  This Innovative Practice Full Paper introduces a novel tool for educating
electrical engineering students about hardware impairments in wireless
communications. A radio frequency (RF) front end is an essential part of a
wireless transmitter or receiver. It features analog processing components and
data converters which are driven by today's digital communication systems.
Advancements in computing and software-defined radio (SDR) technology have
enabled shaping waveforms in software and using experimental and easily
accessible plug-and-play RF front ends for education, research and development.
We use this same technology to teach nonlinear effects of RF front ends and
their implications. It uses widely available RF instruments and components and
SDR technology--well-established affordable hardware and free open source
software--to teach students how to characterize the nonlinearity of RF
receivers while providing hands-on experience with SDR tools. We present the
hardware, software and procedures of our laboratory session that enable easy
reproducibility in other classrooms. We discuss different forms of evaluating
the suitability of the new class modules and conclude that it provides a
valuable learning experience that bolsters the theory that is typically
provided in lectures only.
