21–25 Sept 2026
Talley Student Union
America/New_York timezone
GRCon26 Call for Participation is Now Open

Build a Real Over-the-Air OFDM Radio with GNU Radio and SDR

22 Sept 2026, 15:30
2h
3285 (Talley Student Union)

3285

Talley Student Union

Workshop Workshop

Speaker

Fredrick Odero (Tau Wireless Academy)

Description

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is the physical-layer technology behind Wi-Fi, LTE, 5G, DVB, and many other modern wireless systems. While it is often introduced through theory and mathematics, this workshop takes a different approach: participants will build and operate a complete over-the-air OFDM communication system using GNU Radio and software-defined radios.

Working in small teams with either an ADALM-Pluto or Ettus Research B210, attendees will construct an end-to-end OFDM transmitter and receiver capable of exchanging data over the air. Along the way, participants will explore synchronization, framing, FFT/IFFT processing, cyclic prefixes, pilot-based channel estimation, and equalization while observing their effects on real wireless signals.

The workshop emphasizes experimentation. Participants will transmit messages, visualize constellations and spectra, and intentionally introduce impairments such as noise, frequency offset, and multipath to see how modern receivers recover reliable communications.

By the end of the workshop, attendees will have built, operated, and modified a working OFDM radio and gained practical intuition into the DSP techniques that power today’s broadband wireless systems.

Prerequisites: Basic familiarity with GNU Radio and digital communications is helpful but not required.

Hardware setup will be provided for participants (no need to bring your own).

Space will be limited to 20 seats due to hardware limitations

Author

Fredrick Odero (Tau Wireless Academy)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.