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NordicPlayground / nrf70-linux-driver

Linux driver for the nRF70 series of ICs
https://www.nordicsemi.com/Products/nRF7002
GNU General Public License v2.0
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nRF70 series Linux SPI reference driver

Linux driver for the nRF70 series Wi-Fi SoC family from Nordic Semiconductor. The driver is based on the nRF Connect SDK and is compatible with the Linux SPI framework.

This driver is a reference implementation and is not intended for production use. It is provided as-is and is not supported by Nordic Semiconductor ASA. It can be used in any Linux environment to evaluate the nRF70 series Wi-Fi SoC family.

Supported hardware

The driver supports the following nRF70 series Wi-Fi SoCs:

Supported features

The driver supports the following features:

Getting started

The driver can be used with any Linux based products, but it is tested on a Raspberry Pi4B running the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS operating system. Support for other Linux distributions is not part of the scope of this project.

Prerequisites

Hardware

The following hardware is required to run the driver:

Software

The following software is required to run the driver:

Install dependencies

The following dependencies are required to build the driver, install them using apt:

Build and run the driver

Build the driver

  1. To get the latest version of the driver clone the repository using west:

    west init -m git@github.com:NordicPlayground/nrf70-linux-driver.git --mr main

    If you have downloaded a released version of the driver in a zipped format, do the following after unzipping the folder:

    west init -l .

  2. Update west projects

    west update

  3. Build the driver

    make clean all

Driver feature configuration

nRF70 driver has feature flags to enable/disable certain features. These flags can be controlled via the command line arguments to the make command. The following flags are available:

Flag Description Default
MODE Supported modes are STA and RADIO-TEST STA
LOW_POWER Enable low power mode 0

Examples

  1. Build the driver in STA mode with low power enabled 
    make clean all MODE=STA LOW_POWER=1

Ensure that the nrf_wifi_fmac_sta.ko and dts/nrf70_rpi_interposer.dtbo files are generated.

Run the driver

  1. Load the DTS overlay

    a. Permanent loading: Configure the Raspberry Pi4B to load the DTS overlay at boot time (Recommended for production)

    sudo cp dts/nrf70_rpi_interposer.dtbo /boot/firmware/overlays/
# Update config.txt
sudo vim /boot/firmware/config.txt
# Add below line at the end of the file
dtoverlay=nrf70_rpi_interposer
sudo reboot

    b. Runtime loading: Load the DTS overlay at runtime (Helpful for development)

    sudo dtoverlay dts/nrf70_rpi_interposer.dtbo

    Note 1: Using this procedure, the DTS overlay must be loaded every time the Raspberry Pi4B is rebooted.

    Note 2: Using this procedure, in the dmesg ignore the warnings OF: overlay: WARNING: memory leak will occur if overlay removed, property: ******, these are expected as we are dynamically loading the DTS.

  2. Load the driver

    sudo insmod nrf_wifi_fmac_sta.ko

    Note 1: Using this procedure, the driver must be loaded every time the Raspberry Pi4B is rebooted.

    Note 2: Using this procedure, in the dmesg ignore the warnings nrf_wifi_fmac_sta: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel, these are expected as we are loading a out-of-tree module.

  3. Verify that the driver is loaded

    lsmod | grep nrf_wifi_fmac_sta

  4. Verify network interfaces

    ip link show

    The driver should create a new network interface called nrf_wifi.

  5. Verify Wi-Fi interface using iw

    iw dev nrf_wifi info

  6. Check the kernel log for driver output

    dmesg

Connect to a Wi-Fi network

  1. Prepare a WPA supplicant configuration file 
    wpa_passphrase <SSID> <PASSWORD> > wpa_supplicant.conf
  2. Connect to the Wi-Fi network 
    sudo wpa_supplicant -i nrf_wifi -c wpa_supplicant.conf -B
  3. Verify that the Wi-Fi interface is connected 
    iw dev nrf_wifi link
  4. Run a DHCP client to get an IP address 
    sudo dhclient nrf_wifi
  5. Verify that the Wi-Fi interface has an IP address 
    ip addr show nrf_wifi
  6. Verify that the Wi-Fi interface has internet access 
    ping -I nrf_wifi google.com

