Low Cost Software Defined Radio for the IoT

[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”1795,1794,1792″ layout=”3″ gallery_style=”1″ load_in_animation=”none” img_size=”600×400″][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”30″][vc_column_text]The students of the Faculty of Enginering and Technology (FET), Sampoerna University recently learned from Dr. Gerard Borg of Australian National University (ANU). The seasoned scientist shared some of his expertise and knowledge at “Low Cost Software Defined Radio for the Internet of Things (IoT)” General Lecture on Monday, October 22, 2018, at its L’Avenue Campus, Sampoerna University, South Jakarta.

“Today I presented the demonstration of Internet of Things (IoT) and two particular examples of devices that are low cost and very easy to implement that can serve many different applications,” the academician elaborated. He also spoke about Raspberry Pi and some of its accessories that anyone can use to build a better system

Students interested in programming and program design may find it important to be able to implement this embedded system. What often he thinks in the past prevented software developers from getting involved in embedded system like the IoT is that the electronic development required was somewhat complex and also the development platform was very expensive. “Not too long ago, a small board and single board computer cost a few hundred dollars, FPGA development platform in the mid 500,000 dollars, software defined radio had always been up around 1,000 dollars mark. But in recent years, the prices have come down and today I spoke about the lowest best study platform I think on the market,” he commented on the progress.

Dr. Borg has been working for 15 years in Wireless field. Only recently he found that the things he wanted to do at the price point that I have needed to do them to make my work credible has finally come to the four. He spoke about exactly those technologies today where you divide up the labor between small board, single board computer, where software developers can develop quite complex apps and an FPGA platform. IoT means a low cost budget as you can have a large volume of equipment and low volume of individual data. For those who use Linux extensively and Raspberry Pi, it would be a big advantage.

Dr. Gerard Borg is a research scientist and lecturer of Australian National University (ANU). He focuses on wireless and engineering. He is known as an experienced physicist, wireless and embedded engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry and as a consultant to small and large business enterprises. Recently, he has championed the cause of regional broadband Internet. His greatest achievement is the invention of a new wireless network that can be deployed incrementally and can be scaled in range and net capacity in proportion to the number of clients to be served.

In his 2-hour talk, Dr. Borg touched on some topics, i.e. Raspberry PI low cost single board computer; antennas and electromagnetic waves; radiofrequency hardware; RTL_SDR software radio dongle; and Field Programmable Gate Arrays.

“I am impressed by what I am seeing at Sampoerna University so far. It’s a modern university with modern facilities and very pleasant environment. Students are very keen. My lecture today was one of the most challenging. I tried to convince them so they want to apply the ideas,” he spoke right after his session.

On the same occasion, the dean of Faculty of Engineering and Technology Dr. Ammar Aamer extended his gratitude for the academician’s visit and generous sharing. “It’s very important for us to have very knowledgeable people like Dr. Borg to share their knowledge with our students. It’s a good chance for students to learn.”

At Sampoerna University, we regularly invite prominent figures from all over the globe to share their knowledge, expertise and experience with our students so they can learn directly from these best minds in their respective areas and disciplines. (*/)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]