Waves of Interference 5G lab

The Critical Infrastructure Lab is a now independent research project growing out of the Waves of Interference 5G lab started within IN-SIGHT.it. There, Niels Ten Oever, Maxigas and Fieke Jansen research power and contestation in transnational media infrastructures, focusing on the geopolitical and environmental apsects of standards-setting, straddling academia and civil society.

This started as an indepedent sub-project of IN-SIGHT.it in which Niels ten Oever, Maxigas, and Jeroen de Vos sought to construct critical interpretative frames by analysing governance processes and implementations that make sense of the 5G phenomena and its infrastructural ecology.

To provide this research project with a strong theoretical, technical, and social foundation, they have developed a position paper. Comments on this position paper are very welcome, and we seek to update the document when new insights arise. Previous versions will be stored here as well.

The research had two initial going parts:

1. Examinging social media platforms and website to identify interpetative frames of 5G

Initial work on this has been done during the Digital Methods Initiative Winterschool

2. Constructing experimental 5G networks through a 5G lab

We aim to critically examine different network designs and affordances that become possible through the implementation 5G standards.

We aim to use our findings to make 5G technologies more insightful to a larger audience through visualizations and interactions that inform citizen engagement with standard setting, polticy making, and technology development.

Current project:

Equipment

Hardware

Antennas

Tools

Software

Config


  
### Hardware failure
  - Cheap hardware failure. Lesson learned: do not buy cheap hardware.
  - The ebay OCXO GPSDO failed after two months with:
		  	$ ./sync_to_gps  


	Creating the USRP device with: ...
	[INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 9.3.0; Boost_107100; UHD_3.15.0.0-release
	[INFO] [B200] Detected Device: B210
	[INFO] [B200] Operating over USB 3.
	[INFO] [B200] Detecting internal GPSDO.... 
	[INFO] [GPS] Found a generic NMEA GPS device
	[INFO] [B200] Initialize CODEC control...
	[INFO] [B200] Initialize Radio control...
	[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test... 
	[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
	[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test... 
	[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
	[INFO] [B200] Setting master clock rate selection to 'automatic'.
	[INFO] [B200] Asking for clock rate 16.000000 MHz... 
	[INFO] [B200] Actually got clock rate 16.000000 MHz.
	Using Device: Single USRP:
	  Device: B-Series Device
	  Mboard 0: B210
	  RX Channel: 0
	    RX DSP: 0
	    RX Dboard: A
	    RX Subdev: FE-RX2
	  RX Channel: 1
	    RX DSP: 1
	    RX Dboard: A
	    RX Subdev: FE-RX1
	  TX Channel: 0
	    TX DSP: 0
	    TX Dboard: A
	    TX Subdev: FE-TX2
	  TX Channel: 1
	    TX DSP: 1
	    TX Dboard: A
	    TX Subdev: FE-TX1

	Synchronizing mboard 0: B210

	**************************************Helpful Notes on Clock/PPS Selection**************************************
	As you can see, the default 10 MHz Reference and 1 PPS signals are now from the GPSDO.
	If you would like to use the internal reference(TCXO) in other applications, you must configure that explicitly.
	You can no longer select the external SMAs for 10 MHz or 1 PPS signaling.
	****************************************************************************************************************

	Waiting for reference lock....LOCKED
	[WARNING] [GPS] update_cache: Malformed GPSDO string: $GPGGA,002811.058,0000.0000,N,00000.0000,E,0,00,,,M,,,,0000*09
	[WARNING] [GPS] update_cache: Malformed GPSDO string: $GPGGA,002811.058,0000.0000,N,00000.0000,E,0,00,,,M,,,,0000*09
	[WARNING] [GPS] update_cache: Malformed GPSDO string: $GPGGA,002811.058,0000.0000,N,00000.0000,E,0,00,,,M,,,,0000*09
	[WARNING] [GPS] update_cache: Malformed GPSDO string: $GPGGA,002811.058,0000.0000,N,00000.0000,E,0,00,,,M,,,,0000*09

	Error: ValueError: locked(): unable to determine GPS lock statusThis could mean that you have not installed the GPSDO correctly.

