An inexpensive method to teach hands-on digital communications

Some of the more subtle concepts related to digital communication systems such as signal constellation imbalance, intersymbol interference, pulse shaping ramifications, and performance with in-band interference are quite difficult for most students to grasp from a textbook or lectures alone. This paper describes an inexpensive approach to providing a real-time, hands-on laboratory experience for the students covering these same topics using the Texas Instruments C6711 digital signal processing starter kit along with custom software the authors have developed in MATLAB and C/C++. Expensive specialized test equipment such as a vector signal generator or a vector signal analyzer is not needed using this method. Our initial teaching experience has shown this new method to be highly successful yet very inexpensive when compared to purchasing traditional dedicated test equipment. The software described herein is freely available to educators and students.