C Based WiFi Compatible MAC on Softcore Processor

Student: Rowena Wilson

Supervisor: Adam Postula

Category: Engineering Thesis Project - Computer Systems

Wireless communication is becoming increasingly more relevant to our modern lifestyle. Many large businesses support wireless networks as do a number of homes and educational institutions. This growing technology will soon merge its way into many other aspects of daily life, resulting in a growing demand for simple, low-cost devices that provide wireless communication to a variety of everyday objects.

In today’s market, however, there is not significant focus on the development of simple, low-cost WiFi devices for use in situations where a high data throughput is not required. This thesis aims to investigate the first stage in the development of a simplistic WiFi device. This stage involves the development of a WiFi compatible MAC in C code and its execution on a specially designed FPGA based C processor and system-on-chip.

The results of this thesis will be demonstrated through the attachment of a simple application layer to the developed MAC layer. The application layer will provide a means to demonstrate the functionality of the MAC layer, which is the focus of this thesis.

Future development stages within this project would focus on the inclusion of a PHY layer to provide baseband processing and the attachment of an RF module to provide wireless communication. The development of a generic application layer interface would allow developers to target a variety of different applications through the attachment of different application layers