Getting Started with SiWT917 in RCP Mode#

This guide describes how to get started with the SiWT917 Linux driver in RCP mode.

Note: The output images in this guide are for illustration purposes only. Details such as board names and version numbers may not exactly match the product.

Hardware Requirements#

The hardware requirements are as follows:

  • Wi-Fi Access Point (802.11 b/g/n/ax)

  • One of the following Host radio boards

  • SIWX917-RB4346A - SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE 4 MB Flash Co-Processor Radio Board (hereafter referred to as SiWx917 radio board)

  • SiW917Y-RB4357A - SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE 4 MB Flash Co-Processor Radio Board (hereafter referred to as SiWx917 radio board)

  • SI-EB8045A - EXP Adapter Board for SiWx917 Co-Processors (hereafter referred to as adapter board)

  • SI-EB8045B - EXP Adapter Board for SiWx917 Co-Processors (hereafter referred to as adapter board)

  • Laptop/PC with SDIO slot or any embedded platform with Linux Board support package for BRD8045A.

  • SDIO adapter connector 8046A for BRD8045A.

  • Raspberry Pi 4 with Raspberry Pi 4 OS for BRD8045B.

Note: If the laptop has a full SDIO slot, procure a micro SD adapter. If the Laptop/PC does not have an SDIO slot, a SDHC/SD/MMC to CardBus Adapter like the one available at http://www.hwtools.net/cardreader/SDCBA_C01.html can be used.

Software Requirements#

The software requirements are as follows:

  • SiWx91x RCP Driver

  • Supported Linux Kernel versions are mentioned in the Release Notes – should enable the open source Enable SDIO stack.

  • DHCP Server (for Wi-Fi Access Point mode)

  • Bluetooth supported commands bluetoothctl and bluetoothd must be present.

  • Compatible Bluetooth Host Stack, e.g., the Open Source BlueZ Stack v:5.56

  • wpa_supplicant (for Wi-Fi Client mode)

  • hostapd (for Wi-Fi Access Point mode)

Software Package Contents#

The driver package is delivered in the format: SiWT917.w.x.y.z.zip, where the naming convention is as follows:

'w' is Major version

'x' is Minor version

'y' is Patch number

'z' is Build number

The driver package contains the following files/folders:

  • Readme.txt

  • Makefile

  • release

  • Firmware

  • rsi (contains driver source code)

  • apps

The drivers can be found under each product in our github repo.

Setup Diagram#

There are two variants of SiWx917 RCP Evaluation boards:

Board

Description

Contents

SIWX917_RB4346A, SI-EB8045A & BRD8046A

SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE Co-Processor EXP Expansion Kit

1x BRD4346A SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE Co-Processor Radio Board

1x BRD8045A Adapter Board for Co-Processors

1x BRD8046A EXP-to-SDCard Adapter board

SIWX917_RB4346A, SI-EB8045B

SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE Co-Processor Raspberry Pi Expansion Kit

1x BRD4346A SiWx917 Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth LE Co-Processor Radio Board

1x BRD8045B Adapter Board for Co-Processors

  1. SIWX917_RB4346A, SI-EB8045A & BRD8046A

    SiWx917-EB4346ASiWx917-EB4346A

  2. SIWX917_RB4346A, SI-EB8045B

    SiWx917-EB4346BSiWx917-EB4346B

i.MX6 Wandboard Connectivity Diagram with SiWx917_RB4346A + SI-EB8045A + BRD8046A#

MX6 Wandboard Connectivity Diagram with SiWx917-EB4346AMX6 Wandboard Connectivity Diagram with SiWx917-EB4346A

Note: Above setup diagram shows the connectivity of SiWx917-EB4346A with the i.MX6 Wandboard host (referance platform) using a SDIO adapter board 8046A.

RPi4 connectivity diagram with SIWX917_RB4346A + SI-EB8045B#

RPi4 connectivity diagram with SiWx917-EB4346BRPi4 connectivity diagram with SiWx917-EB4346B

See the SiWT917 RCP Getting Started Guide with Raspberry Pi for more details, Steps to flash Demo RPi4 image and configure in STA mode.

Note: Above setup diagram shows the connectivity of SiWx917_EB4346B with Raspberry Pi4 host platform using Raspberry pi 40 pin header.

Compilation Steps#

This section describes the steps to be followed to compile the driver for different platforms. The steps are outlined below:

  1. Extract the package using the following command:

     # unzip  SiWT917.w.x.y.z.zip

  2. Navigate to the package folder and run the following command in order to copy all the files present in Firmware folder to '/lib/firmware':

       # cd SiWT917.w.x.y.z/ 
   # cp Firmware/* /lib/firmware

  3. There are two ways in which you can build the driver.

    1. Compile from the local path

    2. Compile from kernel source

Compile from Local Path#

  1. Configure build flags in driver source. Open Makefile at driver path 'SiWT917.w.x.y.z/' and configure build flags.

       # vim Makefile

  2. Below are the build flags to be set based on the usage of driver. Selecting the required options shall reduce the binary size which is important for kernel modules particularly on embedded platforms.

