Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:57:48 -0400 From: Jerry <jerry@seibercom.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: how to encourage a wireless driver to exist? Message-ID: <20140818195748.375442d8@scorpio> In-Reply-To: <20140818233121.GA6745@z.hsd1.ma.comcast.net> References: <003e01cfb9db$8c11b1e0$a43515a0$@dcollins.info> <20140818233121.GA6745@z.hsd1.ma.comcast.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--Sig_/e.FSwPMG7axdf9OKB5ZmrkQ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:31:21 -0400, Brendan Desmond stated: >On 2014-08-17, dbc wrote: >>I have a new laptop which I'm well sick of having to run linux on. Is the= re >>a way to encourage someone to write a driver for intel 7260 wifi card? >> >>I am a C programmer, and I would be willing to volunteer time, but I don't >>know how useful I will be with neither driver writing nor wifi protocol n= or >>FreeBSD development process experience. Still, if anyone would point me in >>the right direction I would happily give it a shot. Where can this stuff = be >>learnt? I also see that linux drivers exist, but I'm not sure about legal >>problems when copying from those. >> >>Or, while I probably couldn't afford to fund it entirely myself, is there= a >>way I could chip into a pot to help fund someone with more experience to = at >>least make a start on it? You are going to need more than just drivers. There is a virtual cornucopia= of new standards being released either now or within the near future. It tool FreBSD nearly 10 years to support the "n" standard. It boggles the mind how long it will be before they are able to support the newer protocols. IEEE 802.11ac IEEE 802.11ac-2013 is an amendment to IEEE 802.11, published in December 2013, that builds on 802.11n. Changes compared to 802.11n include wider channels (80 or 160 MHz versus 40 MHz) in the 5 GHz band, more spatial streams (up to eight versus four), higher order modulation (up to 256-QAM v= s. 64-QAM), and the addition of Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). As of October 2013, high-end implementations support 80 MHz channels, three spatial streams, and 256-QAM, yielding a data rate of up to 433.3 Mbit/s per spatial stream, 1300 Mbit/s total, in 80 MHz channels in the 5 GHz band. Vendors have announced plans to release so-called "Wave 2" devices with support for 160 MHz channels, four spatial streams, and MU-MIMO in 2014 and 2015.[20][21][2= 2] IEEE 802.11ad IEEE 802.11ad is an amendment that defines a new physical layer for 802.11 networks to operate in the 60 GHz millimeter wave spectrum. This frequency band has significantly different propagation characteristics than the 2.4 G= Hz and 5 GHz bands where Wi-Fi networks operate. Products implementing the 802.11ad standard are being brought to market under the WiGig brand name. T= he certification program is now being developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance instead = of the now defunct WiGig Alliance. The peak transmission rate of 802.11ad is 7Gbit/s. IEEE 802.11af IEEE 802.11af, also referred to as "White-Fi" and "Super Wi-Fi", is an amendment, approved in February 2014, that allows WLAN operation in TV white space spectrum in the VHF and UHF bands between 54 and 790 MHz. It uses cognitive radio technology to transmit on unused TV channels, with the standard taking measures to limit interference for primary users, such as analog TV, digital TV, and wireless microphones. Access points and stations determine their position using a satellite positioning system such as GPS and use the Internet to query a geolocation database (GDB) provided = by a regional regulatory agency to discover what frequency channels are available for use at a given time and position. The physical layer uses OFDM and is based on 802.11ac. The propagation path loss as well as the attenuation by materials such as brick and concrete is lower in the UHF and VHF bands than in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, which increases the possible range. The frequency channels are 6 to 8 MHz wide, depending on the regulatory domain. Up to four channels may be bonded in either one or two contiguous blocks. MIMO operation is possible with up to four streams used for either space=E2=80=93time block code (STBC) or multi-user (MU) ope= ration. The achievable data rate per spatial stream is 26.7 Mbit/s for 6 and 7 MHz channels and 35.6 Mbit/s for 8 MHz channels. With four spatial streams and four bonded channels, the maximum data rate is 426.7 Mbit/s for 6 and 7 MHz channels and 568.9 Mbit/s for 8 MHz channels. IEEE 802.11ah IEEE 802.11ah defines a WLAN system operating at sub 1 GHz license-exempt bands, with final approval slated for March 2016. Due to the favorable propagation characteristics of the low frequency spectra, 802.11ah can provide improved transmission range compared with the conventional 802.11 WLANs operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 802.11ah can be used for various purposes including large scale sensor networks, extended range hotspot, and outdoor Wi-Fi for cellular traffic offloading, whereas the available bandwidth is relatively narrow. IEEE 802.11ai IEEE 802.11ai is an amendment to the 802.11 standard which will add new mechanisms for a faster initial link setup time. IEEE 802.11aj IEEE 802.11aj is a rebanding of 802.11ad for use in the 45 GHz unlicensed spectrum available in some regions of the world (specifically China). IEEE 802.11aq IEEE 802.11aq is an amendment to the 802.11 standard which will enable pre-association discovery of services. This extends some of the mechanisms = in 802.11u that enabled device discovery to further discover the services running on a device, or provided by a network. IEEE 802.11ax IEEE 802.11ax is the successor to 802.11ac and will increase the efficiency of WLAN networks. Currently at a very early stage of development this proje= ct has the goal of providing 4x the throughput of 802.11ac --=20 Jerry --Sig_/e.FSwPMG7axdf9OKB5ZmrkQ Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=signature.asc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJT8pMCAAoJEElTsHIJnX8eQv0IAKC5vU9b0bQuJqjuZdIbywA3 deYK2mVYzUwGSBaT1e5vS6BolQsibvRulPpckJUMjoSt05Sykmki30U1++hAidPs INJ2yrBpGVR5m6HSYDLdZFk6dK9tKPzQntD/jqAZA2LVZf8h8h8Er3pMIv4kSEGU UbsuxQcm30q5bTMsWZocYrNnqKN7qzJiJNQ4UcRy4LG/B64c1CN3eceGAeN+OfiT uUCf+BUznbAZhVa2KHyz8iHJ2v7M0FPfuj1XpbDC9QNnTijThwL9jIkEpWQP44u4 ET9G/0pthRbcHopw9kWqtWdvyMDEdb/+JqGHX+DoDOgbe/zwrgZUSgMU+4yyZ4s= =Po3k -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --Sig_/e.FSwPMG7axdf9OKB5ZmrkQ--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20140818195748.375442d8>