[projects] - Espressif ESP8266 AP/Mesh Wifi Repeater/AP

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Fun little project - the ESP modules are fairly affordable, and well supported.

@thiggins - not sure it this should be here, or over in the smarthome sub-forum, but since this is WiFi, this is as good a place as any since we don't have a hobby oriented single board device subforum for things like this.

https://github.com/martin-ger/esp_wifi_repeater

esp_wifi_repeater
A full functional WiFi repeater (correctly: a WiFi NAT router)

This is an implementation of a WiFi NAT router on the esp8266 and esp8285. It can be used as range extender for an existing WiFi network. The esp acts as STA and as soft-AP and transparently forwards any IP traffic through it. As it uses NAT no routing entries are required neither on the network side nor on the connected stations. Stations are configured via DHCP by default in the 192.168.4.0/24 net and receive their DNS responder address from the existing WiFi network.

Measurements show, that it can achieve about 5 Mbps in both directions, so even streaming is possible.

For a setup with multiple routers in a mesh to cover a larger area a new mode "Automesh" has been included https://github.com/martin-ger/esp_wifi_repeater#automesh-mode

The router also allows for remote monitoring (or packet sniffing), e.g. with Wireshark, port mapping, and ACLs.

Some details are explained in this video:

 

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I think one of the more fun things with the ESP platform...

ESP32 - the UBlox Nina modules are interesting

RMII is still under development - the UART/GPIO interfaces are all good - handy stuff though - not for beginners...

 

[thiggins]

Aside from experimentation/learning, what practical use does this have with only 5 Mbps throughput?

 

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Aside from experimentation/learning, what practical use does this have with only 5 Mbps throughput?

The hobby side is fun to play with - I would see some utility here for the low-bandwidth IoT overlay, putting things onto their own private WLAN/ESS and keeping them segregated away from the primary WLAN...