    1. KERNELDIR : Provide the kernel source path here. For example on X-86 below path is used.

      KERNELRELEASE=$(Shell uname -r) 
KERNELDIR=/lib/modules/$(KERNELRELEASE)/build

    2. CONFIG_RSI_COEX_MODE : Enable this flag when Wi-Fi and BLE coexistence mode is used.

    3. CONFIG_RSI_BT_ALONE : Enable this flag when only BT LE only mode is used.

  3. Build the driver using make command.

      # make clean; make

Compile on an Embedded Platform#

For embedded platforms, add the Kernel path for target platform and toolchain path as cross compilation option to the "make" command.

For example, if the target platform is iMX6 add the kernel path as below :

KERNELDIR=home/test/Wand/armv7-multiplatform/KERNEL

For example, if the target platform is ARM and tool chain path is "/opt/freescale/usr/local/gcc-4.4.4-glibc-2.11.1-multilib-1.0/arm-fsl-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-", then the command is:

# make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/freescale/usr/local/gcc-4.4.4-glibc-2.11.1-multilib-1.0/arm-fsl-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi-

Compile from Kernel Source#

  1. Copy the driver 'rsi' to <kernel_source_path> /drivers/net/wireless/.

    (Ex : linux-5.7.0/drivers/net/wireless/rsi )

  2. Navigate to the rsi directory and move Makefile_ker to Makefile.

    # cd linux-5.7.0/drivers/net/wireless/rsi/
# mv Makefile_ker Makefile

  3. Run 'make menuconfig' command from kernel source directory. (Ex : linux-5.7.0 )

    # make menuconfig

  4. Navigate to 'Device Drivers->Network device support->Wireless LAN'.

  5. Select 'Redpine Signals Inc' devices.

  6. Select the SDIO bus support. You will see the below screen with all the build options mentioned above. Select the required options.SDIO BusSDIO Bus

Note: When Redpine Signals Wi-Fi STA PLUS AP support is enabled , run make oldconfig, followed by make prepare.

  1. To build the driver, run the following command:

    # make M=drivers/net/wireless/rsi

On successful compilation, make will generate rsi_91x.ko , and rsi_sdio.ko according to the configuration.

Installing the Driver#

Installing Modules#

After a successful compilation, the driver generates the following modules in the 'SiWT917.w.x.y.z/release' folder according to the configuration. They are outlined below:

  • rsi_91x.ko

  • rsi_sdio.ko

To change the directory, run the following command:

	# cd SiWT917.w.x.y.z/release/

To install the driver, run the following commands.

  1. Install the dependencies:

    #modprobe mac80211
#modprobe bluetooth

  2. Insert rsi_91x.ko with the required module params (configuration):

    #insmod rsi_91x.ko dev_oper_mode=<mode> rsi_zone_enabled=<val> ...

Module params are used by the driver to take initial configuration required. If not provided, default configuration is used. For most of the applications, default values of these module params will be sufficient. Supported module params with their configurable limits are explained in the Developer's Guide in section Common Parameters

In the above command example, module param rsi_zone_enabled is to enable debug prints in dmesg. Default value of rsi_zone_enabled value is 1, which prints errors (only) in terminal. Please refer Debug Prints, to enable more debug prints.

dev_oper_mode : Device operating mode indicates the possible combination of the wireless protocols that can configured with the device.

The table below provides the operating mode details with its constraints.

S.No

Operating Mode

Protocol Support

Maximum No. of Clients for WLAN AP

Maximum No. of BT Connections

Maximum No. of BLE Connections

STA

AP

BT LE

1

1

√

X

X

N/A

N/A

N/A

2

2

X

√

X

10 clients

N/A

N/A

3

3

√

√

X

8 clients

N/A

N/A

4

8

X

X

√

N/A

N/A

2 (Can be as 2 BLE peripherals or 2 BLE Centrals or 1 Central+1peripheral connections)

5

9

√

X

√

N/A

N/A

2

If any invalid mode is passed to the module, driver returns error and exit. You can check the error message debug logs.

Note:

For mode 8, build flag CONFIG_RSI_BT_ALONE should be enabled in the driver Makefile.

For mode 9, build flag CONFIG_RSI_COEX_MODE should be enabled in the driver Makefile.

