xref: /openwifi/doc/app_notes/frequent_trick.md (revision a7346801b61f871223d4bb5a6f4f47e920df7b4a)
1Some usual/frequent control trick over the openwifi FPGA. You need to do these controls on board in the openwifi directory.
2
3[[CCA LBT threshold and disable](#CCA-LBT-threshold-and-disable)]
4[[Retransmission and ACK control](#Retransmission-and-ACK-control)]
5[[NAV DIFS EIFS CW disable and enable](#NAV-DIFS-EIFS-CW-disable-and-enable)]
6[[CW max and min config](#CW-max-and-min-config)]
7
8[[Rx gain config](#Rx-gain-config)]
9[[Tx power config](#Tx-power-config)]
10[[Tx Lo and port config](#Tx-Lo-and-port-config)]
11[[Antenna selection](#Antenna-selection)]
12[[Restrict the frequency](#Restrict-the-frequency)]
13[[Receiver sensitivity control](#Receiver-sensitivity-control)]
14
15[[Tx rate config](#Tx-rate-config)]
16[[Arbitrary Tx IQ sample](#Arbitrary-Tx-IQ-sample)]
17
18## CCA LBT threshold and disable
19
20In normal operation, different threshold is set to FPGA according to the different calibration of different frequency/channel by driver automatically. Show the current LBT threshold in FPGA:
21```
22./set_lbt_th.sh
23```
24"reg  val: 00000086" means the current threshold is 134 (86 in Hex). Its unit is rssi_half_db. Check rssi_half_db_to_rssi_dbm()/rssi_dbm_to_rssi_half_db() in sdr.c to see the relation to rssi dBm.
25
26Override a new threshold -NNdBm to FPGA, for example -70dBm:
27```
28./set_lbt_th.sh 70
29```
30Above will disable the automatic CCA threshold setting from the openwifi driver.
31
32Recover the driver automatic control on the threshold:
33```
34./set_lbt_th.sh 0
35```
36Disable the CCA by setting a very strong level as threshold, for example -1dBm:
37```
38./set_lbt_th.sh 1
39```
40After above command, the CCA engine will always believe the channel is idle, because the rx signal strength not likely could exceed -1dBm.
41
42## Retransmission and ACK control
43
44The best way of override the maximum number of re-transmission for a Tx packet is doing it in the driver openwifi_tx() function.
45```
46retry_limit_hw_value = ( retry_limit_raw==0?0:((retry_limit_raw - 1)&0xF) );
47```
48Override retry_limit_hw_value to 0 to disable re-transmission. Override it to 1 means that let FPGA do maximum 1 time re-transmission.
49
50The FPGA also has a register to override the re-transmission and ACK behavior. Check the current register value.
51```
52./sdrctl dev sdr0 get reg xpu 11
53```
54When operate this register, make sure you only change the relevant bits and leave other bits untouched, because other bits have other purposes. Also check the xpu register 11 in the [project document](../README.md)
55
56To override the maximum number of re-transmission, set bit3 to 1, and set the value (0 ~ 7) to bit2 ~ 0. Example, override the maximum number of re-transmission to 1
57```
58./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg xpu 11 9
59```
60
619 in binary form is 01001.
62
63To disable the ACK TX after receiving a packet, set bit4 to 1. (Assume we want to preserve the above re-transmission overriding setting)
64```
65./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg xpu 11 25
66```
67
6825 in binary form is 11001. the 1001 of bit3 to 1 is untouched.
69
70Disabling ACK TX might be useful for monitor mode and packet injection.
71
72To disable the ACK RX after sending a packet, set bit5 to 1.
73
74## NAV DIFS EIFS CW disable and enable
75
76To check the current NAV/DIFS/EIFS/CW disable status, just run
77```
78./nav_disable.sh
79./difs_disable.sh
80./eifs_disable.sh
81./cw_disable.sh
82```
83If NAV is disabled, the openwifi will always assume the NAV (Network Allocation Vector) is already counting down to 0. If DIFS/EIFS is disabled, when the CSMA engine needs to wait for DIFS/EIFS, it won't wait anymore. If CW is disabled, the contention window is fixed to 0, and there won't be any number of slots for random backoff procedure. To disable them, just input 1 as the script argument.
