Add: OpenBCI Wifi direct to Laptop/Phone

[andrewjaykeller]

Directly connect the OpenBCI to a laptop with WIFI instead of going through a router.

Some university and hospital WIFI networks might be difficult work with.

Please +1 if you're interested!

[pawelngei]

By "direct" do you mean with the shield being the AP?

[andrewjaykeller]

Yes exactly!

[pawelngei]

I think this would be the easiest option for end-users to work with the AP and would vastly simplify the setup. If you want I can ask some neuro-researchers I know.

[andrewjaykeller]

great! I will plan to add this in the first software update 1.1.0!

Thanks @pawelchojnacki I'm so excited to simply your experience. For now, keep in mind you may use a cell phone hotspot to create a little local network that will allow your computer to still have internet access while at the same time give a simple setup. I heard you had trouble finding the device on the network, the new GUI will be released soon which uses SSDP to discover the device on the network.

[pawelngei]

My problem was with network sharding, where Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw created subnets where participants weren't able to see each other.

Please keep in mind that some phones have a hard limitation to allow only one machine to connect to its network, and tethering the internet to the PC over the wire may put it in a different subnet as well.

[andrewjaykeller]

Never knew that about the phones, I have an iPhone that allows multiple wireless connections.

That's also really fascinating to hear about the way you were on the same network and you couldn't take to a device within that same network. SSDP is the same protocol printers use so something is not right here, if you're on the same network you should be able to broadcast search for it. None the less, makes this issue more important.

[pawelngei]

Some places (like conference centers) deliberately block you from seeing other parts of the network / other guests to limit the possibility of scamming / MITM attacks. I think it can be a frequent problem when showcasing OpenBCI at different hackathons / conferences.

EDIT: Wifi Client Isolation

[andrewjaykeller]

Hey this is in progress! If you checkout the dev branch here, there is wifi direct code in the examples/WifiShield_TCPUDP/WifiShield_TCPUDP and the connection proposal is on a flow chart on google drive

[jnaulty]

@aj-ptw I think this issue should be closed since you merged: #57 for direct wifi