Workshop Series

Workshop Overview

11 hands-on workshops covering SDR fundamentals to advanced topics.

Learning Path

      ┌─────────────────────┐
      │   01: Installation  │
      └──────────┬──────────┘
                 │
      ┌──────────▼──────────┐
      │   02: I/Q Basics    │
      └──────────┬──────────┘
                 │
    ┌────────────┼────────────┐
    │            │            │
┌───▼───┐  ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌───▼───┐
│03: OOK│  │04: FSK/PSK│  │07:Chan│
└───┬───┘  └─────┬─────┘  └───┬───┘
    │            │            │
    └─────┬──────┘            │
          │                   │
     ┌────▼────┐              │
     │ 05: QAM │◄─────────────┘
     └────┬────┘
          │
     ┌────▼───────┐
     │06: Spread  │
     │  Spectrum  │
     └────┬───────┘
          │
     ┌────▼────────────┐
     │08: Build Your   │
     │   Own Waveform  │
     └────┬────────────┘
          │
    ┌─────┴─────┐
    │           │
┌───▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐
│09:Explr│ │10:RT/FPG│
└────────┘ └────┬────┘
                │
           ┌────▼────┐
           │11:RT Sch│
           └─────────┘

Workshop 01: Getting Started

Duration: 30 minutes

git clone https://github.com/joemooney/r4w.git
cd r4w && cargo build --release
cargo run --bin r4w-explorer

Workshop 02: I/Q Signals

Duration: 45 minutes

Learn the foundation of all SDR!

Workshop 03: Basic Modulation

Duration: 45 minutes

Simplest forms of digital modulation.

Workshop 04: FSK and PSK

Duration: 60 minutes

Frequency vs phase modulation trade-offs.

Workshop 05: QAM

Duration: 60 minutes

Combines amplitude and phase modulation.

Constellation Diagrams

Visual representation of symbol positions:

         Q (Imaginary)
          │
    ●     │     ●      16-QAM:
          │            16 points
   ───────┼───────     4 bits/symbol
          │
    ●     │     ●
          │
        I (Real)

Workshop 06: Spread Spectrum

Duration: 75 minutes

Trade bandwidth for noise immunity.

LoRa Chirps

Chirp Spread Spectrum modulation:

Symbol = cyclic shift of base chirp.

Workshop 07: Channel Effects

Duration: 60 minutes

Simulate real-world conditions.

BER and SNR

Higher SNR = lower bit errors.

Workshop 08: Building Waveforms

Duration: 90 minutes

Build your own waveform!

The Waveform Trait

pub trait Waveform: Send + Sync {
    fn info(&self) -> WaveformInfo;
    fn modulate(&self, bits: &[bool]) -> Vec<IQSample>;
    fn demodulate(&self, samples: &[IQSample])
        -> Vec<bool>;
    fn constellation_points(&self) -> Vec<IQSample>;
}

Workshop 09: Explorer Deep Dive

Duration: 60 minutes

Every GUI feature explained:

Workshop 10: RT and FPGA

Duration: 75 minutes

Prepare for production systems.

Workshop 11: Real-Time Scheduling

Duration: 90 minutes

Workshop Format

Each workshop includes:

Prerequisites

Quick Reference

# Run the Explorer GUI
cargo run --bin r4w-explorer

# CLI commands
cargo run --bin r4w -- --help
cargo run --bin r4w -- waveform --list
cargo run --bin r4w -- modulate --message "Hello"

# Run in browser (WASM)
cd crates/r4w-web && trunk serve

# Run all tests
cargo test

Workshop Materials

Each workshop has:

Location: workshops/

Skills Progression

Hands-On Examples

From Workshop 04 (BPSK):

// Generate BPSK samples
let bits = vec![true, false, true, true];
let waveform = BpskWaveform::new(1e6, 100e3);

let samples = waveform.modulate(&bits);
// Visualize in Explorer!

let recovered = waveform.demodulate(&samples);
assert_eq!(bits, recovered);

Challenges

Each workshop includes optional challenges:

Getting Help

Summary

From zero to waveform developer!

Questions?

R4W - Workshop Series

github.com/joemooney/r4w

Start: workshops/01-getting-started.md