An open source "Wi-Fi chip design"(Will be AGPLv3) will be presented and a live demo will be shown in the room! The design is based on SDR (Software Defined Radio) and offers full-stack 802.11a/g/n capabilities on FPGA and ARM Linux (Xilinx Zynq SoC + AD9361 RF front-end).It conforms with Linux mac80211 framework and behaves just like COTS Wi-Fi chip under Linux. The main components of the design are: RF front-end control; PHY; low-MAC; interfacing (DMA, register) with ARM; mac80211 compliant Linux driver; high-MAC (mac80211 framework); Linux user space tools (ifconfig, iwconfig, dedicated tools via netlink). Since it is a SDR based "white box" design instead of commercial “black box” chip, you can do Wi-Fi research and customization without any reverse engineering efforts.
Why does it fit FOSDEM?
It will be the 1st open source project for full-stack Wi-Fi SDR implementation. Lots of people, especially wireless network/security researchers, SDR researchers and hackers, will be interested in. We are eager to show the demo in the room and hear feedback from people/community. Potential contributors are also very welcomed, and we will be glad to offer help.
