GSOC 2017 Beagleboard BSP projects

Tue Mar 21 08:33:52 UTC 2017

Am 21.03.2017 um 00:45 schrieb Joel Sherrill:
> 
> 
> On Sun, Mar 19, 2017 at 4:38 PM, Christian Mauderer
> <christian.mauderer at embedded-brains.de
> <mailto:christian.mauderer at embedded-brains.de>> wrote:
> 
>     ----- Ursprüngliche Mail -----
>     > Von: "赵 思晨" <zsc19940506 at outlook.com
>     <mailto:zsc19940506 at outlook.com>>
>     > An: "RTEMS" <devel at rtems.org <mailto:devel at rtems.org>>
>     > Gesendet: Sonntag, 19. März 2017 15:29:03
>     > Betreff: GSOC 2017 Beagleboard BSP projects
> 
>     > Hi all:
>     >
>     >
>     > I am interested in the ticket #2819 Beagleboard BSP projects
>     >
>     >
>     > And i have a idea about the project: add the USB and wireless
>     network card
>     > driver to RTEMS. So RTEMS can apply on many scene applications
>     such as the UAV.
>     > And for now, i am working on transplant the USB driver from
>     FreeBSD to RTEMS.
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > I am a master student from China NanJing University. and i am
>     interested in
>     > applying for GSoC 2017 under RTEMS.
>     > I have develop project on RTEMS for almost a year, so i am very
>     familiar with
>     > RTEMS development.
>     >
>     > For now, i have done these works on RTEMS:
>     > 1.Porting the ethernet driver from FreeBSD to RTEMS on BBB bsp.
>     > 2.Transplant the ION-DTN protocol stack on RTEMS.
>     > 3.Took over Punitvara's(GSOC 2016 student) unfinished work on BBB
>     i2c driver,
>     > and can use i2c read the EEPROM info..(already send PV my pull
>     request)
>     > 4.Porting  the ethernet driver from UBoot to RTEMS on BBB bsp.
>     >
>     > Best Regrads
>     > Sichen Zhao
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > 发自 Outlook<http://aka.ms/weboutlook <http://aka.ms/weboutlook>>
>     >
>     > _______________________________________________
>     > devel mailing list
>     > devel at rtems.org <mailto:devel at rtems.org>
>     > http://lists.rtems.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>     <http://lists.rtems.org/mailman/listinfo/devel>
> 
>     Hello Sichen Zhao,
> 
>     just a note regarding the WLAN support in rtems-libbsd: I have just
>     recently ported a lot of the necessary kernel modules for
>     unencrypted WLAN. Depending on the projects progress, It's quite
>     possible that we (embedded brains) will work on encrypted WLAN too
>     in the near future. So this might could collide with the goals in
>     your proposal that relate to the hardware independent parts of the
>     network stack.
> 
> 
> Christian.. I appreciate you giving a heads up but isn't the work of
> USB support for a BB and a specific WLAN driver for a USB WLAN stick
> rather independent of adding encryption support? It would seem they
> are in different areas of the tree.
> 
> I can see where he could focus on unencrypted support and then
> if things work out, take advantage of the encrypted support later.
> I thought the tree was already up to date so there wouldn't be any
> massive updates of code.
> 
> What conflicts do you foresee? And can you work with the student
> to avoid or minimize them. 
> 
> Working in the open and coordinating efforts is critical in any open
> source project. This seems like one which can be managed. Especially
> if you help out on this project so you can help avoid the issues.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> --joel
>  

Hello Joel, Hello Sichen Zhao,

I agree, that most of the proposal won't be touched by the WLAN part
that is already done or will be (hopefully) done in the near future. I'm
not sure what WLAN chip set is used on the BB (or on the intended USB
dongle) so currently I can't say for sure whether it is already build
with the rest of the drivers or not. Sichen Zhao: Do you have any
information on that?

A potential conflict in the proposal is in the "Project Deliverables"
the part "August 29-September 5 (Final Evaluation) - Add the wireless
protocol such as 802.11". That is also mentioned in "June 27 - August 23
(Second Half)" under the point "5.Adding the wireless protocol 802.11 on
RTEMS."

But to be honest: It might anyhow would have been a quite big workpiece
if it would have been only a part of a GSoC project. The unencrypted
WLAN port has been quite some effort and there is a big part necessary
for the encrypted WLAN user space (the wpa supplicant). So it quite
likely is better to concentrate on the device specific driver and try to
get it running with unencrypted WLAN. If that works, it shouldn't be a
big problem to get the encrypted one running.

If there is time left for any work: For the encrypted WLAN, it is always
interesting if there is any hardware encryption support. If the WLAN
chip doesn't have it itself (not all USB chips have it), a hardware
encryption of the host processor might be useful. So if the processor on
the BB has a hardware encryption module, it could be nice to have it
supported by the rtems-libbsd. But I'm not sure whether we already have
any encryption on other platforms and I'm also not sure how much work
that would be.

Please note that I don't really have any experience what the usual scope
is for a GSoC project. So I'm not sure whether that would be possible or
realistic in the given time.

Kind regards

Christian Mauderer
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