Faculty Projects
Scaling the Programmable Radio Teaching Laboratory for Growing Undergraduate Demand in Communications

Igor Kadota headshot

Faculty

Igor Kadota, ECE

Amount Requested

$23,084

Summary

Wireless communications, including WiFi, Satellite Internet, 5G, and future 6G technologies, is a topic of increasing strategic importance and a key enabler of applications such as Smart Cities, Industry 4.0, and Swarm Robotics. These technologies sit at the intersection of electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, robotics, data science, and applied mathematics, making hands-on communication systems education valuable to McCormick undergraduates across multiple disciplines.

With support from the Walter P. Murphy Society in 2023 and matching support from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, we modernized the Programmable Radio Teaching Laboratory for ELEC_ENG 307: Communications Systems. The Murphy award enabled the acquisition of twelve Software-Defined Radios (SDRs), configuration of the NU ECE Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory desktops to interface with these SDRs, and development of five new laboratories in which students program radios, transmit and receive digital data over the air, explore modulation schemes, and create a network of radios competing for access to a shared communication medium.

The laboratory has had a substantial impact on the undergraduate experience. Enrollment in EE307 was 13 students in 2023, 11 students in 2024, and 26 students in 2025. The current twelve radios support six laboratory stations, with one SDR used as a transmitter and one SDR used as a receiver at each station. To preserve the quality of the hands-on experience, we aim to keep the number of students per station low, preferably fewer than three. This limits a single laboratory session to approximately 18 students.

In 2025, we accommodated the increased enrollment by dividing the laboratory into multiple sessions. This was effective as a short-term solution, but it is not scalable as undergraduate interest in communication systems continues to grow. Student testimony and feedback from colleagues teaching sophomore-level courses such as ELEC_ENG 222: Fundamentals of Signals and Systems indicate that demand for ELEC_ENG 307 is likely to continue increasing. In addition, I will offer ELEC_ENG 380: Wireless Communications in the Winter quarter and plan to incorporate SDR-based laboratories into that course as well.

This proposal requests Murphy Society support to purchase ten additional NI USRP-2900 Software-Defined Radios, which are compatible with the current laboratory. The expanded equipment base will support growing enrollments, preserve small-team hands-on learning, reduce dependence on multiple laboratory sessions, and extend SDR-based experiential learning to ELEC_ENG 380. The project builds directly on a previously successful Murphy-funded investment and broadens access to modern communications laboratory experiences for McCormick undergraduates.

Planned Activities/Investments

If funded, we plan to: (1) Acquire ten NI USRP-2900 Software-Defined Radios; (2) Expand laboratory capacity for the upcoming ELEC_ENG 307 class this Fall; (3) Develop SDR-based laboratories for ELEC_ENG 380 on new topics including time synchronization, channel equalization, and phase and frequency offset correction; (4) Evaluate and refine ELEC_ENG 307 and ELEC_ENG 380 laboratories based on student feedback.

Impact

This project directly enhances McCormick undergraduate education by expanding access to hands-on learning in modern communication systems. The original Murphy-supported laboratory has already demonstrated strong educational value. In 2025, one student wrote: "The lab sessions also tie into the classes each week and helped me to understand the material a lot better because you see the theory in action in a physical system." Another student wrote: "I will 100% recommend everyone to take this class; it teaches you everything you want to know about comm systems. It has been my favorite class at Northwestern so far and I am definitely thinking of taking more communication classes here because of this class."

These comments capture the core educational value of the laboratory, namely that students move beyond abstract treatment of communication theory and see modulation, synchronization, signal impairments, and receiver processing in real physical systems. This is exactly the type of experiential learning that strengthens engineering education. Students with hands-on experience will have a better chance of finding jobs in the telecommunications industry. The proposed expansion will preserve the most important feature of the laboratory experience, namely students directly interacting with real radios in small teams.

We will evaluate impact using enrollment trends in ELEC_ENG 307 and ELEC_ENG 380, anonymous student course feedback, and documentation of use of the SDRs in other McCormick courses.

Deliverables

The main deliverables for the project are: (1) expansion of the laboratory capacity for the upcoming ELEC_ENG 307 class this Fall; (2) updated laboratory logistics and documentation to support larger enrollments while preserving small-team hands-on learning; (3) four new laboratory assignments for ELEC_ENG 380; and (4) Student feedback and impact assessment.

Sustainability

The Programmable Radio Teaching Laboratory is (to a great extent) self-sustained. If stored and operated appropriately, the life span of SDRs is long. I included detailed instructions on safe and appropriate operation of SDRs in the first laboratory assignment with reminders in every assignment. The SDRs are stored in a locker in the teaching laboratory. The SDRs have been used in three offerings of ELEC_ENG 307, and all twelve SDRs are fully operational.

Previous Project

In 2023, I received Murphy Society funding for the project "Modernization and Expansion of the Programmable Radio Teaching Laboratory." The goal was to modernize the laboratory component of ELEC_ENG 307. Using Murphy Society funds and matching funds from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, we acquired twelve SDRs. We configured existing PCs in the NU ECE Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory to interface with the SDRs. We developed five completely new laboratory assignments for ELEC_ENG 307, which introduced SDR programming using LabVIEW, guided students through the development of a digital over-the-air communication system, explored higher-order modulation schemes, examined impairments caused by the wireless communication channel, and culminated in a shared-medium network of SDRs. The previous project achieved its major goals and has become a central part of the undergraduate ELEC_ENG 307 experience. Its success has now created a new challenge, namely that student demand has outgrown the current laboratory capacity.

Budget Overview

The budget is from National Instruments.

  • NI USRP-2900 Software-Defined Radio: $21,220.00 — Unit price $2,122.00, quantity 10.
  • VERT2450 antenna: $1,864.00 — Unit price $93.20, quantity 20.

Total Budget Amount: $23,084

Matching Funds

If funded, I will request support from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to assist with the purchase of additional SDRs, accessories, and/or laboratory supplies. The ECE department previously provided matching support for the 2023 Murphy-funded modernization of the Programmable Radio Teaching Laboratory, which helped expand the original award into a fully functional twelve-radio teaching platform.