  1. For the SDIO interface, run the following command:

    #insmod rsi_sdio.ko sdio_clock=<clk_val>

    In this case, clk_val can have a value ranging from 1 to 50 (in MHz).

After a successful installation, a new wireless interface shall be created or WLAN and/or BLE as per the dev_oper_mode selection.

a. If WLAN is selected, run one of the following commands to verify the interface details.

To see the name of the Wi-Fi interface created after successful driver installation:

# ifconfig -a

You should expect an output like the sample shown below with all other available interfaces included.

   wlan0  flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
   inet6 fe80::8da:1aff:fe1e:d1c8  prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>        
   ether 88:da:1a:1e:d1:c8  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
   RX packets: 3 bytes 372 (372.0 B)        
   RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
   TX packets: 6 bytes 696 (696.0 B)        
   TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 collisions:0

The iw utility can also be used to retrieve the interface and physical device details:

   # iw dev <interface_name> info

The sample output for this command is shown below.

Interface wlan0

  ifindex 5    
  wdev 0x100000001    
  addr 88:da:1a:1e:d1:c8
  type managed
  wiphy 1 channel 6 (2437 MHz), width: 20 MHz (no HT), center1: 2437 MHz

As can be seen, in this case, phy<X> is termed as wiphy 1.

b. If BLE is selected, run the following command to verify the interface details.

To see the name of the BLE interface created after successful driver installation:

  # hciconfig -a 

   hci0:  Type: BR/EDR  Bus: USB       
   BD Address: 88:DA:1A:00:00:C2  ACL MTU: 1021:3  SCO MTU: 64:3
   UP RUNNING
   RX bytes:1006 acl:0 sco:0 events:55 errors:0
   TX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 commands:55 errors:0
   Features: 0xbf 0xfe 0x0d 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x5b 0x87
   Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
   Link policy: RSWITCH SNIFF
   Link mode: SECONDARY ACCEPT
   Name: 'lapt64'
   class: 0x0c010c
   service Classes: Computer, Laptop
   HCI Version:  (0x9) Revision: 0x0
   Manufacturer: internal use (65535)

Configuring the Driver#

Configure in Wi-Fi Station Mode#

This section provides the steps to configure Wi-Fi station mode using startup script or Manual commands using wpa_supplicant. Both procedures are given below. The user can choose any method.

Before installation, the user needs to stop the existing network manager and unblock WLAN from rfkill. Run the following commands to stop the network-manager on different Linux distribution.

  1. For Ubuntu:

     # service network-manager stop

  2. For Fedora/Raspberry Pi4 OS:

    # service NetworkManager stop

  3. To stop rfkill blocking WLAN:

     # rfkill unblock wlan (or) #rfkill unblock all

Startup Script for Wi-FI Station Mode#

User can use the script at path 'SiWT917.w.x.y.z/release' to run Wi-Fi STA mode after Configure Station Using WPA supplicant.

   #./start_SiWT917.sh  STA

See the Startup Script section for more details about Startup script file to configure in different operating modes.

Manual Configuration of Wi-Fi Station Mode#

  • For station mode connectivity, ensure that the dev_oper_mode is set in installation as given below and interface is detected after the installation. See the Installing the Driver section.

     dev_oper_mode = 1

  • Install the modules manually using the below commands to configure in Wi-Fi STA mode, debug zone=0x601 and SDIO clock=50 Mhz

      #insmod rsi_91x.ko dev_oper_mode=1 rsi_zone_enabled=0x601

  #insmod rsi_sdio.ko sdio_clock=50

Configure Station Using WPA Supplicant#

a) Create a sta_settings.conf file with the information below. Also, fill the information like SSID, psk etc corresponding to the AP you intend to connect in this file. Sample sta_settings.conf file is available within the 'SiWT917.w.x.y.z/release' directory of release package with basic configurations required. The user may use this file and edit the information as explained below for Open and WPA2-PSK (CCMP) secure modes. For the details of all configurations available please refer to the open source supplicant wpa_supplicant.conf file.

   ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
   update_config=1

Also, add network block to the sta_settings.conf file as per the AP security. An example network block for different security modes is listed below.

i. For Open (non-Secure) mode:

   network={
   ssid="\<SSID of Access Point\>"
   key_mgmt=NONE
   priority=3
   }

ii. For WPA2-PSK (CCMP) mode:

   network={
   ssid="\<SSID of Access Point\>"
   key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
   psk=\<passphrase specified in the Access Point\>
   proto=WPA2
   pairwise=CCMP
   group=CCMP
   }

The pass phrase can be input either in ASCII or Hexadecimal formats:

ASCII Format: psk="very secret passphrase"

Hexadecimal Format: psk=06b4be19da289f475aa46a33cb793029d4ab3db7a23ee92382eb0106c7

See the section Configuring the Driver in Wi-Fi Station Mode for more security mode configurations and running Wi-Fi STA mode using Network manager.

b) To start the supplicant, run the following command:

# wpa_supplicant -i <interface_name> -D nl80211 –c sta_settings.conf –dddt > supp.log &

For example :

# wpa_supplicant -i wifi0 -D nl80211 –c sta_settings.conf –dddt > supp.log &

  • "–i" option specifies the Wi-Fi interface name

  • <interface_name> - This name as listed in iw dev output (here wifi0)

  • "-D" specifies the driver interface to be used. In open source driver it is nl80211.