Disconnect from a Wi-Fi network

  1. Kill the WPA supplicant 
    sudo killall wpa_supplicant
  2. Verify that the Wi-Fi interface is disconnected 
    iw dev nrf_wifi link

    Remove the driver

  3. Remove the driver 
    sudo rmmod nrf_wifi_fmac_sta

    Debugging

    Run the WPA supplicant in debug mode

  4. Stop the WPA supplicant 
    sudo killall wpa_supplicant
  5. Run the WPA supplicant in debug mode 
    sudo wpa_supplicant -i nrf_wifi -c wpa_supplicant.conf -dd -f /tmp/wpa_supplicant.log
  6. Share the /tmp/wpa_supplicant.log file along with configuration file wpa_supplicant.conf for debugging purposes.

Collect dmesg

  1. Collect the kernel log 
    dmesg > dmesg.log
  2. Collect the kernel log from all previous boots to give a complete picture of the system 
    cat /var/log/kern.log* > kern.log

Collect Sniffer logs

The procedure to collect sniffer logs is outside the scope of this document as it depends heavily on the environment and the sniffer used.

Driver feature configuration with RADIO-TEST mode with low power enabled

RADIO-TEST mode is used to characterize TX/RX functionalities of RPU with different test sets.

  1. To build the driver with RADIO-TEST mode

    make clean all MODE=RADIO-TEST LOW_POWER=1

    Ensure that the rf_wifi_fmac_radio_test.ko and dts/nrf70_rpi_interposer.dtbo files are generated.

  2. Load the driver

    sudo insmod nrf_wifi_fmac_radio_test.ko

  3. The commands used for radio test can be found here.

  4. To set different test parameters debugfs is used

    For nRF70 Series device to transmit 10000 packets (TX transmit count) with the required modulation, TX power and channel (e.g. 11g, 54 Mbps, channel 11):

    # echo init=11 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx_pkt_tput_mode=0 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx_pkt_rate=54 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx_pkt_len=1024 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx_pkt_gap=100 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx_pkt_num=10000 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
# echo tx=1 > /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf

    Once set check the configuration settings in /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf. Typically the configuration will be as below

    # cat /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/conf
************* Configured Parameters ***********
phy_calib_rxdc = 1
phy_calib_txdc = 1
phy_calib_txpow = 0
phy_calib_rxiq = 1
phy_calib_txiq = 1
he_ltf = 2
he_gi = 2
tx_pkt_tput_mode = 0
tx_pkt_sgi = 0
tx_pkt_preamble = 1
tx_pkt_mcs = 0
tx_pkt_rate = 54
tx_pkt_gap = 100
tx_pkt_num = 10000
tx_pkt_len = 1024
tx_power = 30
ru_tone = 26
ru_index = 1
rx_capture_length = 0
rx_lna_gain = 0
rx_bb_gain = 0
tx_tone_freq = 0
xo_val = 38
init = 11
tx = 0
rx = 0
tx_pkt_cw = 15
reg_domain = 00
bypass_reg_domain = 0

  5. To view the test results

    # cat /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/stats

    Typically the results will be as below after running the test.

    # cat /sys/kernel/debug/nrf/wifi/stats
************* PHY STATS ***********
rssi_avg = -64 dBm
ofdm_crc32_pass_cnt=5140
ofdm_crc32_fail_cnt=3952
dsss_crc32_pass_cnt=31786
dsss_crc32_fail_cnt=2265

    Known issues

  6. Target Wake Time (TWT) feature is not supported yet.

  7. Intermittent issues when running UDP/TCP throughputs:

    • Firmware lockup (on the nRF70 series device)
    • Linux kernel crash

  8. Sometimes below warning is observed in the dmesg

    • NOHZ tick-stop error: Non-RCU local softirq work is pending, handler #08!!!