Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Alessandro Bolletta]

Hi,

I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k. 

I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.

No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.

Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?

Thanks in advance,

--
Alessandro Bolletta
Mediaspot Srl




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Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Ben Greear]

On 09/21/2015 12:57 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.
>
> I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.
>
> No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
> Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
> Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.
>
> Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?

You probably need to adjust ack timings.  I have some un-tested firmware
support for this in the CT firmware, but I haven't fully wired it up to
the driver.

Someone with a bit of time and skill could add this to the ath10k
driver if they wanted to.  This commit has some details.

http://dmz2.candelatech.com/?p=linux-4.0.dev.y/.git;a=commit;h=abd3ee5c4d297e56b854864624152f5704c5df20

Thanks,
Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com


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R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Alessandro Bolletta]

Great! 

Ben, could you tell me how to compile CT kernel, for example the 4.2 version, as part of OpenWRT buildroot?

Also, what do you suggest for stability reasons? CT 4.0 or 4.2?

Thanks,
Alessandro

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Ben Greear [mailto:greearb@candelatech.com] 
Inviato: lunedì 21 settembre 2015 22.37
A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>; ath10k@lists.infradead.org
Oggetto: Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

On 09/21/2015 12:57 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.
>
> I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.
>
> No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
> Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
> Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.
>
> Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?

You probably need to adjust ack timings.  I have some un-tested firmware support for this in the CT firmware, but I haven't fully wired it up to the driver.

Someone with a bit of time and skill could add this to the ath10k driver if they wanted to.  This commit has some details.

http://dmz2.candelatech.com/?p=linux-4.0.dev.y/.git;a=commit;h=abd3ee5c4d297e56b854864624152f5704c5df20

Thanks,
Ben

--
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com





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http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/ath10k

Re: R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Ben Greear]

On 09/21/2015 03:18 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Great!
>
> Ben, could you tell me how to compile CT kernel, for example the 4.2 version, as part of OpenWRT buildroot?
>
> Also, what do you suggest for stability reasons? CT 4.0 or 4.2?

4.0 is most stable currently, though the last few days I've been committing a lot
of barely tested code.  Will test this better shortly.

And, sorry, but I don't have time right now to help with making this work with
OpenWrt.  At the least, it is liable to not be trivial.  Search the list for
'CT' + 'OpenWRT' an you may find some help...others have posted patch-sets
for OpenWRT that includes at least many of my patches.


Thanks,
Ben

>
> Thanks,
> Alessandro
>
> -----Messaggio originale-----
> Da: Ben Greear [mailto:greearb@candelatech.com]
> Inviato: lunedì 21 settembre 2015 22.37
> A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>; ath10k@lists.infradead.org
> Oggetto: Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards
>
> On 09/21/2015 12:57 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.
>>
>> I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.
>>
>> No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
>> Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
>> Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.
>>
>> Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?
>
> You probably need to adjust ack timings.  I have some un-tested firmware support for this in the CT firmware, but I haven't fully wired it up to the driver.
>
> Someone with a bit of time and skill could add this to the ath10k driver if they wanted to.  This commit has some details.
>
> http://dmz2.candelatech.com/?p=linux-4.0.dev.y/.git;a=commit;h=abd3ee5c4d297e56b854864624152f5704c5df20
>
> Thanks,
> Ben
>
> --
> Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
> Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com
>
>
>
>


-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com


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R: R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Alessandro Bolletta]

Ok Ben, thanks for you infos.

Just for curiosity: do you think that ath10k could be better in performances than official QCA reference drivers (the same used in proprietary distros as RouterOS, for example)?

Alessandro

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Ben Greear [mailto:greearb@candelatech.com] 
Inviato: martedì 22 settembre 2015 01.19
A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>; ath10k@lists.infradead.org
Oggetto: Re: R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

On 09/21/2015 03:18 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Great!
>
> Ben, could you tell me how to compile CT kernel, for example the 4.2 version, as part of OpenWRT buildroot?
>
> Also, what do you suggest for stability reasons? CT 4.0 or 4.2?

4.0 is most stable currently, though the last few days I've been committing a lot of barely tested code.  Will test this better shortly.

And, sorry, but I don't have time right now to help with making this work with OpenWrt.  At the least, it is liable to not be trivial.  Search the list for 'CT' + 'OpenWRT' an you may find some help...others have posted patch-sets for OpenWRT that includes at least many of my patches.


