Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] (GSoC) MIMO stuff in GNU Radio

[Martin Braun]

On 02/20/2014 04:01 AM, YiZiRui Zhou wrote:
> Hi Martin,
> 
> Thanks for your advice. 
> 
> Although it is not so clear, I have some elementary ideas on this
> project and I'm on it now. On the other hand, I will keep an eye on the
> GSoC 2014. Thus, I want to know is there any way to discuss these ideas
> with potential mentor(s)? How do I know if anyone is interested in it?
> Anyway, I'll go on with this project no matter whether it is accepted or
> not. Of course, If it could be involved in GSoC, that would be great.

Nice to hear!

DISCLAIMER: We have not been accepted (yet?) as mentoring org for GSoC.
This is all speculative!

To clarify, our mentors are all volunteers, which means we can't assign
any mentor a project if he or she doesn't like it. This means that
project proposals might get declined, even if they're very good, simply
because we can't find a mentor. Also, not everyone can sign up as
mentor, which means that the mentor will always be limited.

On the other side, I do not want to punish people like you, who are
being proactive and creative, which is a key feature we are looking for
in students.

That said, we have never, ever been in the situation where we had to
decline a student because of the proposal content. Last year, the top 5
proposals were all for projects that already had a mentor. A really
great proposal would probably be easy to sell to a mentor, because it
reduces the risk of having to micromanage a lot (read: we prefer good
proposals for new ideas rather than bad proposals for or own ideas).

You're in a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, here: You need a mentor
to discuss the proposal with, but you first need to get someone excited
enough to potentially be a mentor.

Here's my suggestion: Read *all* there is on GSoC wiki pages on GNU
Radio, including old proposals (but don't follow them to the letter,
just use them as inspiration). Whip up something, and post it on the
list. You've already got something going for you: You're early.

Now, as with all list traffic, there's no guarantee for you that someone
will help you. But sticking to list netiquette helps a lot.

Martin