An experimental framework for channel sensing through USRP/GNU radios

Abstract

In the last decade testbeds have been set-up to evaluate network protocols and algorithms under realistic settings. In order to draw solid conclusions about the corresponding experimental results, it is important for the experimenter to have a detailed view of the existing channel conditions. Moreover, especially in the context of non-RF-isolated wireless testbeds, where external interference severely impacts the resulting performance, the requirement of experimenters for accurate channel monitoring becomes a prerequisite. Toward, this direction, various channel sensing platforms have been introduced, where each one offers different operational characteristics. In this demo, we propose the NITOS Channel Sensing framework, which is based on software-defined radio (SDR) devices that feature highly flexible wireless transceivers and are able to provide highly accurate channel sensing measurements. Through this framework, online measurement gathering is automated and further simplified using specifically developed scripts, so that it becomes a transparent process for the experimenter. The proposed framework is also accompanied by a web user interface that allows the user to get a graphical representation of the gathered measurements. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.