84```
85./nav_disable.sh 1
86./difs_disable.sh 1
87./eifs_disable.sh 1
88./cw_disable.sh 1
89```
90To enable them, just input 0 as the script argument.
91```
92./nav_disable.sh 0
93./difs_disable.sh 0
94./eifs_disable.sh 0
95./cw_disable.sh 0
96```
97
98## CW max and min config
99
100When the openwifi NIC bring up (as AP/Client/ad-hoc/etc), Linux will configure the CW (Contention Window) max and min value for FPGA queue 3 ~ 0 via openwifi_conf_tx() in the openwifi driver. You can check the current CW configuration in FPGA (set by Linux).
101```
102./cw_max_min_cfg.sh
103```
104It will show sth like
105```
106FPGA  cw max min for q3 to q0: 1023 15; 63 15; 15 7; 7 3
107FPGA  cw max min for q3 to q0: a4644332
108```
109The CW max and min for q3 ~ 0  are a4, 64, 43, 32 (in hex). Example explanation for q3: in hex the configuration is a4, which means 10 and 4 in the logarithmic domain, (2^10)-1=1023 and (2^4)-1=15 in the linear domain.
110
111To override the CW max and min for queue 3 ~ 0, for example 2047 31; 63 31; 15 7; 7 3, just map it to a hex string b5654332 for queue 3 ~ 0 and give it as the script argument:
112```
113./cw_max_min_cfg.sh b5654332
114```
115It will show sth like
116```
117FPGA  cw max min for q3 to q0: 2047 31; 63 31; 15 7; 7 3
118FPGA  cw max min for q3 to q0: b5654332
119SYSFS cw max min for q3 to q0: 2047 31; 63 31; 15 7; 7 3
120SYSFS cw max min for q3 to q0: b5654332
121```
122To give the control back to Linux
123```
124./cw_max_min_cfg.sh 0
125```
126Be careful that above command won't bring the Linux CW max min setting back to FPGA automatically, because Linux normally only call the setting function openwifi_conf_tx() for 1 time when the NIC is started. So either you write down the Linux setting by checking it at the beginning, and set it back via cw_max_min_cfg.sh before giving it argument 0, or re-load the NIC/driver to trigger the Linux setting action for the NIC.
127
128## Rx gain config
129
130In normal operation, you don't need to do Rx gain control manually, because it is controled by the AD9361 AGC function. For optimization/experiment purpose, you might want to use the manual rx gain control, you can run
131```
132./set_rx_gain_manual.sh 30
133```
134Above command will turn the automatic gain control mode to manual gain control mode, and set 30dB to the Rx gain module.
135
136Bring it back to the automatic gain control mode
137```
138./set_rx_gain_auto.sh
139```
140To find out a good reference about a manual Rx gain setting for the current link/peer, you can set it to automatic mode and then run
141```
142rx_gain_show.sh
143```
144for multiple times to check the actual AGC gain vlaue for received packet as explained in this [Access counter/statistics in driver](driver_stat.md). Then you can set the AGC gain value as argument to the **set_rx_gain_manual.sh** with the corret **offset**! For example, if **rx_gain_show.sh** reports a AGC gain value 34 for many successfully received data packets, and you want to use it as a manual gain setting, you need to set
145```
146./set_rx_gain_manual.sh 20
147```
148if the current working channel is 5220MHz (34 - 14dB offset = 20). You need to set
149```
150./set_rx_gain_manual.sh 29
151```
152if the current working channel is in 2.4GHz  (34 - 5dB offset = 29).
153
154## Tx power config
155```
156./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg rf 0 20000
157```
158Above command will set Tx power attenuation to 20dB (20*1000). By default it is 0dB.
159
160If you want an initial attenuation 20dB while loading and bringing up the openwifi NIC, please use the **init_tx_att** argument for the sdr.ko.
