[HN Gopher] Use the WiFi Chip on RaspberryPi/Broadcom as Softwar... ___________________________________________________________________ Use the WiFi Chip on RaspberryPi/Broadcom as Software-Defined Radio (SDR) Author : punnerud Score : 126 points Date : 2021-05-15 07:56 UTC (15 hours ago) (HTM) web link (github.com) (TXT) w3m dump (github.com) | peterburkimsher wrote: | It's an SDR transmitter, not receiver. | | Pity that the bands are still limited to 2.4 and 5 GHz WiFi. | | For GPS [1] or cellular [2] spoofing, osmo-fl2k may be a better | option. In practice though, I've only used my MAIWO KCB003 for | that once, as a demo. It's quite inconvenient to set up the | flowgraph on an Ubuntu VM, generate 20 GB of samples, and then | stream it from my Mac. Better software would make this much | easier to use. | | I use a MAIWO KCB003, for portability. It's not very good as a | USB-VGA adaptor though, because it needs custom drivers to be | installed. When the guest speaker needs to plug their laptop into | a projector, they don't have time to install drivers. | | [1] https://hackernoon.com/osmo-fl2k-a-15-dtv-transmitter-fm- | rad... | | [2] https://hackaday.com/2018/04/23/spoofing-cell-networks- | with-... | franga2000 wrote: | The fl2k is awesome and I really wish much more would've | developed around it. I guess anyone who knows enough about DSP | likely already has a better radio, especially when things like | the HackRF exist. | causality0 wrote: | Is there some secret to getting a Pi at MSRP or is it just | another victim of the semiconductor shortage? I can't find a Pi | Zero W for under $20 or a Pi 4 for under $50. | gkhartman wrote: | I've heard that Microcenter is a good option. They seem to be | the best bet right now for things like GPUs if you go on the | right day (with a bit of luck). | kingosticks wrote: | Stock and prices are fine here in the UK right now. | II2II wrote: | Check out the dealers on the Raspberry Pi website. A few of the | dealers have them in stock and they appear to be close to MSRP. | (I'm waiting on a 4 GB unit that was about US$56, compared to | US$55 MSRP. The 2 GB units at US$35 are listed as well.) | anonymousDan wrote: | Is it possible to get a workeable sdr that can send and receive | for $100-200 these days? If so what frequency bands would it | support? | drno123 wrote: | Publish or perish license - if you use the code in your research, | you MUST cite their paper. | zenexer wrote: | It's a pretty interesting license. | | > The Software is not used by, in cooperation with, or on | behalf of any armed forces, intelligence agencies, | reconnaissance agencies, defense agencies, offense agencies or | any supplier, contractor, or research associated. | Siira wrote: | It's not FOSS. | generalizations wrote: | Honestly? This is _hacker_ news. If it does what I need, I | 'll use it. | Muromec wrote: | It's a nice message, but it's not like any of entities listed | above would just pass by and not use such a thing. | inetknght wrote: | > _This projects demonstrates our discovery that turns Broadcom | 's 802.11ac Wi-Fi chips into software-defined radios that | transmit arbitrary signals in the Wi-Fi bands._ | | But... what about receive? | bitwize wrote: | This is why Broadcom chips come with proprietary blobs: the FCC | and corresponding regulatory bodies elsewhere would never approve | them if they had open source firmware or were fully documented. | vineyardmike wrote: | Source? This seems unlikely considering the existence of legal | SDR. | | Also proprietary blobs seem like a whole separate thing that | companies would do to protect IP. | generalizations wrote: | Can confirm. Look at the FCC regulations for selling rf- | emitting devices. The seller has to show that the device will | only emit at the specified frequencies and power. When it's | consumer-facing, like a wifi router, one way to do that when | the hardware itself is technically capable of more, is to | lock down the firmware. | | The downvotes on gp are misinformed. | monocasa wrote: | These chips and their closed blobs are older than the | relevant FCC regulation. | grishka wrote: | I've seen this same argument about cellular modems too, and | that, too, has never prevented people from reverse engineering | them. | Semaphor wrote: | Originally posted around release 2018 (60 comments): | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16589703 ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-05-15 23:00 UTC)