Low-Cost Measurement Devices for Education

The recent advancements of software-defined radio (SDR) made that technology much more available, flooding the market with a wide range of affordable products including receivers and even network analyzers. Although their quality is obviously not expected to be on par with expensive high-end measurement instruments, they found their place among hobbyists, amateurs, and educators. And within the EMC Society Education Committee (EdCom), we do care about education; hence, we have launched a Low-Cost Measurement Instrumentation Project aiming to enable and support the latter group in creating measurement setups for their students, which is particularly difficult in developing countries. After all, not everyone can afford a couple of proper EMI receivers only to be broken by a bunch of passionate students. 'But which ones should we get? There are so many⋯' - considering the high variety in terms of specs, prices, performance, but also ease of use (which is very important for beginners!), we cannot simply answer that question, but we can provide some basic insight into what those things are, and their utility in EMC education. It is crucial to note that the price is usually low for a reason, and although some of the devices listed here perform surprisingly well, issues with software/firmware or other initially hidden problems with performance or functionality might occur.