161```
162insmod sdr.ko init_tx_att=20000
163```
164You can change above driver loading action at the end of **wgd.sh**.
165
166The initial Tx attenuation might be useful when you connect two SDR boards directly by cable. Even though, you shouldn't not connect them during the setup phase (bring up the AP or client), because the initialization/tuning of AD9361 might generate big Tx power and kill the other AD9361's Rx. Only connect two SDR boards by cable after both sides have been setup and the attenuation setting takes effect.
167
168To increase the Tx power, you can consider add external PA like [this](https://github.com/open-sdr/openwifi/issues/53#issuecomment-767621478). Or increase the value of register 13 of tx_intf (check [README](../README.md)).
169
170Read the register value:
171```
172./sdrctl dev sdr0 get reg tx_intf 13
173```
174
175Set the register value to N (a number larger than the value read back above):
176```
177./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg tx_intf 13 N
178```
179Bigger value in that register could hurt the Tx EVM and long packet signal. You need to fine tune it for your case.
180
181## Tx Lo and port config
182
183In normal operation, the Tx Lo and RF port are controled by FPGA automatically during signal Tx. To check the current Tx Lo and RF port switch status
184```
185./set_tx_port.sh
186./set_tx_lo.sh
187```
188Give argument **1** to above scripts to turn them **ON**, **0** for **OFF**.
189
190## Antenna selection
191
192By default, the 1st Tx and Rx antennas are used (tx0 and rx0). You can change the tx antenna to tx1 by
193```
194./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_tx 4 1
195```
196Change the tx antenna back to tx0 by
197```
198./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_tx 4 0
199```
200Change the rx antenna to rx1 and rx0 by
201```
202./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_rx 4 1
203./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_rx 4 0
204```
205
206## Restrict the frequency
207
208Since the AD9361 frequency tuning could generate big unwanted Tx noise, and it could damage the other AD9361 Rx during the test via cable, a restricted frequency can be set to avoid the possible frequency tuning (such as the background scan of Wifi). For example, you want the AD9361 works only in 5220Mhz:
209```
210./set_restrict_freq.sh 5220
211```
212Above command will fix the AD9361 in 5220MHz and let driver ignore frequency tuning request other than 5220MHz. The restriction can be removed by:
213```
214./set_restrict_freq.sh 0
215```
216To let openwifi work at arbitrary frequency, please check [Let openwifi work at arbitrary frequency](../README.md#let-openwifi-work-at-arbitrary-frequency)
217
218## Receiver sensitivity control
219
220Sometimes too good sensitivity could be a bad thing. WiFi receiver could be "attracted" by many weak signal/packet in the background, and has less "attention" to its real communication target (client/AP). Openwifi has offered a way to make the receiver less sensitive by setting a threshold. When the received signal is lower than this threshold, the receiver will not try to search the WiFi short preamble, i.e. ignore it. For example, if you want to set -70dBm as the threshold, use:
221```
222./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_rx 0 70
223```
224
225## Tx rate config
226
227By default, the Linux rate adaptation algorithm **minstrel_ht** set the packet rate/MCS automatically via openwifi_tx() function.
228```
229rate_hw_value = ieee80211_get_tx_rate(dev, info)->hw_value;
230```
231To override the Linux automatic control for non-ht packet
232```
233./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_tx 0 N
234```
235Value N: 0 for Linux auto control; 4 ~ 11 for 6M, 9M, 12M, 18M, 24M, 36M, 48M, 54M.
236
237To override the Linux automatic control for ht packet
238```
239./sdrctl dev sdr0 set reg drv_tx 1 N
240```
241Value N: 0 for Linux auto control; 4 ~ 11 for 6.5M, 13M, 19.5M, 26M, 39M, 52M, 58.5M, 65M. By default, the normal GI is used. To use the short GI, you need to add 16 to the target value N.
242
243## Arbitrary Tx IQ sample
244
245Arbitrary IQ sample (maximum 512 samples) can be written to tx_intf and sent for test purpose.
246