	Visit one of these pages if the problem persists:
	 * N2X0/E1X0: http://files.ettus.com/manual/page_gpsdo.html * X3X0: http://files.ettus.com/manual/page_gpsdo_x3x0.html

	 * E3X0: http://files.ettus.com/manual/page_usrp_e3x0.html#e3x0_hw_gps


   Funny detail: When I ran it the first time the malformed string from the previous GPS DO was apparently still in the cache, causing me to freak out for a moment!! 
   		[WARNING] [GPS] update_cache: Malformed GPSDO string: GPSTCXO, Firmware Rev 0.929b

   Some more detail:  


		$ /lib/uhd/utils/query_gpsdo_sensors   

	[Creating the USRP device with: ...
	INFO] [UHD] linux; GNU C++ version 9.3.0; Boost_107100; UHD_3.15.0.0-release
	[WARNING] [UHD] Unable to set the thread priority. Performance may be negatively affected.
	Please see the general application notes in the manual for instructions.
	EnvironmentError: OSError: error in pthread_setschedparam
	[INFO] [B200] Detected Device: B210
	[INFO] [B200] Operating over USB 3.
	[INFO] [B200] Detecting internal GPSDO.... 
	[INFO] [GPS] Found an internal GPSDO: GPSTCXO, Firmware Rev 0.929b
	[INFO] [B200] Initialize CODEC control...
	[INFO] [B200] Initialize Radio control...
	[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test... 
	[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
	[INFO] [B200] Performing register loopback test... 
	[INFO] [B200] Register loopback test passed
	[INFO] [B200] Setting master clock rate selection to 'automatic'.
	[INFO] [B200] Asking for clock rate 16.000000 MHz... 
	[INFO] [B200] Actually got clock rate 16.000000 MHz.
	Using Device: Single USRP:
	  Device: B-Series Device
	  Mboard 0: B210
	  RX Channel: 0
	    RX DSP: 0
	    RX Dboard: A
	    RX Subdev: FE-RX2
	  RX Channel: 1
	    RX DSP: 1
	    RX Dboard: A
	    RX Subdev: FE-RX1
	  TX Channel: 0
	    TX DSP: 0
	    TX Dboard: A
	    TX Subdev: FE-TX2
	  TX Channel: 1
	    TX DSP: 1
	    TX Dboard: A
	    TX Subdev: FE-TX1

	Setting the reference clock source to "gpsdo"...
	Clock source is now gpsdo
	Setting the reference clock source to "gpsdo"...
	Time source is now gpsdo
	Waiting for ref_locked...USRP Locked to Reference.
	**************************************Helpful Notes on Clock/PPS Selection**************************************
	As you can see, the default 10 MHz Reference and 1 PPS signals are now from the GPSDO.
	If you would like to use the internal reference(TCXO) in other applications, you must configure that explicitly.
	****************************************************************************************************************
	Waiting for the GPSDO to warm up...
	The GPSDO is warmed up and talking.

	GPS does not have lock. Wait a few minutes and try again.
	NMEA strings and device time may not be accurate until lock is achieved.


	Trying to align the device time to GPS time...
	GPS and UHD Device time are aligned.
	last_pps: 1624027114 vs gps: 1624027114.
	Printing available NMEA strings:
	GPS_GPGGA: $GPGGA,143834.00,5221.2515,N,00451.2612,E,0,05,3.2,21.0,M,45.9,M,,*5B 
	GPS_GPRMC: $GPRMC,143834.00,V,5221.2515,N,00451.2612,E,0.2,0.0,180621,,*23 
	GPS Epoch time at last PPS: 1624027115.00000 seconds
	UHD Device time last PPS:   1624027115.00000 seconds
	UHD Device time right now:  1624027115.01646 seconds
	PC Clock time:              1624027112 seconds

	Done! ~~~

Videos

Workshop outline

Acknowledgents