To use the pi as a wifi bridge, a local network or just as a wifi range extender.We at FOSSASIA are using it as a network to connect between our SUSI.AI smart speaker and the Android and IOS devices. Or maybe because you can !! :’)

Requirements:

1. Raspberry Pi Model 3(since we will be using an internal wifi)
2. Power supply for the Pi.
3. Monitor (optional)
4. Keyboard (optional)
5. Mouse (optional)

Steps:

1.Install and upgrade raspbian

 

Sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install

 

2. Install hostapd and dnsmasq .
This will allow us to use our raspberry pi as a wireless access point

 

apt-get remove –purge hostapd -yqq apt-get update -yqq apt-get upgrade -yqq apt-get install hostapd dnsmasq -yqq

 

3. Now we will add broadcasting IP and DNS address in the dnsmasq configuration file

To access the configuration file use:

sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.co

 

And to the bottom of the file, add the following commands

 

interface=wlan0 dhcp-range=10.0.0.2,10.0.0.5,255.255.255.0,12h

 

4. Now to select the SSID and the PASSWORD for the access point, we’ll need to change the configurations of hostapd package

sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

 

Then, use the following commands :

 

interface=wlan0 hw_mode=g channel=10 auth_algs=1 wpa=2 wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK wpa_pairwise=CCMP rsn_pairwise=CCMP wpa_passphrase=“your_broadcasting_password” ssid=“your_broadcasting_ssid” ieee80211n=1 wmm_enabled=1 ht_capab=[HT40][SHORT-GI-20][DSSS_CCK-40]

 

5. To finally sum up the configuration, we’ll have to create a  custom network interface that combines all the settings that we have made.

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

 

And add the following lines it the EOF

allow-hotplug wlan0 iface wlan0 inet static address 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 10.0.0.0 broadcast 10.0.0.255

 

Now, we just have to have to disable default interfaces so that they do not interfere with the custom interfaces that we have made.

To do so

 

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

 

Add the following line at the end of the file

denyinterfaces wlan0

 

6. Now just restart the services

 

systemctl enable hostapd && systemctl enable dnsmasq sudo service hostapd start && sudo service dnsmasq start sudo reboot

 

Now, you will be able to enjoy a self-made access point which is used as a basic mode of connection in SUSI Smart Speaker and can also be used in various other access point methods.

 

References

• https://frillip.com/using-your-raspberry-pi-3-as-a-wifi-access-point-with-hostapd/
• https://github.com/fossasia/susi_linux
• https://learn.adafruit.com/setting-up-a-raspberry-pi-as-a-wifi-access-point/overview

 

Tags

GSOC’18 , FOSSASIA, ACCESS_POINT, SUSI.AI, GSOC, SUSI , SMART_SPEAKER