Course Description

Course Name: Signal Processing For Software Radio

Course Start Date: Feb 22, 2024, Orientation, videos released weekly

Q&A Workshops: Thurs Feb 29, Mar 7, 14, 21, 28 4-4:30pm EDT

Location: Zoom Meetings

Speaker: Dan Boschen

Pre-Recorded Videos combined with Live Q&A Workshops

This course consists of pre-recorded lectures that students can watch on their own schedule and an unlimited number of times prior to live Q&A/Workshop sessions with the instructor. Ten 1.5 hour videos released 2 per week while the course is in session will be available for up to two months after the conclusion of the course. Workshop sessions are recorded and Dan is available throughout the course to answer questions as well.

Course Summary

This course builds on the course "Signal Processing for Wireless Communications" also taught by Dan Boschen, further detailing digital signal processing most applicable to practical real-world problems and applications in radio communication systems. Students need not have taken the prior course if they are familiar with fundamental Signal Processing concepts such as the Laplace and Z transform and basic digital filter design principles.

This course brings together core Signal Processing concepts to address signal processing challenges encountered in radios and modems for modern wireless communications. Specific areas covered include carrier and timing recovery, equalization, automatic gain control, and considerations to mitigate the effects of RF and channel distortions such as multipath, phase noise and amplitude/phase offsets.   

Dan builds an intuitive understanding of the underlying principles through the use of graphics, visual demonstrations, and real-world applications for mixed signal (analog/digital) modern transceivers. This course is applicable to Signal Processing architecture and algorithms with a focus on meeting practical hardware development challenges, rather than a tutorial on implementation with Signal Processing processors.

Jupyter Notebooks

This long-running course includes Jupyter Notebooks which incorporates graphics together with Python simulation code to provide a “take-it-with-you” interactive user experience. No knowledge of Python is required as the notebooks will provide a basic framework for proceeding with further signal processing development using those tools for those that have interest in doing so.

This course will not be teaching Python, but using it for demonstration. A more detailed course on Python itself is covered in a separate course also taught by Dan titled “Python Applications for Digital Design and Signal Processing”.

Students will be encouraged but not required to load all the Python tools needed, and all set-up information for installation will be provided prior to the start of class.

Target Audience:

All engineers involved in or interested in signal processing for wireless communications. Students should have either taken the earlier course "Signal Processing for Wireless Communications" or have been sufficiently exposed to basic signal processing concepts such as Fourier, Laplace, and Z-transforms, Digital filter (FIR/IIR) structures, and representation of complex digital and analog signals in the time and frequency domains. Please contact us, if you are uncertain about your background or if you would like more information on the course.

Benefits of Attending/ Goals of Course:

Attendees will gain a strong intuitive understanding of the practical and common signal processing implementations found in modern radio and modem architectures and be able to apply these concepts directly to communications system design.

  • Signal Processing Review, Radio Architectures, Digital Mapping, Pulse Shaping, Eye Diagrams

  • ADC Receiver, CORDIC Rotator, Digital Down Converters, Numerically Controlled Oscillators

  • Digital Control Loops; Output Power Control, Automatic Gain Control

  • Digital Control Loops; Carrier and Timing Recovery, Sigma Delta Converters

  • RF Signal Impairments, Equalization and Compensation, Linear Feedback Shift Registers

Topics / Schedule:

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Speaker’s Bio

Dan Boschen has a MS in Communications and Signal Processing from Northeastern University, with over 25 years of experience in system and hardware design for radio transceivers and modems. He has held various positions at Signal Technologies, MITRE, Airvana and Hittite Microwave designing and developing transceiver hardware from baseband to antenna for wireless communications systems and has taught courses on Signal Processing for over 20 years. Dan is a contributor to dsprelated.com and Signal Processing Stack Exchange dsp.stackexchange.com/, and is currently at Microchip (formerly Microsemi and Symmetricom) leading design efforts for advanced frequency and time solutions. .

For more background information, please view Dan’s Linked-In page at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/danboschen

Let’s Learn! Join Now

Explore the full course schedule and registration options on these platforms:


Client Testimonials

  • Qasim Chaudhari, Wireless Pi

    “Dan Boschen is one of those few people in the world of wireless communication who have strong backgrounds in both theory and practice. In addition, he has a rare gift for teaching that is reflected in his enjoyable lessons. In today's fast-paced economy where quickly learning a diverse set of skills is the only way forward, Dan helps through invaluable Python exercises at each step leading to a solid understanding of the ideas covered. Building from the fundamentals all the way up to the state-of-the-art in the field, this course is beneficial for everyone from the beginners to the seasoned engineers.”

