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droidifi / newracom-s1g

Newracom driver and components for native S1G / 802.11ah
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Help with firmware files? #2

Open barberd opened 2 years ago

barberd commented 2 years ago

Hi there! Hoping you could give me advice. I have nrc7292 modules, both alfa and silex. I have them both working great with US frequencies. I am wondering where you source nrc7292_cspi.bin firmware files? Is a firmware image that supports EU frequencies (863-868mhz) preferably with fake 2.4/5ghz mapping for pre-5.10 kernels available somewhere?

droidifi commented 2 years ago

We used the firmware binary in our github repo. You will have to use our driver fork and load the module with "EU" region parameter (see README docs).

You can run the EU 800 MHz frequencies but the output will probably be reduced because the SAW hardware filter in the Silex module and Alfa HW is tuned for 902-928 MHz.

barberd commented 2 years ago

Thanks so much for replying.

The driver fork only works on kernels after 5.10 that include S1G support though, correct? I have some devices running 4.15 that I'd really like to get on EU frequencies. I don't suppose there is a source for a firmware file that does a 2.4/5ghz mapping to EU freqs for use with legacy kernels/regdbs ?

Thank you for reminding me of the attenuation due to the SAW filter and other RF circuit tunings. There doesn't seem to be EU -targeted 802.11ah devices on the market yet though so I suppose I'll just have to test performance empirically.

droidifi commented 2 years ago

You could try the stock Newracom firmware. Supposedly the wpa_supplicant/hostapd config file country parameter determines the region.

pepe2k commented 2 years ago

@barberd

Thank you for reminding me of the attenuation due to the SAW filter and other RF circuit tunings. There doesn't seem to be EU -targeted 802.11ah devices on the market yet though so I suppose I'll just have to test performance empirically.

All ALFA modules are available in different region versions, including EU, e.g.: https://docs.alfa.com.tw/datasheets/alfa-network_ahmb7292s_latest.pdf https://docs.alfa.com.tw/datasheets/alfa-network_ahpi7292s_latest.pdf

It's not only about the SAW filter, all individual modules are also calibrated for particular region (bandwidth).

Cheers, Piotr

barberd commented 2 years ago

@pepe2k

All ALFA modules are available in different region versions, including EU, e.g.: https://docs.alfa.com.tw/datasheets/alfa-network_ahmb7292s_latest.pdf https://docs.alfa.com.tw/datasheets/alfa-network_ahpi7292s_latest.pdf

Thanks, I've seen the frequencies listed in the datasheet, but I can only find one supplier (Rokland) and they only have the one model that has 'US' on the sticker. I emailed Alfa 3 days ago but haven't heard anything back yet from them. Kinda wondering if whoever made the datasheet just copied over the frequencies from the NRC7292 datasheet and didn't considering the circuit tuning...or do you know of a source for EU versions of Alfa 802.11ah modules?

pepe2k commented 2 years ago

@barberd

Thanks, I've seen the frequencies listed in the datasheet, but I can only find one supplier (Rokland) and they only have the one model that has 'US' on the sticker.

Are you EU based? As far as I know, Rokland is US based so probably that's the reason why they don't sell modules dedicated for other regions. I'm also not sure about legal side of this - FCC might not be happy someone uses frequencies out of unlicensed ranges.

I emailed Alfa 3 days ago but haven't heard anything back yet from them.

Holidays season, I would give them more time and try the e-mail from datasheet.

Kinda wondering if whoever made the datasheet just copied over the frequencies from the NRC7292 datasheet and didn't considering the circuit tuning...or do you know of a source for EU versions of Alfa 802.11ah modules?

The frequencies list from datasheets are aligned with those supported by Newracom NRC7292 - all modules on the market are based on Newracom's reference design, in some cases with just minor changes.

The AHPI7292S includes a place on the board where module version/region is marked:

image

do you know of a source for EU versions of Alfa 802.11ah modules?

I would ask them directly, they have EU distributors but I'm not sure whether these modules are already available in Europe. The whole market is suffering from global shortages so there might be some availability issues.

Cheers, Piotr

barberd commented 2 years ago

@droidifi

You could try the stock Newracom firmware. Supposedly the wpa_supplicant/hostapd config file country parameter determines the region.

Thanks for the suggestion. Hostapd just seems to do the same as an 'iw reg set ' which I'm not having much luck on. I'll dive more into the code to see if I can hack something together for 4.15 but I suspect it'd just be easier to upgrade the kernel on these devices.

Also I took md5sums of all the firmwares I could find, and now realize the version in your repo is just the same as the 1.3.2 version from newracom. I'd originally thought you'd gotten a different firmware from newracom with special S1G support; hence my original question. I apologize for my misunderstanding. In case it helps others, here is a table of all the firmware's I've been able to find and their md5sum. For people finding this thread in the future: note that 'master' is at time of writing, 28 Dec 2021; conceptually this file will be put in a future 1.3.5 release.

https://github.com/newracom/nrc7292_sw_pkg/blob/master/package/host/evk/binary/nrc7292_cspi.bin master c6aab78f0a7266db048ef1a1e921c91c 1.3.4 a0a380e3ffdee1ffdeaf377661d0d4c6 1.3.3 3f738978a6fbad06d340dd6cd3cbbd07 1.3.2 9b9aa493c7d3ceef358c4a0a1d4b2439 1.3.1 5f6a0f67415864bb7d162bb662f926df 1.3.0 dad4c386391cd6d2c5477ac3640809ce

https://github.com/newracom/nrc7292_sw_pkg/blob/master/package/host_kr_mic/evk/binary/nrc7292_cspi.bin master&1.3.4 a2f8faec512a8880b7ad5fc1af782cad 1.3.3 1140062ca464ac6d0f408f2c668bd898 1.3.2 b52a841d8cb89f2dfb58cc510fe54b6c 1.3.1 e8f216cf0c66ff3127a1503323b1bd59

https://github.com/newracom/nrc7292_sw_pkg/tree/master/package/host_kr_usn/evk/binary master 288e5890224da9d68cf1750c630c8746 1.3.4 7fd96bd4333cbb7bcdcbf00a7131d779

https://github.com/Gateworks/nrc7292/blob/master/package/host/evk/binary/nrc7292_cspi.bin 1.3.3-gateworks (forked at newracom 1.3.3) 3f738978a6fbad06d340dd6cd3cbbd07

https://github.com/droidifi/nrc7292_sw_pkg/blob/linux-5.10.x-S1G/package/host/evk/binary/nrc7292_cspi.bin linux-5.10-x-S1G (forked at newracom 1.3.2) 9b9aa493c7d3ceef358c4a0a1d4b2439

barberd commented 2 years ago

@pepe2k

Thank you for the advice. Alfa did respond back to me and confirmed they do have separate -EU versions. We are working to figure out a way to get the devices to me. Even with EU devices I still have the challenge on getting them working on EU frequencies on a 4.15 kernel with the firmware newracom has made available.

I am US based. The devices are working great on US frequencies; I'm trying to get a solution working for when I travel to EU conferences as I want to remain in compliance there too. I hold an FCC Amateur Extra class radio license so I'm aware of radio regulations, so I will not be transmitting on EU frequencies in the US. I'm just trying to get a solution in place for when I do travel.

Conceptually with my FCC Part 97 (Amateur) license I could transmit at higher power limits than those permitted under FCC Part 15 (on which these modules are licensed), as the US amateur 33cm band overlaps with the unlicensed 902-928 mhz band but I have no need for that.

Thanks again in engaging; its been very helpful.