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Course Content
Introduction to Software Defined Radio
This foundational section sets the stage for mastering SDR by breaking down the essential concepts behind radio communication and signal processing. Whether you're a complete beginner or brushing up on the basics, these lessons will ensure you have the core knowledge needed to move forward confidently.
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Understanding Radio and Signals
10:00
Modulation and Carrier Waves
05:00
Digital vs Analog Signals
06:39
Getting Started with GNU Radio
This section is your hands-on gateway into the world of GNU Radio—one of the most powerful open-source tools for building and experimenting with radio signal processing systems. You don’t need any physical SDR hardware yet. Everything you’ll do here will run on your computer using built-in signal generators, visual tools, and simulation blocks. Whether you're on Windows, Linux, or macOS, this section will guide you step-by-step from installation to building your very first flowgraph using only software. The goal is to help you become confident with the GNU Radio environment before connecting it to real SDR hardware like HackRF or RTL-SDR.
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Installing GNU Radio on Linux, Windows or MacOS
08:43
Introduction to Workspace and Blocks
06:00
Understanding Sources and Sinks
07:00
Creating Project with GNU Radio
Now that you're comfortable navigating GNU Radio and working with basic blocks, this section takes you one step further into building functional, simulated SDR systems. You’ll create a full, small-scale signal processing project entirely in software—no SDR hardware required. This section is project-oriented and hands-on. You’ll start designing your own flowgraphs, apply real-world logic, and learn how to manipulate signal parameters like frequency and amplitude. It’s the perfect bridge between foundational knowledge and more advanced, hardware-driven scenarios.
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Starting to Design Flowgraphs
09:00
Playing with Properties and Using Multiplier
08:00
Building our own AM Receiver
In this section, you will put your GNU Radio skills to the test by building a fully functional AM (Amplitude Modulation) receiver—using only a pre-recorded radio signal file. No SDR hardware is required. This hands-on simulation will give you experience decoding real-world signals using signal processing blocks and GUI elements. You’ll also learn how to build a user-friendly interface using QT GUI elements and simulate a full listening experience. This project bridges the gap between theoretical flowgraph design and actual radio system implementation.
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Adding and Configuring QT GUI Entry
11:30
Adding Recorded File Source to Simulate Radio Signal
15:30
Final
07:30
Understanding Signal Processing
This section takes you deep into the core of signal processing, helping you understand how signals are represented, manipulated, and analyzed within Software Defined Radio environments—all without using real-world radio hardware. Whether you’re working with mathematical signals, recorded audio, or real-world sound clips, this section equips you with the essential DSP (Digital Signal Processing) knowledge to move from beginner to practitioner. Through a mix of theoretical breakdowns and practical examples, you’ll learn how to interpret frequencies, apply transformations, work with complex signals, and process actual sound samples. Every lecture is paired with downloadable resources so you can follow along interactively.
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Creating and Understanding Frequency
07:00
Exploring Sinusodial Frequencies
16:00
Fast Fourier Transform and Practical Examples
15:30
Merging Complex Signals
06:30
Working with Real-World Sounds
09:00
Filters and Gain
In this section, you’ll learn how to amplify, shape, and isolate signals using gain controls and digital filters. These are critical concepts in both audio processing and RF communications—used to clean signals, prevent distortion, and extract meaningful information. You’ll explore how gain works at a signal level (not just “volume”), how to measure it using decibels, and how to build various filters (low-pass, band-pass, notch, and more) in GNU Radio. You’ll even create your own real-time audio equalizer. All of this is done without SDR hardware, using virtual signals and real-world audio files.
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Understanding Gain and Controlling Signal Strength Without Distortion
15:00
Filters 101: Sculpting Signals with Low-Pass and High-Pass Filters
09:00
Building a Multi-Band Equalizer in GNU Radio
14:00
Understanding AM Receivers
This section provides a complete software-only simulation of an AM radio receiver chain, taking you step-by-step through how analog AM signals are tuned, shifted, filtered, demodulated, and downsampled—all within GNU Radio. You’ll work with pre-recorded IQ data (no SDR hardware required) to explore how computers interpret and process real-world radio signals. Each topic is reinforced with practical demonstrations and downloadable flowgraph files, giving you hands-on experience in digital signal reception and decoding workflows. By the end, you’ll have a full grasp of how AM receivers function internally—and you’ll have built one entirely in software.
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Understanding AM Receiver and Its Signal Chain
30:00
Understanding Radio Tuning
06:00
How Frequency Shifting Works
15:00
How Computers See and Process Our Signals
09:00
Creating and Understanding RF Tuning
21:00
Demodulation (AM Demod)
07:30
Decimation: Reducing the Sample Rate
13:00
Understanding the Throttle Block and Final Wrap-Up
06:30
Getting Started with Real SDR (RTL-SDR / SDR++ Setup)
This section marks your transition from simulation to real-world Software Defined Radio. You’ll start working with actual SDR hardware—specifically the popular and affordable RTL-SDR dongle. This section is ideal for beginners who want to receive and analyze real radio signals using their computer and an RTL-SDR device. We’ll cover the fundamentals of RTL-SDR, compare it with more advanced hardware like HackRF, install the user-friendly SDR++ application, and walk through your first signal reception experience. Whether you're using Windows, Linux, or macOS, this section equips you with the knowledge to confidently start listening to the airwaves.
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What is RTL-SDR
04:00
Comparing HackRF and RTL-SDR Models
15:00
Downloading and Configuring SDR++
09:00
Beginning with SDR++
30:00
Software Defined Radio
0/2
Getting Familiar with SDR++
09:00
Mastering SDR++ Main Menu
20:00
Mastering Software Defined Radio

In this introductory lecture, we explore what radio signals truly are. You’ll learn about the electromagnetic spectrum, frequency, wavelength, and how radio waves are generated and transmitted. We cover key principles such as signal propagation, noise, bandwidth, and signal strength — all essential for interpreting real-world SDR applications. This lecture also introduces the concept of signal intelligence and why SDR has transformed how we analyze the RF environment.

Key topics covered:

  • What is a radio signal?

  • Frequency vs. wavelength

  • Signal amplitude and phase

  • Bandwidth and spectrum allocation

  • Why Software Defined Radio is a game-changer

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