Silex Unwired

Experiencing a slow load of WiFi Interface in Yocto Linux 1.6 (Daisy)? Silex can help!!!

YoctoSilex has had customers reporting a couple of issues with using and enabling of the WiFi interface on the Yocto Linux version 1.6 (Daisy) using Kernel version 3.10.17. We have helped some of our customers by providing work around to get the Wi-Fi interface up in the Yocto environment.

SX-SDCAN App NoteBelow is the description of environment where the issues are seen.

  • Customers using open-source driver that comes with Github
  • Customers using the calibration data file for Silex Wi-Fi Module (SX-SDMAN/SX-SDCAN)

Information on how to retrieve and configure the SX-SDCAN radio with Silex calibration data files for optimized radio performance, please download the application note.


Download Application Note

Cause: wpa_supplicant is already running, conflicting with hostapd.

Solution: A short term solution is to kill the wpa_supplicant process (killall wpa_supplicant) before launching hostapd.

To disable wpa_supplicant  from the the auto launch, move the init script file /etc/rc5.d/S05connman to somewhere else (or delete it).

Information: connman is Network Connection Manager deamon. It automatically launches wpa_supplicant, which causes the conflict with hostapd. Removing /etc/rc5.d/S05connman stops connman from starting, however it may have side effects. Namely, you won't able to use GUI- based network configuration anymore. There may be an option for connman to disable wpa_supplicant launch, but we have not spent anytime investigating this.


Issue #2: wlan0 network interface does not show up for about 1min after bootup.

Cause: The open-source AR6003 driver (ath6kl_sdio.ko) requests the firmware file "fw-4.bin" for udev, however fw-4.bin is not installed in the system (/lib/firmware/ath6k/AR6003/hw2.1.1). It takes bout 30sec for udev to give up, then the driver tries backward-compatible firmware "fw-3.bin" which is installed.

Solution: Create symbolic link for"fw-4.bin" to "fw-3.bin" in /lib/firmware/ath6k/AR6003/hw2.1.1.

There might be a driver or udev option to specify "fw-3.bin" as firmware rather than "fw-4.bin", or there might be an udev configuration to shorten the 30sec timeout, but Silex has not investigated this.

Silex licensed ATH6KL driver uses fw-4.bin firmware so it won't cause the above observed issues.


Any feedback on issues described above or their proposed work around is welcome. We would also be interested to hear about any other issues with the Yocto BSP's you might have experienced.

With relentless attention to quality, exclusive access to Qualcomm Atheros silicon and expertise, and strategic partnerships with leading real-time operating system (RTOS) and semiconductor providers, Silex Technology is a trusted leader in reliable Wi-Fi connectivity.

You can connect with via email at sales@silexamerica.com to find out more on how Silex can help.

 

 

SX-SDCAN App Note