Thanks,
Ben

>
> Thanks,
> Alessandro
>
> -----Messaggio originale-----
> Da: Ben Greear [mailto:greearb@candelatech.com]
> Inviato: lunedì 21 settembre 2015 22.37
> A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>; 
> ath10k@lists.infradead.org
> Oggetto: Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards
>
> On 09/21/2015 12:57 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.
>>
>> I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.
>>
>> No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
>> Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
>> Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.
>>
>> Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?
>
> You probably need to adjust ack timings.  I have some un-tested firmware support for this in the CT firmware, but I haven't fully wired it up to the driver.
>
> Someone with a bit of time and skill could add this to the ath10k driver if they wanted to.  This commit has some details.
>
> http://dmz2.candelatech.com/?p=linux-4.0.dev.y/.git;a=commit;h=abd3ee5
> c4d297e56b854864624152f5704c5df20
>
> Thanks,
> Ben
>
> --
> Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
> Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com
>
>
>
>


--
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com




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Re: R: R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Ben Greear]

On 09/21/2015 04:20 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Ok Ben, thanks for you infos.
>
> Just for curiosity: do you think that ath10k could be better in performances than official QCA reference drivers (the same used in proprietary distros as RouterOS, for example)?

As far as I know, the 'official' ath10k dev kits use the same firmware that is available
on the public git firmware tree, so probably firmware performance is similar unless some third-party company
has acquired firmware source code and put some considerable effort into it.

My CT firmware is primarily focused on stability and features.  I have not made a lot
of effort to try to optimize speed, though I have had a few people tell me my firmware
was faster, and I don't recall anyone telling me it was slower.  I suspect it is
basically about the same.

Possibly a very recent linux kernel + ath10k driver is more efficient than
reference driver OS's, but I am guessing that would depend greatly on how
the reference OS is tuned for the hardware in question.

I test on x86 primarily, and have plenty of CPU, so I haven't been
worrying too much about CPU resources on the host.


Thanks,
Ben


-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com


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R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Alessandro Bolletta]

Just one more information Ben: this patch introduces ack timing in ath10k, but in order to set it, has it to be triggered manually in debugfs or is it UCI (openwrt) able to set it automatically by his configuration process?

Also, there's a little thing that i'm not understanding: is it the firmware that controls ack timings or is it related to ath10k?

Thanks in advance and please be patient with me, I'm not an expert, but i'd like to be :)

Alessandro 

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: Ben Greear [mailto:greearb@candelatech.com] 
Inviato: lunedì 21 settembre 2015 22.37
A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>; ath10k@lists.infradead.org
Oggetto: Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

On 09/21/2015 12:57 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.
>
> I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.
>
> No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
> Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
> Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.
>
> Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?

You probably need to adjust ack timings.  I have some un-tested firmware support for this in the CT firmware, but I haven't fully wired it up to the driver.

Someone with a bit of time and skill could add this to the ath10k driver if they wanted to.  This commit has some details.

http://dmz2.candelatech.com/?p=linux-4.0.dev.y/.git;a=commit;h=abd3ee5c4d297e56b854864624152f5704c5df20

Thanks,
Ben

--
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com





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ath10k mailing list
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http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/ath10k

Re: R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Ben Greear]

On 09/22/2015 02:09 PM, Alessandro Bolletta wrote:
> Just one more information Ben: this patch introduces ack timing in ath10k, but in order to set it, has it to be triggered manually in debugfs or is it UCI (openwrt) able to set it automatically by his configuration process?
>
> Also, there's a little thing that i'm not understanding: is it the firmware that controls ack timings or is it related to ath10k?
>
> Thanks in advance and please be patient with me, I'm not an expert, but i'd like to be :)

debugfs hooks need to be written in ath10k driver to poke the firmware.
Then, openwrt would need to know how to set the value through debugfs.

Maybe someone in openwrt can work with me to get this working sometime soon.

Thanks,
Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com


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R: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

[Alessandro Bolletta]

Hi Marcel,
have you ported CT kernel commits in OpenWRT buildroot, or are you running it in a full blown distro?

--
Alessandro Bolletta
Mediaspot Srl



Da: Marcel H. [mailto:maco@blava.net] 
Inviato: martedì 22 settembre 2015 22.48
A: Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net>
Cc: ath10k@lists.infradead.org
Oggetto: Re: Link can't get estabilished over RB911AC boards

Had the very same problem with my install. Ct's 4.0 kernel with their community 15 beta firmware sorted the issue. 

On Monday, 21 September 2015, Alessandro Bolletta <alessandro@mediaspot.net> wrote:
Hi,

I have two Mikrotik RB911AC boards (radio based on QCA9882) in which I injected OpenWRT 15.05 and ath10k.

I managed to get them connected in AP/STA configuration in a very short (2 meters) distance, but when I try to connect them on 5 kilometers, even if I set the distance parameter on OpenWRT's UCI config files properly, it tries to connect but after 3 retries, it declares unauthenticated.

No problem with the same firmware on ath9k, for example.
Signal is stable at -62 dbm, I also tried to change channels and push tx power, but nothing helped to do the trick.
Also tried with every firmware combination (10.2.4, CT firmware, 999.999.0.636, 10.1.467.2-1), without success.

Is there anybody who can tell me why? Could it be due to the kernel version (i'm running on 3.18.21)?

Thanks in advance,

--
Alessandro Bolletta
Mediaspot Srl




_______________________________________________
ath10k mailing list
ath10k@lists.infradead.org
http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/ath10k


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