MT7996 WiFi 7 Router Chip Turned Into Ethernet SDR Receiver
Code published by h0m3us3r streams raw SDR data from the MediaTek MT7996 in the Gemtek W1700K router over Ethernet to a Linux web server.
An implementation that turns the MediaTek MT7996 radio chip in the Gemtek W1700K WiFi 7 router into a software-defined radio receiver has been published. According to Hackaday, code from developer h0m3us3r streams raw SDR data over Ethernet from the router's SoC to a Linux machine running a web server.
The MT7996 supports the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, depending on the device version and the radio chip it carries. In this setup, the captured data can be viewed as WiFi packets in a waterfall display.
On 2.4 GHz, SDR support for ESP32 radios had already been demonstrated, giving hobbyists a low-cost path to raw radio data. The W1700K work applies the same idea to a WiFi 7 router chip and routes the samples over a wired network link.
The published code does not require a separate radio dongle: the router itself acts as the receiver, with the Linux host handling the web interface. Further details and the code are available through Hackaday.
Quick answers
Which chip does this SDR setup use?
It uses the MediaTek MT7996 radio chip inside the Gemtek W1700K WiFi 7 router.
How is the SDR data delivered?
The code streams raw SDR data over Ethernet via the router's SoC to a Linux machine running a web server.
Which frequency bands are supported?
The radio supports 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands depending on the device version and its radio chip.