I've actually been thinking of ways this could be done... Here's some random ideas:
- Try and arrange a deal with Ettus Research, in which we could purchase the hardware at a cheaper price for academic based research. - Go to 2600 meetings, and suggest starting up a ccc.de style work shop in your local district, and for everyone to donate towards the hardware. I know this is quite a big thing in Germany, and there is at least one group in the UK which is trying to do the same (see www.fizzpop.org.uk) - Figure out how to build our own boards on the cheap, or build instructions on how to take apart other equipment to provide us with the necessary parts to build a transceiver on all gsm/cdma/utms bands etc. - Apply for a research grant, or an academic grant. (i wouldnt know much about this, but i know fizzpop have done something similar, so might be worth asking them) - Save up! :/ Besides, you gotta remember, that the USRP is a very expensive piece of kit, and just having one might not be enough depending on what you need it for. See Sylvain's earlier post reply for a good explaination about this. Personally, I think it would be a really cool idea to start up work shops which would look primarily at extracting the transceivers out of cheap/unwanted handsets, and putting them to a good use. It would certainly be a lot more fun than just paying for the hardware :) On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 1:11 AM, Abdalaleem Andy James Potter < [email protected]> wrote: > Cal, > > Can you find any creative way of raising funding for hackers to afford the > USRP hardware and boards...? There must be a smart way of doing this... > > One idea is to have a completely open source GSM phone using the USRP and > just free software. > > > > Begin forwarded message: > > *From: *Abdalaleem Andy James Potter <[email protected]> > *Date: *24 July 2010 01:08:55 BST > *To: *[email protected], [email protected] > *Cc: *Joshua Lackey <[email protected]> > *Subject: **Re: [Openbts-discuss] [Discuss-gnuradio] Software mobile phone > * > > Fantastic stuff! > > > On 23 Jul 2010, at 22:26, Joshua Lackey wrote: > > And leveraging the work from the osmocombb project > > (http://bb.osmocom.org/trac/) will get you a far ways towards the goal. > > > > Quoting John Gilmore ([email protected]): > > Dear All, > > > Do we think it is possible to create a software mobile phone using the > > USRP, with the OpenBTS code or something else? > > > I mean everything would be in software, plus the USRP....? > > > It is absolutely possible. So far I don't know anyone who has > > tried to do it. The OpenBTS code would give you a big head start. > > > I also think it would be interesting to port the resulting code into a > > mobile phone. Generally the GSM protocols in a phone are run in a > > "baseband processor" separate from the user interface processor. > > Every phone I know of uses secret, proprietary code running in the > > baseband processor, even when the user interface is largely free > > software. Once you had working code running in GNU Radio on a Linux > > machine, the challenge would be finding a well-documented baseband > > chip (in which the manufacturer tells you where to find the radio I/O > > gear on the chip, and how it works, etc). Porting clean GSM code to > > run in that chip in realtime would require some adaptation to exploit > > unusual on-chip DSP hardware, mastering an embedded debugging > > environment, and perhaps shrinking the memory consumption of the GNU > > Radio-based code. > > > I think it's not only doable, but well worth doing. It should be > > worth a couple of PhDs at least. You would certainly know the GSM > > protocols inside and out by the time you were done! > > > John > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint > > What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? > > Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first > > _______________________________________________ > > Openbts-discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openbts-discuss > > > > On 23 Jul 2010, at 12:33, Cal Leeming [Simplicity Media Ltd] wrote: > > Hey all, > > Just came across this board yesterday... Pretty amazing stuff tbh. > > I've always taken a really active interest in anything cellular related, > however things went a bit stale about a year ago, and I found myself with > less and less time available. > > But now I really want to get back into it again, and therefore volunteering > for any duties which would (or could) involved the following: > > - *anything* python / stackless python related (5+ years experience) > - *anything* gsm stack related (might need some time on this one, as > it's been a while and my memory is fuzzy!) > - *anything* linux/kernel/firmware related (done several > kernel/firmware modifications in the past for embedded routers etc) > - providing any bandwidth required (around 10-30tb/month) > - arranging meet ups in the east/west midlands area of the UK > - various other bits.. just ask! :) > > You'll have to forgive my somewhat limited knowledge of the project so far, > but I've put some time aside this weekend to do as much reading as possible > on everything you guys have released, and also on the work over at > osmocom.org. > > -- > > Cal Leeming > > Operational Security & Support Team > > *Out of Hours: *+44 (07534) 971120 | *Support Tickets: * > [email protected] > *Fax: *+44 (02476) 578987 | *Email: *[email protected] > Simplicity Media Ltd. > Registered company number 7143564 > > _______________________________________________ > A51 mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.lists.reflextor.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/a51 > > > -- Cal Leeming Operational Security & Support Team *Out of Hours: *+44 (07534) 971120 | *Support Tickets: * [email protected] *Fax: *+44 (02476) 578987 | *Email: *[email protected] Simplicity Media Ltd. All rights reserved. Registered company number 7143564
_______________________________________________ A51 mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lists.reflextor.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/a51
