Communication Systems Engineering with GNU Radio

Foreword

Communications Engineering solves one of the central problems of mankind: making sure that what is known in one place becomes known in another. This is a book instructing the reader how to implement that, wirelessly, with naught but a computer, free software, and a radio frontend.

Sufficiently obvious is the need for education in the practicalities of this communication technology, given how transformative they have been: The geopolitical situation of the twenty-first century is hard to imagine without the TV; neither the Arab Spring nor the public perception of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would have assumed their shape without ubiquitous mass communication. However, this is not a guide on how to make a call using a cell phone, or how to upload a video to social media.

Instead, its purpose lies in enabling the reader to work on a more fundamental, the physical layer, themselves, with nothing between them and the radio waves that need to be modified to communicate information. The power of Software-Defined Radio (SDR) lies in its ability to make the mathematical description of the physical phenomenon that is radio available for analysis and manipulation in a computer, and thus gives its users the ability to control what and how information is transported to the fullest extent.

Conversely, understanding how communication is actually done using SDR allows for a deeper insight into the nature of wireless communications. As the presence of a chapter on passive and active ...