OpenWrt Access Point (AP) mini project

Noor Hadi
Abstract
Currently, digital services used by individuals at home, office and other places are deployed and delivered over the
Internet and wireless connectivity. However, using regular access points (APs) from different venders will negatively
affect the heterogeneous application flows. This project presents an Access Point prototype that able to deliver data in
a fast and smooth way while supporting a high throughput. OpenWrt operating system will be used to configure the
AP code to shape transiting network traffic appropriately.
1. Introduction
In the next future, homes, small offices and other places will use the wireless connectivity extensively to support a
wide range of devices like personal computers, games consoles, smart TVs, and other appliances. Sharing files,
browsing the internet, streaming video and audio, VoIP applications, and online games are an example of connectivity-
based multimedia services that run simultaneously by users [1]. Wi-Fi technology it’s not one-size-fits-all, small house
or office with a low number of users typically have fewer Wi-Fi routers comparing to large space office that has heaver
traffic [2].
The access point is one solution that can be used to create a wireless local area network that can cover a wide range
of large buildings. The AP connected to the router, switch, or hub via an Ethernet cable and provided a Wi-Fi signal
for a specific area. As an example, extended the signal range in a wide place can be done by adding access points and
connect it via Ethernet cable with the nearest router [3].

In this project, the OpenWrt operating system will be used to configure a TP-LINK TL-WR740N router as an access
point that extend a network that has complete infrastructure. The report structured as follows. Section 2, explains the
OpenWrt features. The used equipment is presented in Section 3, while the configuration preparation steps are shown
in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 concludes this project report.

2. OpenWrt operating system features

The used OS represents an open-source system based on Linux designed for embedded devices, and it provides an
entirely writable file system with package management [4]. In that sense, OpenWrt is not firmware, but it is a fully
editable operating system that can installed on a variety of devices. Because of that, developers can customize the
device by using different packages that suit any particular need instead of relying on the firmware profile provided by
vendors.
OpenWrt may not be the friendly firmware that can be used by the end-user. However, depending on the provided
feature set in addition to the main packages, it can be used as such sometimes [4]. Therefore, OpenWrt used to extend
the network that already has a router, access control, and DHCP in place by creating Access Points (APs).
3. Experimental equipment used for the project
In this project, a TP-LINK TL-WR740N v4.23 router is used (see figure 1). According to [5][6], this router has a 2.4
GHz Wi-Fi networks, which represents the most commonly used frequency. Also, it is compatible with the standards
of IEEE 802.11b/g/n, and the maximum speed of this router is 150 Mbps. TL-WR740N powered by Atheros AR9330
rev 1 CPU 400 MHz chipset with 32 MB RAM and 4 MB internal flash. It has 4 LAN ports and 1 WAN port with a
maximum speed of 100 Mbps.
Fig. 1. TP-LINK TL-WR740N v4.23 router
4. Preparing the Access Point Device
Before starting the installation process, we must ensure that the OpenWrt system supports this router (TP-Link TL-
WR740N). By using the table of hardware posted on OpenWrt website and search for the selected router, I found that
the router is compatible with OpenWrt [7]. Figure 2 shows how to download the current version of the OpenWrt
firmware for the TL-WR740N v4.23.

Fig. 2. TP-LINK TL-WR740N v4.23 OpenWrt firmware [7]

The installation performed by using the TP-LINK firmware primary web user interface like flashing an update of a
new version of the original TP-LINK firmware. The Wi-Fi interface should be turned off before the installation, as
recommended by [5]. Hence, the wireless interface will be disabled by default at the first boot of the OpenWrt system.
The Ethernet cable will be used to login to the router by plugging it into one of the Ethernet ports (not the WAN port).
Figure 3 shows the login interface that reached by using the web browser and entering the default OpenWrt IP, which
is 192.168.1.1. It is recommended to set a password for the root account to protect the web interface and enable SSH
connection.

Fig. 3. OpenWrt interface

An overview about the router included the OpenWrt firmware version and the device model and architecture and more
shows in figure 4.

Fig. 4. OpenWrt system status

4.1. Configure the AP using web interface (LUCI)
The configuration process starts with connecting the AP to a computer through an Ethernet cable to access the
OpenWrt interface by using the web browser. As mentioned in the system website that the default address for the
OpenWrt user interface after installation is 192.168.1.1 [7]. Through the Network menu, select the Interfaces tab to
configure the LAN port. The LAN IP address will be 192.168.1.2 because the main router used in this project holds
the address 192.168.1.1. Setting the gateway and the DNS that point to the main router will enable the internet access
for the AP (see figure 5).

Fig. 5. LAN interface configuration

DHCP should be disabled by checking the "Ignore interface" for the LAN interface, because the main router will
provide the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for the network. Also, everything in "IPv6 Settings" should be set
to disabled (see figure 6).

Fig. 6. DHCP server setting

The following features firewall, dnsmasq, and odhcpd will be disabled from the Startup tab located in the System
menu (see figure 7).
Fig. 6. Enable or disable installed scripts
Wireless network enabled and all the required configuration such as Operating frequency, Transmit Power, Mode,
SSID, and the wireless security is set as shown in figure 7. Finally, save and apply all the above configuration and
restart the router. Checking if the settings for the LAN interface are saved by going to http://192.168.1.2 (or whatever
IP address you defined). Connect one of the AP LAN ports to any LAN port on the main router through the Ethernet
cable, and the AP will provide internet access for the users.

Fig. 7. Wireless network configuration

Conclusion
This project discussed one of the major problems that faced network infrastructures, which is the high demand for
using wireless connectivity to reach internet resources. The proposed solution has been performed in OpenWrt on an
original AP from TP-LINK (TL-WR740N v4.23) to create a new access point prototype that can extend a network has
a complete infrastructure.
The work can be extended in various ways. Firstly, comparing the efficiency of the new operating system OpenWrt
with the original firmware of TP-Link that installed at the same router. Using a modern routers that have high
specifications such as CPU, RAM and Flash because the used router is considered old version with low specifications.
References
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