RADAR-like Location Detection System

Todd Allen
allenet@cs.colorado.edu

Download

  1. Modified Intersil Prisim drivers for Linux
  2. signalmap
  3. Xaw-XPM (tar)
  4. XawXpm (rpm).
  5. XawXpm-devel (rpm)
  6. xradar.tar.gz

Building & Installing

  1. Build the driver in linux-wlan-ng-0.1.7.todd.tar.gz.
  2. You need to unpack it anywhere you like, and then follow the instructions in the README.
  3. The instructions are unchanged from the original driver. Install the XawXpm-*.rpm packages on your system. Or if you really care, you can build from the sources in the Xaw-XPM-1.1.tar.gz.
  4. Unpack xradar.tar.gz anywhere you like. You'll need to change some pathnames at the top of the makefile to point at where you placed the linux-wlan-ng driver, and, if you installed it in an odd place, where you put XawXpm.
  5. Install signalmap in the xradar directory, and give it write permission. (Or you can override the path with the -signalmap option to xradar, but it's easier just to install it right there.)
  6. In the xradar directory, run xradar. To see a list of options, run: xradar -? To see the options I used in my demo, see "doit". You'll want to run xradar as root, so that it has permission to reset the linux-wlan-ng driver when it fails.

Caveats:

  1. The linux-wlan-ng driver works only with cards based on the PRISM II chipset.
  2. The samples in the signalmap were take with a Compaq WL100 card. They will be appropriate with that card, or with any other whose signal strength numbers are calibrated the same.
  3. The signalmap is based on the AP normally located in CS 123, another AP temporarily installed in CS 112 on the table next to the doorway to CS 112C, and the AP in the Woz lab in the basement (which only affects samples taken in the hallways outside the CS wing). Their BSSID's were: 00:60:1d:f2:47:6a CS 123 00:02:2d:09:4b:db CS 112 00:60:1d:22:c1:50 Woz Lab If you need to install other AP's in those locations, the signalmap is a simple text file, so it can easily be modified to reflect that change with a simple string change using most any editor, or sed. And, obviously, you can create your own signalmap from scratch for a different environment. See the xradar -? help screen for the very simple user interface.
  4. This program has almost no error checking. User beware!