Build intuition for what a radio is actually doing. See signals in time, frequency and IQ—then manipulate them yourself with software-defined radio.
This course starts with observable behavior—not abstraction. You will develop the mental models that make later modulation, DSP, OFDM and cellular concepts easier to understand.
Connect time-domain waveforms to what appears on a spectrum analyzer and waterfall.
Turn “complex samples” into an intuitive picture of magnitude, phase and rotating phasors.
Use SDR hardware and GNU Radio so concepts immediately become experiments.
Equations matter, but they become much more useful once you can predict what the signal should look like before calculating it.
High-school algebra and curiosity. No prior SDR experience required.
A six-module progression from “what is a signal?” to receiving and interpreting real RF with an SDR.
Amplitude, frequency, phase, wavelength, dB and the time/frequency views.
Sampling, aliasing, sample rate, ADC intuition, quantization and dynamic range.
Complex numbers as a radio tool, phasors, baseband, frequency translation and constellation plots.
Noise floor, occupied bandwidth, filtering, gain, clipping and what “clean” RF means.
Antenna → RF front end → ADC/DAC → digital processing → software.
Tune, inspect and characterize an over-the-air signal using GNU Radio.
Every major concept gets an experiment. The goal is to leave with instincts—not just vocabulary.
Generate a sinusoid, inspect it in time, then locate the same signal in frequency. Change amplitude and frequency and predict the displays.
Lower the sample rate until aliasing occurs. Learn to recognize the failure visually instead of memorizing Nyquist as a slogan.
Manipulate I/Q samples and connect rotation direction and speed to positive/negative frequency and phase.
Adjust gain and noise, measure SNR, observe clipping, and understand why bandwidth changes what you see.
Configure a source, tune a real RF channel and inspect spectrum and waterfall views in GNU Radio.
Measure center frequency, bandwidth and signal behavior, then explain what the displays tell you about the transmission.
Course 01 is the foundation for the rest of the Tau Wireless learning path.
Join the course