WiFi Chipsets Research Articles

Creation of Virtual Wi-Fi Access Point and Secured Wi-Fi Pairing, through NFC

The growing ubiquity of Wi-Fi networks combined with the integration of low-cost Wi-Fi chipsets in all devices makes Wi-Fi as the wireless technology the most used for accessing to internet [1]. This means that the development of a Wi-Fi strategy has become an imperative for almost all operators worldwide. In this context, APs (Access Points) have to become as secure as cellular networks. Furthermore, authentication process between a mobile device and an access point has to be automated, without user constraining configuration. For reaching this purpose, client must have different credentials depending on authentication method. Our goal is to create an architecture that is both ergonomic and flexible in order to meet the need for connection and client mobility. We use NFC technology as a radio channel for starting communication with the network. The communication initiation will instantiate a virtual Wi-Fi AP and distribute all policies and access certificates for an authentication based on EAP-TLS (it could be extended to any EAP method for 802.1X standard). The end result of our new topology is to allow access to services through a virtual Wi-Fi AP with an enterprise-grade in a public hotspot.

Design of a TDD Multisector TDM MAC for the WiFiRe Proposal for Rural Broadband Access

The WiFiRe (WiFi Rural Extension) proposal for rural broadband access is being developed under the aegis of CEWIT. The system leverages the widely available, and highly cost-reduced, WiFi chipsets. However, only the physical layer from these chipsets is retained. A single base station carries several WiFi transceivers, each serving one sector of the cell, and all operating on the same WiFi channel in a time division duplex (TDD) manner. We replace the contention based WiFi MAC with a single-channel TDD multisector TDM MAC similar to the WiMax MAC. In this paper we discuss in detail the issues in designing such a MAC for the purpose of carrying packet voice telephony and for Internet access. The problem of determining the optimal spatial reuse is formulated and the optimal spatial reuse and the corresponding cell size is derived. Then the voice and data scheduler is designed. It is shown how throughput fairness can be implemented in the data scheduler. A capacity assessment of the system is also provided.

WiFiRe: rural area broadband access using the WiFi PHY and a multisector TDD MAC

The needs of Indian rural telecom, and the economics of currently available broadband access technologies, motivate a new system for rural broadband access, which we call WiFiRe (WiFi rural extension). The system leverages the widely available, and highly cost-reduced, WiFi chipsets. We, however, retain only the PHY from these chipsets and propose a single-channel, multisector, TDD MAC using directional antennas. The proposed WiFiRe MAC is similar to the WiMAX MAC in several respects. In this article we motivate our approach, describe the system architecture and the MAC, analyse the spatial reuse, and then, using a simple scheduler, provide an assessment of the voice and data capacity of a WiFiRe system