[Discuss-gnuradio] Use gnu-radio & usrp to make a wireless relay node

[Shilei Tian]

Dear all,

Recently, I'm working on a subject about wireless relay network energy 
efficiency, and I want to do do some experiments, so I need a wireless relay 
whose wireless signal power is adjustable. The client nodes are mobile devices, 
like Android phones, iPhones, and iPads.

My idea now is to use USRP(I own N210 now) and GNU Radio. The USRP implements 
the RF side of Wi-Fi, and GNU Radio implements all protocols, like MAC, NAT and 
DHCP Server, just make it a wireless router. But the work is so huge, so I'm 
afraid that I cannot make it. Besides, I've read the paper "An IEEE 802.11a/g/p 
OFDM Receiver for GNU Radio", but it could only work on the pure OFDM mode, 
which my clients don't support.

So I want to ask whether there are existing 3rd party GNU Radio modules that 
could do this job.

Wow, a new idea occurs to me, could the USRP only amplify the Wi-Fi signal of 
the selected base station? For example, I have a base station, whose SSID is 
"Base_Station", "my relay" (USRP + GNU Radio) receives the signal from the base 
station and amplify it. If the mobile devices connect to my "replay" want to 
send data, it sends to "my relay", my relay receive it and then send to the 
base station, transmission done. In this way, the assignments of IP address and 
NAT service are still finished by the base station. In this way, "my relay" 
don't need to implement protocols. Can this way work?

By the way, I want to ask, is there any relay that suits for me on the market?

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Sincerely yours,

Shilei Tian（田世磊）
Postgraduate Student
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Shanghai Jiao Tong University