Demo: an open-source development platform for long-range UHF-connected wifi hotspots

We present a real-time software-defined radio (SDR) platform for prototyping and measuring the performance of broadband UHF radio networks operating over long distances with point-to-multipoint (PTMP) non-line-of-sight (NLOS) networks. Enabled by the Wideband UHF Radio Card (WURC), a custom high-power and frequency-flexible radio transceiver daughter-card for FPGA-based digital basebands, the 802.11 DCF-like MAC and PHY implementation is completely open source. We demonstrate a long-range PTMP NLOS network bonding several of the white space television channels available in Maui, Hawaii. Off-the-shelf client devices can use this network via 802.11a/g links implemented with the same SDR framework. The multi-carrier channel estimates and real-time MAC statistics of connected nodes in UHF and 2.4 GHz are recorded and displayed in real-time, demonstrating an unprecedented amount of flexibility in unlicensed frequency bands, enabling real-time TV-band cognitive networks and small-cell research deployments. A demonstration video is available at the following link: http://youtu.be/dTOJHRICklQ