Build A Wi-Fi Performance Analyzer For $75

[thiggins]

Can always consider the Neo Metal Kit from FriendlyARM - the H3 should have more than enough horsepower to run the apps...

Do you think it will support the same OS and WiFi drivers?

 

[sfx2000]

Do you think it will support the same OS and WiFi drivers?

The H3, it's a quad Cortex-A7, so armv7a, so it depends if the provided image is 32 or 64 bit - if it's 32 bit, then it should work, if not, the image will have to be rebuilt.

The one small concern is that the SBC is only 512M, not 1G or 2G like the NeoMini 2.

It's only 100Mbit ethernet, which might be a limitation for some.

 

[sfx2000]

@thiggins - some recommended updates to the article

The WLANPI_1.2 image over on morefrag is a dead link

The team has released a 1.3 image that includes additional helpful scripts, updated kernel, and updated driver for the Realtek RTL8812au Wifi NIC

I'd point folks at the parent site where the firmware image, release notes, documents, etc are...

http://www.wlanpi.com/

Couple of interesting items with the FriendlyARM kits - there are multiple versions of the NanoHat OLED - some break out the i2c and serial (v1.0 and v1.1 1705)... The other breaks out a TRRS Audio and extra USB host port (v1.4 1806) - the end-plate is different, and I'm assuming that FriendlyARM will ship the appropriate end-plate that matches the display Hat...

I have the NEO Metal Kit on order - will advise once it arrives...

 

[sfx2000]

Ok - FriendlyARM has the NEO2 kits back in stock - shipping from shenzen, so it'll take a couple of weeks...

https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=189

The old school kit... NEO is similar to NEO2 - but I suggest to support the article, go for the NEO2...

The NEO board I received was 1.31, the OLED hat was 1.1, so it breaks out UART and I2C, which is handy, the 1.4 version of the HAT breaks out USB and Audio I/O.

Ordered this mid-august - I have it now on hand, working with the kit provided image, along with armbian...

Nice little unit... the little thumbdrive is a buffalo ralink based nic - single band there..

On the back-end - the NEO kit breaks out UART and I2C for the Neo... which is important for the IOT crowd...

Still sorting out SW - the FriendlyELEC image is interesting, as it Armbian...

It's an Allwinner H3, and a known device...

 

[sfx2000]

Ok - FriendlyARM has the NEO2 kits back in stock - shipping from shenzen, so it'll take a couple of weeks...

https://www.friendlyarm.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=189

The old school kit... NEO is similar to NEO2 - but I suggest to support the article, go for the NEO2...

The H5-based NanoPi Neo 2 kits mentioned in the articles are back in stock at FriendlyARM...

I would recommend the Neo 2 over the Neo kits for a couple of reasons - First being native Gigabit, and second is that the OLED HAT for the Neo 2 Kit includes the second USB2 interface - the Neo (h3 based) breaks out UART and I2C, the Neo 2 breaks out USB2 and an audio TRRS port.

Getting a bit off topic - get the Neo 2 with this kit, and have a cute little shared drive...

1-bay NAS Kit v1.2 for NanoPi NEO&NEO2 - still have to buy the Neo/Neo2 there...

Anyways - I have a Neo2 on order - and the Cortex-A53 should have a nice bump on performance over the A7-based Neo on certain things...

BTW - if you're buying from Shenzhen and shipping to US - do your orders soon - tariff increases will come into effect for FOB United States in late December - not shipping date, but delivery date on the port of entry...

 

[sfx2000]

Do you think it will support the same OS and WiFi drivers?

The H3 Neo and H5 Neo 2 are very similar - the H3 Neo takes a bit more work to build the image, and less RAM can be a challenge... the config in the article is basically plug and play with the WLAN Pro image

Anyways - these are powerful little devices - H5 Neo 2 as a router on a stick, or combined with a decent USB Gigabit NIC can do interesting things for routing and VPN...

 

[sfx2000]

Like crash, I just found this article. Looks like no one sells the NEO2 kit anymore. Any suggestions for a differ SBC or where to buy the NEO2?

The vendor (Friendly Elec) does periodic product runs - so check the site from time to time...

as of 20 Dec 2018 - they're in stock...

 

[djgizmo]

Thanks SFX, I'm finally ordering one this week.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks SFX, I'm finally ordering one this week.

You can also order an assembled kit that includes an 11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter from WLANpros.

 

[djgizmo]

You can also order an assembled kit that includes an 11ac USB Wi-Fi adapter from WLANpros.

I went back and re-read both original articles and I see that you don't recommend the Comfast adapter anymore. I also went back and re-read this thread. and you mentioned that all AC adapters were being buggy. Is that still the case?

 

[thiggins]

The project has continued to develop. AC Adapters using Realtek RTL8812AU and RTL8814AU chipsets are now better supported and more features have been added.

The project creator Jerry Olla provides an update.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxx6varUwh0

The Comfast adapter included in the WLANpros kit should now work much better. I've ordered a new kit to check.

 

[sfx2000]

Any adapter supporting the Ralink RT3572 chip should work. I ordered and tried an ASUS USB-N53 adapter, which works. There is only one version of it, so you won't get messed up by ordering a different version with a different chipset.

The only thing you lose by not using an AC adapter is the ability to capture data frames from the 5 GHz band with AC devices. You also won't be able to capture data frames in 2.4 GHz with AC devices using 254 QAM. You will be able to capture data frames from 802.11a/b/g/n devices.

In any event, the management, control and Radio Tap header frames that will be captured on both bands are enough to detect everything we need to tell busy networks from idle.

One of the concerns with the A/N/AC adapters - one needs to ensure that they can cover the DFS channels and change the reg_domain...

Not all do...

As a sidebar to a project I'm working on at the moment, ran into a Dual Band Wave2 AP chipset that one can drive pretty hard, and good client STA drivers that also supports TurboQAM in 2.4, about the only thing it's missing in 160MHz support in 5GHz.

I'm up to my elbows in work stuff at the moment, but with OpenWRT, one could do some interesting things...

 

[K1LBG]

I've read this thread and done a bit of searching on the net for an analyzer. I think this one will work for me but I have a couple of questions. My scenario is to identify a specific AP, and, using a Yagi, determine the best direction for maximum signal to/from the AP from a specific location. So, a graphical display of signal strength with AP ids would be great but I could also just use a listing with RSSI for each AP.
Since I am not making a living at this, I can't spend tons on professional equipment. This project looks extremely promising. So, this project seems to have gone through some iterations of hardware and it looks like the adapters mentioned have built in antennas. Is there an adapter that works that has an external antenna connection, or how do I figure out what to look for? Secondly, is there a current list of hardware needed? I've done process control design and programming for a few decades, so bench work does not scare me, but my comfort zone is legacy stuff, like z8, z80, 68000 chips. Haven't done anything (that I can remember- memory cells are getting old ) with the "newer" Pi and Arduino stuff. I suppose I could use my Agilent analyzer but it does not show AP ids and at 40 pounds, it is tough taking it on the airplane!

 

[thiggins]

This is an oldie at this point, so the project is unbuildable as it is.
Check out https://www.wlanpi.com/