  • "-c" specifies the supplicant configuration file.

  • "-d" specifies the log level of supplicant. You can apend more d's to it for more detailed logs.

c) To check the scan results, run the following command:

 # wpa_cli -i <interface_name> scan_results

For example, above command will give scan results output as follows.

   bssid         / frequency   / signal level    /  flags/ ssid
   50:d4:f7:1e:5a:40   2457           -21  [WPA2-PSK-CCMP][ESS]    TP_LINK
   04:79:70:72:03:e7   2412           -31      [ESS]              honor_9i    
   38:A4:ED:DE:BB:00   2412           -26  [WPA2-PSK-CCMP][ESS]   Range

d) To check whether the connection is successful or not, run the following command:

# iwconfig <interface_name>

For example, if the connection is successful, we will see the output below.

   wlan0      IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Range"  Nickname:""        
        Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz AccessPoint:38:A4:ED:DE:BB:00
        Bit Rate:39 Mb/s   Tx-Power=16 dBm  
        Retry short limit:7  RTS thr:2353 B Fragment thr:2352 B
        Encryption key:off 
        Power Management:off          
        Link Quality=80/80  Signal level=-28 dBm  Noise level:0 dBm          
        Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0          
        Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

If the connection is successful, then the connected Access point SSID along with the MAC address is displayed as shown above. If it is not connected to an Access point, a message "Not Associated" is displayed as shown below.

   wlan0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:off/any 
     Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=0 dBm 
     Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off   
     Encryption key:off
     Power Management:off

e) IP address for the device can be set in two ways either get IP address dynamically from AP or set static IP address. To obtain dynamic IP address from AP, run the following commands:

# dhclient <interface_name> -r
# dhclient <interface_name> -v

To set static IP address to STA, run the following command:

# ifconfig <interface_name> <IP_address>

f) To check whether IP is assigned or not, run the following command:

# ifconfig  <interface_name>

Output:

   wlan0:    flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500        
         inet 192.168.1.114  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255        
         inet6 fe80::224:d7ff:fe56:54dc  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>       
         ether 00:24:d7:56:54:dc  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
         RX packets 31160  bytes 31082515 (29.6 MiB)       
         RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0        
         TX packets 23356  bytes 3367496 (3.2 MiB)        
         TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

g) To check data transfer by pinging another station, run the following command:

   # ping <IP_address>

   Ex : ping 192.168.1.1

Configure in Wi-Fi Station + BLE Mode#

This section describes Startup script and manual ways to configure the driver to run both as a Wi-Fi Station and in BLE mode.

Startup Script for Wi-Fi Station + BLE Mode#

User can use the script at path rsi to run Wi-Fi STA + BLE mode.

   #./start_SiWT917.sh  STA_BLE

See the Startup Script section for more details about Startup script file to configure in different operating modes.

Manual Configuration of Wi-Fi Station + BLE Mode#

Ensure that the dev_oper_mode is set as below.

dev_oper_mode = 9 (Wi-Fi STA + BLE)

Run the following commands to install the modules manually. These commands configure the Wi-Fi STA + BLE mode, debug zone=0x601 and SDIO clock=50 Mhz

    #insmod rsi_91x.ko dev_oper_mode=9 rsi_zone_enabled=0x601

    #insmod rsi_sdio.ko sdio_clock=50

Once the installation completed and interface of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are detected follow below procedure to install Wi-Fi and BLE.

  1. For Wi-Fi STA, follow the instructions given in Configure Station Using WPA Supplicant to configure in Wi-Fi STA mode.

  2. Also for Bluetooth LE protocol, follow the instructions in the Configure Using HCI Commands section.

Uninstalling the Driver#

To uninstall the driver, follow the procedure below.

If wpa supplicant method is used to connect in STA mode, run the following command to kill wpa supplicant:

 # killall wpa_supplicant

To kill hostapd application, run the following command:

 # killall hostapd

To remove the driver, run the following command:

 # rmmod rsi_sdio
 # rmmod rsi_91x

After uninstalling the driver, the created wireless interface disappears.