WIFI DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

Team Registration ID: Q09OPEN_SHOWCASE2333

1. Problem Definition:

To design a system, WiFi Diagnostic Tool, in which wireless hosts cooperate to

diagnose and possibly resolve network problems in an automated manner, without requiring
any infrastructural support. This leverages the ability to create a shared information plane,
which enables wireless hosts to exchange a range of information about their network settings
and the health of their network connectivity. By aggregating and correlating such information
across multiple wireless hosts, one can infer the likely cause of the problem.

2. Need of Project:

802.11-based wireless networks in are proliferating everywhere. It is very common

for users to experience connectivity or performance problems. When they do experience
problems, users often go through a frustrating and disruptive process of manual debugging,
say by tapping on the shoulders of nearby users to compare notes or arbitrarily resetting their
wireless NIC or rebooting their computer. The setting we consider is an infrastructure-based
wireless LAN (WLAN) with access points (AP) providing connectivity to the wired network.
We do not assume or depend on any special capabilities in this infrastructure, which makes
our work applicable in a wide range of WLAN settings. Our key observation is that even if a
host is disconnected (i.e., its wireless link to an AP is not working), the host is often within
the range of other wireless nodes and is in a position to communicate with them (a little)
peer-to-peer. We share network information like APs that hosts are or are not able to connect
to, whether they have been able to obtain an IP address and if so how recently, and whether
they have been experiencing poor performance. Even when the problem is not resolved, we
believe that telling the user the nature of the problem is valuable, as it can significantly
reduce user frustration. For instance, a user who might have otherwise tried fiddling with
his/her computer in the hope of fixing the problem can sit back and do other work if told that
there is a more widespread network problem that is not specific to their computer.
Even when the problem with WLAN is not resolved, we believe that telling the user
the nature of the problem is valuable, as it can significantly reduce user frustration.

3. Project Idea:

We propose a method for communication between the peers through shared

information. And through this information exchange we would possibly resolve the network
problems of that particular peer.

4. Goals and Objectives:

a. To communicate between the wireless nodes within range to create a shared

information plane about the network and other peer's network settings.

b. This information is aggregated and correlated across multiple wireless hosts.

c. The cooperating wireless hosts exchange a range of this information on the timely
basis and uses it whenever it faces problem in network.

d. Monitor the Network health, communicate the network information and using this
information diagnose the problem are the 3 basic goals of WiFi Diagnostic Tool.
 5. Major Constraints:

Finally, WiFi Diagnostic Tool runs the risk of leaking sensitive information. For
example, revealing the one-way hash of a WEP key opens up the possibility of a dictionary
attack on the key. Likewise, revealing the NIC driver version risks inviting attacks that take
advantage of vulnerabilities that are specific to that driver version.

6. Block Diagram:

7.  Basic Implementation: 

WiFi diagnostic tool would comprise of three components namely : 

1. Sensing:
The goal of the sensing component is to make passive observations of the 
network health and the relatively static network configuration information at 
the individual wireless clients.
2. Communication:
The communication component of WiFiProfiler enables a

 wireless client that is experiencing problems (the “requester”) to request and 
obtain network health information from its peers (the “responders”).

3. Diagnosis:

The diagnosis component uses the information aggregated
  from the peer nodes to infer the likely cause of the problem.
In some cases, this component also suggests ways of resolving the problem.
 8.  Virtual NIC: 

Virtual NIC is a very Important part of our Project, as it will be helping us to use single 
Wireless enabled NIC to connect to different peers for exchanging the information about the 
network from one peer without losing the connection with the other peer using the same NIC.
So, we will be implementing Virtual NIC at software level for our project.

9.  Design and Implementation: 

The project will be implemented with three basic blocks:

Sensing: Here, peers will store the Network information in a File which will
be shared with the other peers in network. This information will be created using and
comparing the effective knowledge and information of other peers in the network.

Communication: Here, the stored information about the network and other
network settings in the file at the peer will be communicated with the other peers who
need it at a frequent interval of time(interval will be on the basis of total peers
available in the network).

Diagnosis: Here, the peer will compare the information it has with the
information from other peers it gets in the file and the it will obtain the cause of
problem and diagnose it and, convey the user with proper message whether the
problem is solvable or not.

References:
[1] Ranveer Chandra, Venkata.N.Padmanabhan, Ming Zhang - In WiFiProfiler:
Cooperative Diagnosis in Wireless LANs in MobiSys 2006
[2] Wi-Fi Alliance. http://www.wi-fi.org/.

[3] Wireless/Wired Network Emulator (WiNE)

http://research.microsoft.com/users/qianz/testbed.htm
[4] Wireless Philadelphia Executive Committee. Wireless Philadelphia.
http://www.phila.gov/wireless/.
[5] R. Chandra, V.Bahl .In Connecting to Multiple IEEE 802.11 Networks using
single Wireless Card
[6] 802.11 Wireless Networks- ORielly
[7] W.Richards Stevens. Unix Network Programming.
[8] Wireshark: Network Analyzer
http://www.wireshark.org/