13 Dec
2011
13 Dec
'11
6:15 p.m.
can anybody point out an "open" project offering RF schemes and models plus
baseband and mac implementation of Wifi ? any HDL or embedded stack is
acceptable . i think the answer to this says a lot about other projects
claiming open approach toward any widespread commercial radio system
On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Harald Welte <laforge(a)gnumonks.org> wrote:
On Tue, Dec 13, 2011 at 12:59:08AM +0100, Jay R.
Worthington wrote:
what do you expect to happen from a legal
standpoint? My guess would be
that the providers will fight an opensource firmware with every
firebreathing lawyer in der reach, and if they won't do that, RegTP (or
whatever they are call themself this week ;)) for sure will, a firmware
that would reject some evil RRLP queries can't be tolerated :-S
Hi Jay,
in fact, my legal analysis had been quite optimistic, at least for
Europe. the RT&TTE directive largely regulates the sale and
distribution of "devices" that transmit on radio frequencies. Devices
need to have CE markings and a declaration of conformity. As GSM
terminals are part of harmonized standards, the vendor can either
certify himself that the devices are CE compliant, or he can use a
'notified body' (a certification lab) to do that externally. The
Procedure is described in Annex III of the directive.
The testing that needs to be done is in EN 301 511, and EN 301 489-7
However, this all only applies if you distribute the devices with
modified firmware. The device with original firmware of course is
compliant to the directive and has a Motorola declaration of conformity.
Distributing the OsmocomBB firmware itself is certainly not a "device"
under the current legislation.
Installing + Using it as a user [on a public network] might pose a legal
risk, but to be honest I wouldn't know what kind of regulation that
would be. There might be a breach of contract of your operator terms
of services. And of course, if the firmware misbehaves and causes RF
interference, that would be transmission without a radio license, or in
the worst case interference with public communications networks.
But then, at the same time, lots of people already use Free Software
based firmware in their WiFi chips, and I think we've had a lot of
discussion in that area. Nonetheless, many people do it...
An no, there is no real difference here due to the fact that 2.4 GHz ist
unregulated spectrum. You also have to make sure that the frequency,
transmission power, harmonics, etc. fall within the rules set forth in
the harmonized standards.
Regards,
Harald
--
- Harald Welte <laforge(a)gnumonks.org>
http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
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