Capture precise Wi-Fi channel timing and CSI signal data for wireless sensing or radar research experiments.
Set up a software-defined Wi-Fi access point on FPGA hardware to test packet injection or channel fuzzing in a lab.
Modify the low-level MAC timing logic to study how devices share the wireless channel in ways impossible with commercial chips.
Requires a supported Xilinx FPGA development board paired with an Analog Devices radio module, not runnable on standard PC hardware.
Openwifi is an open-source implementation of the Wi-Fi standard (IEEE 802.11) built on programmable radio hardware called an FPGA. An FPGA is a chip that can be reconfigured in software to act as custom hardware, so this project essentially lets researchers and engineers build their own Wi-Fi radio from the ground up rather than relying on a commercial chip whose internals they cannot inspect or modify. The project is split into two parts. This repository contains the Linux driver and supporting software. A companion repository called openwifi-hw holds the FPGA circuit design. Together they form a complete Wi-Fi stack that runs on several supported hardware boards, mostly Xilinx development boards paired with Analog Devices radio modules. The system supports common Wi-Fi modes including access point, station (client), ad-hoc, and monitor mode, and achieves real-world throughput of 40 to 50 Mbps in tests. What makes this project unusual is that the low-level timing logic that governs how devices share the wireless channel, normally hidden inside a sealed chip, is here running in the reconfigurable hardware. This makes it possible to measure and modify things that are impossible to observe on commercial hardware, such as precise channel timing, signal quality data called CSI (Channel State Information), raw radio samples, and packet-level behavior. The project includes application notes for specific research uses like radar sensing, packet injection, and channel fuzzing. Getting started requires one of the supported hardware boards, an SD card, and comfort working on the Linux command line. The README walks through downloading a pre-built image, writing it to the SD card, configuring files for the specific board, and running setup scripts over SSH. The project is licensed under AGPLv3, with an option for a commercial subscription that unlocks more advanced features like 802.11ax support.
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