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AR9300 calibration problems with antenna selected

PATCH In review Krzysztof Hałasa 4 participants 6 messages Nov 15, 2016 – Nov 21, 2016 1 message not in the archive

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Networking Network drivers Qualcomm Atheros ATH9K wireless driver
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Krzysztof Hałasa

author
#0 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 AR9300 calibration problems with antenna selected

Hi,

I recently tried to select a single antenna on AR9300 and it works for 30 seconds only. The subsequent calibration makes the RX signal level to drop from the usual -30/-40 dBm to -70/-80 dBm, and the transmission practically stops.

With the attached patch it works, though selecting the antenna doesn't seem to have any visible effect, at least with "iw wlanX station dump" (perhaps it works for TX).

I'm using ad-hoc mode:

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2
ip link set up dev wlan0
iw dev wlan0 set bitrates legacy-2.4 18
iw dev wlan0 ibss join nameXXX freqYYY
ip addr add ZZZ broadcast + dev wlan0

The card in question is Mikrotik (Routerboard) R11e-2HPnD mPCIe adapter:
AR9580 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01), ID 168c:0033, subsystem 19b6:d016.
ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9300 Rev:4 mem=0xc0f40000, irq=334
https://routerboard.com/R11e-2HPnD

Linux 4.9.0-rc5.

Is there a better way?

Signed-off-by Krzysztof Halasa <[email protected]>
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c +1 -1
index e9f32b5..7f17e5d 100644
@@ -2245,7 +2245,7 @@ static int ath9k_set_antenna(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, u32 tx_ant, u32 rx_ant)
 		return 0;
 
 	/* AR9100 runs into calibration issues if not all rx chains are enabled */
-	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah))
+	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah) || AR_SREV_9300(ah))
 		ah->rxchainmask = 0x7;
 	else
 		ah->rxchainmask = fill_chainmask(ah->caps.rx_chainmask, rx_ant);
Signature · 4 lines
Krzysztof Halasa

Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements PIAP
Al. Jerozolimskie 202, 02-486 Warsaw, Poland
#1 lore raw
Quoted 40 lines · Krzysztof

Hi,

I recently tried to select a single antenna on AR9300 and it works for 30 seconds only. The subsequent calibration makes the RX signal level to drop from the usual -30/-40 dBm to -70/-80 dBm, and the transmission practically stops.

With the attached patch it works, though selecting the antenna doesn't seem to have any visible effect, at least with "iw wlanX station dump" (perhaps it works for TX).

I'm using ad-hoc mode:

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2
ip link set up dev wlan0
iw dev wlan0 set bitrates legacy-2.4 18
iw dev wlan0 ibss join nameXXX freqYYY
ip addr add ZZZ broadcast + dev wlan0

The card in question is Mikrotik (Routerboard) R11e-2HPnD mPCIe adapter:
AR9580 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01), ID 168c:0033, subsystem 19b6:d016.
ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9300 Rev:4 mem=0xc0f40000, irq=334
https://routerboard.com/R11e-2HPnD

Linux 4.9.0-rc5.

Is there a better way?

Signed-off-by Krzysztof Halasa <[email protected]>
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c +0 -0
index e9f32b5..7f17e5d 100644

drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c static int ath9k_set_antenna(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, u32 tx_ant, u32 rx_ant) · line 2251

Quoted 8 lines
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c +1 -1
@@ -2245,7 +2245,7 @@ static int ath9k_set_antenna(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, u32 tx_ant, u32 rx_ant)
 		return 0;
 
 	/* AR9100 runs into calibration issues if not all rx chains are enabled */
-	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah))
+	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah) || AR_SREV_9300(ah))
 		ah->rxchainmask = 0x7;
 	else
 		ah->rxchainmask = fill_chainmask(ah->caps.rx_chainmask, rx_ant);

I'll assume this is an RFC patch. Please resubmit if this is the right approach.

Patch set to RFC.

