GNUWiNetwork, a software framework to build wireless networks

Abstract

The spread of wireless communications has led electronic equipment to include one or more wireless interfaces. If it were possible to use some generic hardware and implement those different interfaces in software, design and cost would be drastically reduced. This is the idea behind Software Defined Radio (SDR). Cognitive radio attempts to make a more efficient use of a crowded specturm by using licensed bands when licensees are idle. SDR and cognitive radio triggered the research work reported in this paper: to provide a fully functional SDR-based wireless network, developed on top of an open source framework, and able to provide data link and upper layers functionalities. This framework was called GNUWiNetwork, is licensed under GNU, and can be extended by others. Prototyping balanced by architectural design led this framework to be structured as a library of independent blocks which implement different functionalities. These blocks can be interconnected to implement existing or experimental protocols. Blocks interchange different types of events, and act accordingly. A graphical user interface makes it easy to put the blocks together, set the required parameters, and make the set run either in simulation mode or through some simple wireless device controlled by GNU Radio. Several types of blocks have been coded and tried in simulation mode. Some real wireless connection were established between two computers equiped with USRP devices, over which remote sessions such as SSH were successfully established. Work done and the results obtained so far show this framework very valuable for teaching and experimenting, but also promising for industrial prototype testing.