Routing traffic on a loop

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I have two Ethernet to RF transmitters that I am trying to stress test. I need to send a message over Radio A, receive it on Radio B, check that the sent message and the received message are the same, and then repeat the process in reverse. My problem is I only have 1 computer(windows 7 OS) with 1 Network Interface Card, and a router. As I am now if I try to send a message to myself, lets say 192.168.0.100, it doesn't leave my computer. I know that is how it is supposed to work, but I am unsure of how to change it. I can't use two computers because the tests will run for several days a piece and I don't have a second computer I can get hold of for days on end.

Zillakon

Posted 2014-02-24T22:34:37.997

Reputation: 101

Connect the router to the other end of the RF link and ping it. – David Schwartz – 2014-02-24T23:18:16.183

Answers

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You might be able to rig up something like this:

  • Install first Ethernet-to-RF adapter on computer. Disable wireless on your laptop.

  • Find out what the router's IP is, connect second Ethernet-to-RF adapter on one the router's LAN ports.

  • See if you can get DHCP over that.

  • Ping your router's IP address continously (ping -t from Windows). The router's IP will be the default gateway as shown in ipconfig from a cmd.exe window.

  • You should be getting Internet over it. You can stress test anyway you like, i.e. watch a Netflix movie over it, seed via Bittorrent your favorite Linux distro, etc. If you need precise data or exact numbers, you'll need a second system outside of your network that you can run a tool like iperf on.

If sending specific sequences of bytes to and from the adapters is critical for testing, no way around that without a second computer, unfortunately.

LawrenceC

Posted 2014-02-24T22:34:37.997

Reputation: 63 487

Unfortunately sending specific sequences is important. Do you have any experience with USB to Ethernet Adapters? From what I have been researching it seems I can give the adapter its own IP address and so I can route all traffic out my actual Ethernet port and read it in on the usb port. – Zillakon – 2014-02-28T17:01:37.853

You're basically creating a situation equivalent to where you'd need a crossover cable here. Not sure if you need to do something to your Ethernet-to-RF adapters for that. As far as the USB to Ethernet adapter, it works like any other NIC and should appear in ncpa.cpl under Windows or ifconfig under Linux. Just manually assign a static IP to the USB Ethernet adapter, make sure it's in the same subnet and that the subnet mask is the same, and leave DNS settings blank. – LawrenceC – 2014-02-28T17:52:13.443

Asked: 2014-02-24T22:34:37.997

Viewed: 42 times

Active: 2014-02-24T23:16:00.393