Signature · 6 lines
https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9429263/

Documentation about submitting wireless patches and checking status
from patchwork:

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches
#2 lore raw
In reply to Krzysztof Hałasa
Quoted 40 lines · Krzysztof

Hi,

I recently tried to select a single antenna on AR9300 and it works for 30 seconds only. The subsequent calibration makes the RX signal level to drop from the usual -30/-40 dBm to -70/-80 dBm, and the transmission practically stops.

With the attached patch it works, though selecting the antenna doesn't seem to have any visible effect, at least with "iw wlanX station dump" (perhaps it works for TX).

I'm using ad-hoc mode:

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2
ip link set up dev wlan0
iw dev wlan0 set bitrates legacy-2.4 18
iw dev wlan0 ibss join nameXXX freqYYY
ip addr add ZZZ broadcast + dev wlan0

The card in question is Mikrotik (Routerboard) R11e-2HPnD mPCIe adapter:
AR9580 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01), ID 168c:0033, subsystem 19b6:d016.
ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9300 Rev:4 mem=0xc0f40000, irq=334
https://routerboard.com/R11e-2HPnD

Linux 4.9.0-rc5.

Is there a better way?

Signed-off-by Krzysztof Halasa <[email protected]>
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c +0 -0
index e9f32b5..7f17e5d 100644

drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c static int ath9k_set_antenna(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, u32 tx_ant, u32 rx_ant) · line 2251

Quoted 8 lines
drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/main.c +1 -1
@@ -2245,7 +2245,7 @@ static int ath9k_set_antenna(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, u32 tx_ant, u32 rx_ant)
 		return 0;
 
 	/* AR9100 runs into calibration issues if not all rx chains are enabled */
-	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah))
+	if (AR_SREV_9100(ah) || AR_SREV_9300(ah))
 		ah->rxchainmask = 0x7;
 	else
 		ah->rxchainmask = fill_chainmask(ah->caps.rx_chainmask, rx_ant);

I'll assume this is an RFC patch. Please resubmit if this is the right approach.

Patch set to RFC.

Signature · 6 lines
https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9429263/

Documentation about submitting wireless patches and checking status
from patchwork:

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches

A message that is not in the archive (sent off-list or not yet received): [email protected]

#4 lore raw

I would prefer that you didn't submit this.

Quoted 10 lines

I recently tried to select a single antenna on AR9300 and it works for 30 seconds only. The subsequent calibration makes the RX signal level to drop from the usual -30/-40 dBm to -70/-80 dBm, and the transmission practically stops.

With the attached patch it works, though selecting the antenna doesn't seem to have any visible effect, at least with "iw wlanX station dump" (perhaps it works for TX).

Quoted 6 lines

I'm using ad-hoc mode:

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2

2 is a bad mask. We use bitmap, the valid masks are 1, 3, 7.

--
Miaoqing

author
#5 lore raw
Quoted 6 lines · [email protected] writes:
Quoted 4 lines

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2

2 is a bad mask. We use bitmap, the valid masks are 1, 3, 7.

Thanks for your response.

I have two antenna connections (and a single antenna). Is it possible to select the secondary antenna connector only? How?

Signature · 4 lines
Krzysztof Halasa

Industrial Research Institute for Automation and Measurements PIAP
Al. Jerozolimskie 202, 02-486 Warsaw, Poland
#6 lore raw
Quoted 7 lines · Krzysztof Ha?asa
Quoted 5 lines · miaoqing at codeaurora.org
Quoted 4 lines

rmmod ath9k
modprobe ath9k
iw dev wlan0 set type ibss
iw phy phyX set antenna 2

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 1 line

2 is a bad mask. We use bitmap, the valid masks are 1, 3, 7.

Thanks for your response.

I have two antenna connections (and a single antenna). Is it possible to select the secondary antenna connector only? How?

No this is not really possible.
We have been playing around with this two, three years ago with this. There are just too many things which rely on chain0
Noise calibration, DFS, Temperature measurement, Spectrum measurement are just a few of the things I remember which don't work realiably anymore. See [1] for more.

BR
Matthias

[1]
http://ath9k-devel.ath9k.narkive.com/QZcobwy1/ath9k-deaf-qca9558-when-setting-rxchainmask#post1