home 
wiki
wiki
HardwareDatabase
The old Hardware Database was hopeless at helping people find a device based on a set of criteria. We need a database type application that is able to store all relevant details about various pieces of hardware in an easy to manage (but technically correct) fashion.Lets start by defining a database schema to store information about various wireless devices. If you know about how wireless devices are put together and know a little about database design, then please help by contributing to the schema design and discussion.
For the time being use this Hardware-Template to create wiki pages for hardware your reviewing. Just switch to edit mode on the page and copy the
content to the clipboard, then paste it into a new page.
TABLES
Hardware
*devicegeneration (ie 802.11b/g/c) Secondary Primary Key
manufacturer
chipset
antenna_connector
comments
rx_sens
tx_pwr
FOREIGN KEY generation REFERENCES TABLE Generation
FOREIGN KEY manufacturer REFERENCES TABLE Manufacturer
FOREIGN KEY chipset REFERENCES TABLE Chipset
Manufacturer
*manufacturerwebsite
comments
Chipset
*chipsetgeneration
manufacturer
driver_location_1
driver_location_2
comments
FOREIGN KEY manufacturer REFERENCES TABLE Manufacturer
FOREIGN KEY generation REFERENCES TABLE Generation
Generation
*802.11?frequency
TX_RX_speed_1
TX_RX_speed_2
TX_RX_speed_3
TX_RX_speed_4
max_txpower
comments
gen-device-table
*device*supported_generation
FOREIGN KEY device REFERENCES TABLE Hardware
FOREIGN KEY supported_generation REFERENCES TABLE Generation
connection_type
*device*type (usb/pci/eth/firewire)
FOREIGN KEY device REFERENCES TABLE Hardware
OS_support
*device*OS
FOREIGN KEY device REFERENCES TABLE Hardware
same as
*manufacturer*device
(* = primary key)
Discussion
- There are lots of potential flaws in the schema as it stands -- TysonClugg
- Devices such as the
Avaya AP-3 with dual slot architecture make schema design more difficult than I had initially imagined -- TysonClugg - Maybe just use the "features/comments" field in the Hardware table to put something in about the more exotic stuff. Or it might be reasonable to increase the number of fields for the various 802.11x flavours. I can't see there being hardware that would support more than 2 standards at the moment, so perhaps have a main mode and a secondary and add a "modes/standards" table that we can easily add new standards to.
- Supported_OS might be a bit ambitious, I can think of 4 without going into the various windows/mac flavours, trying to keep it simple.
- for devices that support multiple standards (ie the Avaya AP3) we could have multiple entries for the same device, just with a secondary primary key (generation) that differentiates between the 2, can you do that? This does introduce redundant information though.
- I'm getting my head around many to many relationships. So far this is a bit simplistic. -- Matt
- Didn't notice a field for model code / marketing code eg dlink 900ap or 900ap - Peter
- The hardware schema does not allow for someone wanting to buy / sell an antenna. -- Andrew L
I think it would work better by abstracting the 'radio' from hardware.
This way we can support : plain cards(just a radio entry), router units (hardware with potentially multiple radios, removable cards), and non-radio devices like antennas.
Comments welcome! -- Tom Fifield
Version 40 (current) modified Mon, 26 Jul 2021 12:49:29 +0000
[EditText] [Spelling] [Current] [Raw] [Code] [Diff] [Subscribe] [VersionHistory] [Revert] [Delete] [RecentChanges]