Protótipos de sistemas comerciais em rádio definido por software para fins didáticos no curso de engenharia de telecomunicações

Abstract

The traditional teaching methodology is still widely used in Brazilian universities, and studies point out its disadvantages. As an alternative, active learning methodologies arise, including the student in the construction of knowledge and, making learning more efficient and attractive. In the Telecommunications Engineering course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte has already introduced some active learning initiatives. However, lectures and students still need help integrating courses from different semesters. This project presents a prototype of a commercial system that can be used as a didactic resource in the integrative project format for active teaching in Telecommunications Engineering. For that, we use OpenBTS and Asterisk open-source platforms. OpenBTS is a software package used to prototype a radio base station (BTS) based on the air interface of the 3GPP Release 99 standard. Asterisk acts as a telephone exchange responsible for directing calls over the OpenBTS network. Finally, the USRP N210 is the hardware to transmit and receive signaling/payload. By using software-defined radio (SDR) concepts, the prototype of a commercial cellular system can serve as an active teaching resource in the engineering course, helping to motivate and improve teaching-learning process.