External access point?

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How hard would it be to create an external access point for Sololink? In other words, instead of using the controller's WiFi card as the AP, have something like a Ubiquiti Bullet M2 connected to a high gain antenna on a mast, and a small router for DHCP and other housekeeping. Is the IMX just doing the usual hostapd daemon on wlan0? Of course the LAN would need to be configured to use the 10.1.1.x subnet and probably would need to keep the controller on 10.1.1.1 (so the AP would be 10.1.1.254, for example).

Part B of this question is about swapping out the network radios for 5GHz, but that's probably another thread.
 
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Are you intending to replace the controller or just tunnel it thru a router?
 
Just "tunnel" through a router, so that the Solo and Artoo would both be clients of a WiFi access point. That way I could position the AP in an ideal location (such as on a mast, with a large high gain antenna) and improve coverage and reliability. Also potential for AP handoff if (for example) recording over a longer distance, using multiple APs and point-to-point backhaul.
 
Just "tunnel" through a router, so that the Solo and Artoo would both be clients of a WiFi access point. That way I could position the AP in an ideal location (such as on a mast, with a large high gain antenna) and improve coverage and reliability. Also potential for AP handoff if (for example) recording over a longer distance, using multiple APs and point-to-point backhaul.

Sounds like a very interesting idea! I would love to learn more if you pursue this idea.
Chris Shaker
 
So just logged into the Artoo over SSH and found this:
767 nobody 2076 S /usr/bin/dnsmasq -7 /etc/dnsmasq.d
781 root 5120 S /usr/sbin/hostapd /etc/hostapd.conf -B

So it looks like my hunch is probably correct. I'm really hesitant to make too many changes since it's my only remote and if I mess it up not sure how I might restore to normal config. A console port or keyboard/display would help for sure.

I might pop out the SD card and back it up, just to be safe. Heck, might not be a bad idea anyway.
 
The IMX.6 inside the controller does have serial debug pins on it if I recall
 
Just a quick update, I'm still working on this. So far I'm able to spoof the solo link AP and get the solo to connect. And I'm able to make the remote's AP disappear and reappear when rebooted, so so far not doing anything permanent.

A few discoveries:
The Solo uses DHCP. A little surprised by that, I thought it would be hard coded. My network controller assigns it a 192.168.x.x address, but it seems like SidePilot and APM Planner are looking for 10.1.1.10 no matter what. Next step is to get my network DHCP server to assign the Solo a 10.1.1.10 address and see what happens. Better yet, figure out how to change the defaults in the client software or use a Bounjour address, but that might be more difficult. This will probably cause problems down the road since it pretty much limits me to a flat /24 network.

The remote's AP is pretty much stock Linux networking stuff. So far just looking around .conf files but not changing anything. Killing the hostapd process brings everything to a screeching halt, as expected, including my SSH session.

Probably not discovering anything that the folks here don't already know...
 
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