Integration of Software-Defined Radios into Undergraduate Communications System Courses for Minority Students

Abstract- Software-defined radios (SDR) are reconfigurable communications systems whose functionality can be redefined by software on a computer or embedded system. In this paper, we describe the integration of the SDR laboratory developed and tested at Auburn University into the communications system curriculum in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Tuskegee University, a historically black college and university (HBCU). The main purpose of this effort is to improve the abstract thinking ability and hands-on skills and to keep abreast with state-of-the-art technologies among the minority students at Tuskegee University. Assessment results and student feedbacks will be used to further improve the laboratory design to a fully-fledged laboratory course