: 1x20 min total 30x20 10 h
Lectures: 4x2 = 8 h
Preparation for a lectures 4x2 = 8h
Independet project: 2+4 h seminar time
Assistant
Prearation for labworks: 4x3 = 12 h
Measurements: 4 x 18 = 72 h
22. A! Content of individual labworks
How the ”analog” equations are implemented in digital
computers
Each laboratory work contains
Communication theory
Software radio implementation related issues
Software radio development process
23. A! Topics of the lab exercises
Study of a transceiver chain
Visualizing the theory taught on previous theory courses
Transceiver performance measurements
Learning about non-ideal behavior of the
Radio communication system measurements
Interference and its impact
Software project management
Cooperation with other programmers and software version
control
Learning problem solving methods
Problem solving strategies and their use in small personal
project
24. A! Lab1: Transceiver chain
Communication theory
3dB bandwidth, signal power measurements, SNR estimation
FM modulation
OFDM transmission
Students plan: AM and FM signal SNR measurements
Software radio implementation
Students will look and comment on implementation of software
radio blocks
Code development process
Read and comment on GNU radio development process
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/TutorialsCor
eConcepts
25. A! Transceiver performance measurements
Communication theory
Signal constellation and Error Vector magnitude (EVM)
SINR estimation by using EVM, SNR estimation from signal
power.
BER measurements
Student planned measurements: Transmitter linearity
estimation and measurements
Software radio: adding and compiling a new block
Gr-modtool: Students compile their own block
Doxygen
Using doxygen for documenting the code
26. A!
Radio communication system
measurements
Communication theory
Interference: co-channel, adjacent channel
Channel coding gain
Students planned measurements: Pathloss and attenuation in
the radio channel
Software radio
Students add functionality to a ready software radio block.
Noise generation block: adds noise to the input signal
Code development process
Coding style quide
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/Coding_gui
de_impl
27. A! Software project management
Communication theory
Generation and using of CRC
Software radio
Test driven programming
Code development process
Using git version control system for managing the code
28. A! Learning problem solving methods
Individual project where the students have to use the
learned skills
Review of problem solving strategies
Students have to document their problem solving process and
describe each step in the light of the problem solving strategies
33. A! Software with USRP
Support software
NI Labview
http://www.ni.com/usrp/
MathWorks
http://www.mathworks.se/hardware-support/usrp.html
GNU radio
34. A! GNU radio
GNU radio is an open
source software
development kit
Hierarchical structure
High level blocks in
Python
Signal processing in C++
Primary a simulation tool.
35. A! Gnu radio
Software radio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_radio
Core concept of GNUradio
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/Tutori
alsCoreConcepts
Beginners guide
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/HowT
oUse
Tutorial of how to write a new block
http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki/OutOf
TreeModules
36. A! Under active development
Academic papers
from GNU radio
webpage
http://gnuradio.org/redm
ine/projects/gnuradio/
wiki/AcademicPapers
40. A! RF daughterboards
xcvr2450
2.4-2.5 GHz and 4.9-5.9
GHz
Half Duplex Only
TX output power
100 mW
Single synthesizer
shared between Rx and
Tx
RSSI measurement that
can be read from
software
SBX
400 MHz to 4.4 GHz
TX output power
16 to 20 dBm,
with 32dB of power
control range
Dual synthesizers for
independent Tx and Rx
NF
< 3GHz: 5-7 dB
3 – 4 GHz: 7 -10 dB
4 – 4.4 GHz: 10 – 13 dB
43. A! USRP related research
Radio transmission in TV white/black space
Y. Beyene “TV Black-space Spectrum Access for Wireless Local Area
and Cellular Networks”, master thesis, Aalto.
Performance study of overlay transmission on TV signal
Y. Beyenne, K. Ruttik, R. Jäntti, “Effect of Secondary transmission on
Primary Pilot Carriers in Overlay Cognitive Radios”, submitted to
CrowCom 2013.
H. Tewodros, “Testing a Simple Algorithm for LTE Synchronization
and Cell Search”, master thesis, Aalto.
Study of the impact of delay on overlay transmission
• Synchronization schemes for cognitive BS
K.G. Vishnu, “Network Time Synchronization in Time Division - LTE
systems”, diploma thesis Feb.2013.
• Implementation of the time synchronization in TDD network
• MIMO transmission in USRP platform
G.C. Moreno, “Communication over USRP by using multiple antennas”