[CUWiN-Dev] Re: custom sub-$100 router

[David Young]

On Wed, Jan 12, 2005 at 10:54:59AM -0600, Sascha Meinrath wrote:
> I'm talking with some manufacturers about potential collaborations to 
> build a sub-$100 device...  Could someone get me feedback on the XInC 
> wireless processor:
> 
> http://www.elevenengineering.com/chips_modules/xinc.php
> 
> It sounds to me like this would be something worth looking into in terms 
> of developing a sub-$100 device.

It is a 16-bit processor with 8 parallel execution units and a not-quite-C
compiler for Windows.  They intend for it to connect directly to a radio
and run real-time MAC firmware.  You're not going to run a modern network
operating system on it, so you have to add a second CPU the purpose,
or else go "deeply embedded."  Interesting chip, but I don't think it
gets us very far.

The systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) by Atheros and Realtek [*] look most
promising to me, provided we can customize some SoC board with the
"extras" we need for CWNs.  You know what these extras are, I've put
them in a list somewhere: PoE, outdoor enclosure, integrated antenna, etc.

A more sophisticated, but expensive device has one 32-bit CPU for the
network OS, and a second CPU or FPGA that connects directly to a radio
modem and implements a custom MAC.  Then you're looking at a much greater
software development cost than for porting to a SoC; it would be a major
R&D effort to come up with the MAC and such.

This sub-$100 device effort would really benefit from a timeline and an
R&D budget, so that we're more constrained than by our wildest imaginings.
Also, what are our expectations from a cheap h/w device?  That it's
going to perform as well, better, or almost as well as a Soekris board
+ Atheros radio?  If our timeline is "right now" and our budget is $0,
then it's premature to even be talking about custom hardware, especially
if we want to improve on what we've got.

Dave

[*] There are also SoCs by Broadcom, Marvell, and others, but they're
    closed.

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung at ojctech.com      Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933