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KiCad and Basic Electronics

Block 10. KiCad and Basic Electronics

Purpose

This block connects the SDR course with electrical schematics, prototyping, simple analog/digital helper circuits and real RF bench measurements.

Why this block matters

It removes the artificial separation between DSP and hardware by showing how power, levels, connectors, matching, cables, attenuators and filters affect the experiment.

Main topics

  • KiCad interface and project structure;
  • reading and releasing schematics;
  • power, decoupling, and wiring;
  • breadboard work and simple generators;
  • connectors, matching, and input protection;
  • NanoVNA RF measurements: S11, S21, VSWR and Smith chart;
  • digital attenuator verification for controlled sweeps;
  • documentation and BOM preparation.

Practical work

  • opening and reviewing an existing schematic;
  • creating a simple helper-circuit schematic;
  • preparing a breadboard implementation;
  • measuring an RF Demo Kit with a NanoVNA;
  • characterizing a digital RF attenuator;
  • linking the schematic to an SDR lab experiment.

Block labs

  • Lab 10.1 — Passive RC filter.
  • Lab 10.2 — Simple attenuator pad.
  • Lab 10.3 — RF measurement safety checklist.
  • Lab 10.4 — KiCad schematic mini-project.
  • Lab 10.5 — NanoVNA and RF Demo Kit: S11/S21, VSWR and Smith chart.
  • Lab 10.6 — Digital RF attenuator: step, range and linearity check.

Tooling for the block

The main toolset is: KiCad, multimeter, breadboard, MATLAB / Simulink, NanoVNA, RF Demo Kit, fixed and digital attenuators, 50-ohm cables and loads.

Expected outputs

  • schematic or schematic fragment;
  • bill of materials;
  • photos of the assembly and measurement bench;
  • S11/S21, VSWR, attenuation and error tables;
  • report on the electrical and RF part of the experiment.

Folder structure

block_10_kicad_and_basic_electronics/
├── README.md
├── README_ru.md
├── README_en.md
├── CONTENTS_ru.md
├── CONTENTS_en.md
├── assets/
├── images/
├── kicad/
├── simulink/
├── matlab/
├── python/
├── cpp/
├── gnuradio/
└── reports/
  • assets/ — reference data and helper materials;
  • images/ — diagrams, screenshots, and photos;
  • kicad/ — schematics and electrical notes;
  • simulink/, matlab/, python/, cpp/, gnuradio/ — models and analysis tools;
  • reports/ — reports and report templates.
  1. review schematic structure and symbols;
  2. assemble a simple helper circuit;
  3. verify electrical parameters;
  4. perform NanoVNA calibration and measure the RF Demo Kit;
  5. characterize the digital attenuator;
  6. connect the results to an SDR experiment with SNR/BER.

Next step

After finishing this block, the student should be ready to reuse its results for the next course stage: safe RF loopback, controlled attenuation sweeps and explaining differences between the model, FPGA logic and measurement.