Generate WLAN traffic under Linux for EMC measurements

[davorin]

Hello

Has someone a good idea how I could generate traffic on an embedded Linux platform with built-in WLAN adapter?

There can't be another WLAN adapter where traffic is going through....just send out in the air (o;

[nctnico]

A static IP address for the WLAN adapter and ping. As root you can set the rate and payload of pings.

[Karel]

Indeed, ping is the simplest solution. Do a "man ping" for details.

For example: ping -s 800 -i 0.2

Only root can set interval less than 0.2 seconds. As root you can also use the -f option (flood).

[davorin]

Well I'm not sure if there will be traffic if the WLAN adapter isn't connected to an AP...

[moya034]

Well I'm not sure if there will be traffic if the WLAN adapter isn't connected to an AP...

If you have it in ad-hoc mode, perhaps there is a setting to decrease the interval where it announces it's presence to the rest of the world.

[mich41]

I think ping in ad-hoc mode may work, provided that you add a static arp entry for the address being pinged.

Another option - start hostapd if AP mode is available. This will broadcast beacon frames and will be usable with ping.

If monitor mode is available, you can also try some of those various tools which employ frame injection.

EDIT:
And of course I'm stupid, because the easiest way is to trigger scanning, which typically is active and sends a bunch of probe packets. I think requesting association with some unavailable SSID also sends a few probe packets for this SSID before giving up.