  • Dan Iordanescu, Electronics for Telecommunications Design Engineer

    “The 'Signal Processing for Software Radio' course from Dan Boschen is unique in the industry. It is very comprehensive with five lectures of about three hours each, covering the most important aspects of SDR, together with their practical implementation. The lectures are presented by Dan Boschen, who is a practicing electronics engineer, not a theoretician. After each lecture, there is a workshop in small groups, where you get to speak with Dan, ask questions and receive answers with diagrams on a whiteboard. It is like in a classroom. We received training materials and most important Matlab, Octave and Python code to experiment and play with the concepts taught during the lectures and workshops with theoretical proofs of the implemented algorithms. There are video recordings of the workshops, for those who need more time to understand concepts and algorithms. There is nothing better than this. Dan has more courses, I took all of them. It is, by far, the best value for money. Nothing else comes even close.”

  • Austin Au-Yeung, Electronics Engineer

    “The "Signal Processing for Software Radio" course covers a wealth of topics regarding receiver design and does an amazing job balancing theory with practical applications. There is an elegance to Signal Processing that Dan reveals with his visualizations, which, along with his clear explanations, give a very intuitive understanding of the subject. In addition, his Jupyter notebooks are thorough and provide a great hands-on opportunity to dive deeper into the material. Dan's enthusiasm, responsiveness, and expertise made this course one that I truly enjoyed taking, and I strongly recommend this course to others that are interested.”

  • Marcin Puchlik, DSP Engineer

    “Signal Processing for Software Radio is a great course targeted for people who would like to increase their knowledge about the topics like: ADC/DAC, NCO, DDS, AGC, Carrier and Timing Recovery which is needed in the receiver chain, and many similar terms. What is great about it, are pre-recorded videos with a bunch of Jupyter Notebook examples with implementations of different algorithms. Videos can be reviewed multiple times at your own pace and each week there are online workshops where you can ask any question and clarify things. I highly recommend those lectures.”

  • Jester Purtteman, CTO, OptimERA Inc

    “I have operated a wireless internet service provider with satellite based backhaul for the past 16 years and have been faced with troubleshooting wireless links using little more than colloquial knowledge, reflexes gained from experience, and plain dumb guess-and-check. The Signal Processing series of courses gives a very deep view into the inner workings of devices I use and relying on every day, from the mathematical underpinnings in the other courses through implementation in this Software Radio course. Critically, the course has improved my understanding the specification sheets I read immensely, and I am translating that into more correct selection, better installation, and better performance. I strongly recommend this and the accompanying courses to anyone in the field.”

  • Rob Klein, President, Xenon Digital Workshop, Inc.

    “Dan's Signal Processing for Software Radio course is a great investment in either yourself or members of your development team. With an obvious passion for the subject, he generously shares his wealth of knowledge and expertise in the areas of Signal Processing and radio applications. The course materials provide a strong base for understanding the underlying math and theory which underpins radio functionality. This tremendous amount of technical information is presented in such a way that also equips the student with a practical understanding and a more intuitive feel for radio design considerations.”

  • Emanuele Ziglioli, Digital Processing Engineer

    “I first got to know Dan thanks to his Python for Signal Processing course via DSPRelated. I liked his modern approach, using Jupyter Notebooks, and solid theoretical background. When I saw he was offering a more advanced Signal Processing for Software Radio course, I jumped at the opportunity. With this course you’ll develop a solid grasp of topics such as tracking loops, including mixed signal circuits. I recommend the course to all those with a digital communication background who work with RF. They would benefit greatly from Dan’s modern take on the subject.”

  • Etay S. , Senior Communications Algorithms Engineer, ISSI.

    “I strongly recommend Dan Boschen's course "Signal Processing for Software Radio". The course presents both practical and theoretical aspects related to communications system design and implementation. Dan provides in-depth and clear explanations of communications system concepts and advanced algorithms required for software radio implementations in Signal Processing . The Python Jupyter notebooks, which accompany the course, provide great demonstrations of the material and help understand the various topics better. This is a one of a kind course on a very practical subject, and is highly recommended for anyone working in the field of modern communications systems.”