USB 2.0 over 2.4 GHz WiFi

[dirac16]

What are the challenges in establishing a wireless USB connection? Say I want to connect a USB 2.0 stick to a remote PC over WiFi. For this purpose I need to plug the USB stick into a device that takes in USB data and converts them to radio waves and sends them over WiFi to the remote WiFi-enabled PC. There is also some kind of software that should be written in to the PC that would allow us to convert the radio signals back to USB signals as if the USB stick were directly plugged into a USB port of the PC. I know there might be some commercial products available out there that exactly does the job. But I want to think of it in my own way and try to make one if possible. Please tell me about the limitations and other challenges that I need to deal with.

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

My idea: Raspberry Pi, with Linux.
This is my way.

But you talk about "your own way".
Thus I'm confused: If I tell you may way, it is not your own way.

So what is your way, your idea?

Klaus

 

[dirac16]

Hi,

My idea: Raspberry Pi, with Linux.
This is my way.

But you talk about "your own way".
Thus I'm confused: If I tell you may way, it is not your own way.

So what is your way, your idea?

Klaus

Hi clause, yeah I had a similar idea. I wanted to use STM32Fxxx with a USB interface. But that adds extra costs to my project because I would need to buy an extra MCU with USB interface capabilities in addition to a WiFi module.

 

[KlausST]

Hi,

Now I'm even more confused.
How comes STM32xxx into play now? As USB host or USB device?

I need a sketch of your idea.

Klaus

 

[dirac16]

Hi,

Now I'm even more confused.
How comes STM32xxx into play now? As USB host or USB device?

I need a sketch of your idea.

Klaus

Sorry for the confusion. I want to use STM32 as a USB host and the USB stick as a device. The MCU then reads the USB stick data and sends the data over WiFi to the remote PC. Maybe that is not a good way to do it but that is my initial idea. The reason I am doing this is because a standard wired USB connection requires timing constraints, precise clocks, etc. that makes a wireless USB connection a bit challenging, so that is why I want the STM to do all the stuff for me and then I send the data received by the STM to the PC.

There should be a better and yet simpler way to do that. I don't know if it's possible to relay the USB data over WiFi without involving any MCU host.

--- Updated Dec 4, 2022 ---

Here's a picture that shows my idea.

 

[erikl]

As you seem to rely on a WiFi connection anyway, why not simply approve a WiFi connection between the USB host and the PC receiver? In most environments you can negotiate a send-only/receive-only connection, or which host device may be accessed by the PC recipient, if necessary.

Wouldn't be your own & unique way, of course.

 

[dirac16]

As you seem to rely on a WiFi connection anyway, why not simply approve a WiFi connection between the USB host and the PC receiver? In most environments you can negotiate a send-only/receive-only connection, or which host device may be accessed by the PC recipient, if necessary.

Wouldn't be your own & unique way, of course.

But doesn't that approach look redundant to you? I have seen some solutions that were tried before. What they did was to put USB packets on TCP/IP payloads and send them over to the destination, and then at the destination convert the TCP/IP payloads back to USB packets. A Virtual Host Controller Interface was also needed to fool the PC's host controller into thinking that the data came from a locally-attached device. Do you think this method is 100% reliable?

 

[erikl]

But doesn't that approach look redundant to you? ... Do you think this method is 100% reliable?

I think it's the simplest method. Until now, you didn't talk about reliability. In my experience, host authorization & recipient's access limitation over WiFi is a reliable technique. And should you worry about data security: you can always send documents with password encryption, or encrypt all data of the USB host stick and authorize the recipient for decryption.