9th International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks

Research Article

Linux enriched design in second generation wireless open-access research platform

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.crowncom.2014.255398,
        author={Jaakko Niemel\aa{} and Markku Jokinen and Tuomo H\aa{}nninen},
        title={Linux enriched design in second generation wireless open-access research platform},
        proceedings={9th International Conference on Cognitive Radio Oriented Wireless Networks},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={CROWNCOM},
        year={2014},
        month={7},
        keywords={fpga embedded system porting linux development board wireless network},
        doi={10.4108/icst.crowncom.2014.255398}
    }
    
  • Jaakko Niemelä
    Markku Jokinen
    Tuomo Hänninen
    Year: 2014
    Linux enriched design in second generation wireless open-access research platform
    CROWNCOM
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.crowncom.2014.255398
Jaakko Niemelä1,*, Markku Jokinen1, Tuomo Hänninen1
  • 1: Centre for Wireless Communications, University of Oulu
*Contact email: jaakko.niemela@ee.oulu.fi

Abstract

Wireless research infrastructure is a central tool in performing applied research. It enables the verification and demonstration of theoretical results in practice. Wireless research infrastructure at the Centre forWireless Communications (CWC) has been built using second generation second generation wireless open access research platform (WARPv2). The WARPv2s are well suited for wireless research on both physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers but they lack the capability for handling network layer operations without an external PC. An on-board operating system is needed for a stand-alone solution. This paper describes Linux system porting to the WARPv2 board. The Linux system was combined with the radio communication system to achieve a flexible MAC interface for building custom protocols. The field-programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware design was created for this combination and needed software of the system was defined and implemented. The developed system consists of the Linux side and the MAC side which together implement all the layers of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model. Both sides use a dedicated processor core of the FPGA. Interprocessor communication between Linux and MAC sides was implemented to enable Linux to control the whole system.