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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2015, 02:31:00 am »
This is of course config on the Client side.

The goal being to optimize the client side and check throughput as you are configured to get 1.3Gb/s. The Tx Power setting should extend your range a bit given that everything else is optimal. Thing is, with the MACBook Pro, not everything is optimal.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/27858756#27858756

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6825371?start=0&tstart=0

Going to a couple quick test on my A+, change the region and take a look at the results.
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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #16 on: December 21, 2015, 02:34:25 am »
This is with auto channel select.

Code: [Select]
wlan00    IEEE 802.11ac  ESSID:"xxxx" 
          Mode:Master  Frequency:5.18 GHz  Access Point: xxxxxx
          Bit Rate=1.3 Gb/s   Tx-Power=19 dBm   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:xxxxx [3]   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=94/94  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:2  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

wlan10    IEEE 802.11ng  ESSID:"xxxx" 
          Mode:Master  Frequency:2.452 GHz  Access Point: xxxxx
          Bit Rate:450 Mb/s   Tx-Power=29 dBm   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:xxxxx [3]   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=94/94  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:52  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #17 on: December 21, 2015, 02:44:28 am »
And then changing the Region to Brazil and selecting Ch 161 / 80MHz

Code: [Select]
wlan00    IEEE 802.11ac  ESSID:"xxxx" 
          Mode:Master  Frequency:5.805 GHz  Access Point:xxxxxx
          Bit Rate=1.3 Gb/s   Tx-Power=29 dBm   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:xxxxx [2]   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=94/94  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:22  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

wlan10    IEEE 802.11ng  ESSID:"xxxx" 
          Mode:Master  Frequency:2.452 GHz  Access Point: xxxx   
          Bit Rate:216.7 Mb/s   Tx-Power=29 dBm   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:xxxxx [2]   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=94/94  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:36  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0



So the radio and drivers are doing their thing properly. Tx Power is up. Getting about 800mW.

This is of course not a solution, use the Region appropriate to your location. So back to taking a look at the limitations on the UK Region implementation.


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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #18 on: December 21, 2015, 03:47:02 am »
Also recommend you load up an app called WiFi Explorer (free) and check out your network.

In the 5gig stuff, under Advanced Details you will see something called VHT Capabilities and can expand it to see VHT Capabilities Info.

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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #19 on: December 21, 2015, 03:59:08 am »
Quote

Creator SECURIFI on February 5, 2015
@Rhys - In supports explicit transmit beamforming, but not implicit beamforming which we guess it what you're asking for. The Almond+ can not be upgraded to support 600Mbps on 2.4GHz as the chipset we're using doesn't support it. 
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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #20 on: December 21, 2015, 12:01:44 pm »
Only other thing coming to mind is I believe, and am trying to confirm, that the 802.11ac spec for Europe was updated in June of 2015.

I know Wave 2 products are starting to hit and I'm wondering if the driver needs some tweaks for the UK/Eur settings, thinking it does.

Also, check System and Kernel logs. I am actually getting Radar detected (meaning some on that frequency) and the system is making adjustments.

None of this helps obviously, if the driver hasn't been tweaked to turn on the support for the other channels. Just can't figure out why it wouldn't be yet.

Last thing to try is to manually turn on some options related to supported channels and power but I don't believe we can even at the command line level. Might be able to compile a util that will do that if the hooks are there. If I'm really lucky the binary is already out there for our OS level/config.

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Offline summat

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #21 on: December 21, 2015, 05:30:56 pm »
I'd have to agree with your assessment that its the configuration of the regulatory domain that is likely the issue.

I've quite successfully had 29dBm out of it if I set the reg domain to USA.

Is the regulatory info built into the driver? Seems like a lot of effort to go through to just update something that might be updated multiple times a year given rules could change anywhere in the world.

I had thought it was /usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin (dated Dec 2014 on my Almond+) but I tried replacing it with a custom-built one containing the correct radio levels and it made no difference.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2015, 06:05:21 pm by summat »

Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #22 on: December 21, 2015, 10:20:07 pm »
I'd have to agree with your assessment that its the configuration of the regulatory domain that is likely the issue.

I've quite successfully had 29dBm out of it if I set the reg domain to USA.

Is the regulatory info built into the driver? Seems like a lot of effort to go through to just update something that might be updated multiple times a year given rules could change anywhere in the world.

I had thought it was /usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin (dated Dec 2014 on my Almond+) but I tried replacing it with a custom-built one containing the correct radio levels and it made no difference.

We don't have iw or regdbdump

The bin file has to be properly signed with public & private keys and it depends on whether crda was built with openSSL or not, if not then we can't read the public keys.

But it shouldn't be a big deal to compile everything with the current db and push it out with a firmware release.  Thinking the UK folks just need to make some noise.  Not sure if we would be able to load everything needed to make the minor change and update it ourselves but it's not that tricky.




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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #23 on: December 21, 2015, 10:25:01 pm »
I'd have to agree with your assessment that its the configuration of the regulatory domain that is likely the issue.

I've quite successfully had 29dBm out of it if I set the reg domain to USA.

Is the regulatory info built into the driver? Seems like a lot of effort to go through to just update something that might be updated multiple times a year given rules could change anywhere in the world.

I had thought it was /usr/lib/crda/regulatory.bin (dated Dec 2014 on my Almond+) but I tried replacing it with a custom-built one containing the correct radio levels and it made no difference.

How did you build the custom file? Is everything there for a local compile/build?
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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #24 on: December 21, 2015, 10:28:54 pm »
How did you build the custom file? Is everything there for a local compile/build?

If it was and you did and that failed, then the stuff is hardcoded and we have to put a bogus Country code in for the UK and recompile.
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Offline SecureComp

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #25 on: December 21, 2015, 10:29:47 pm »
If it was and you did and that failed, then the stuff is hardcoded and we have to put a bogus Country code in for the UK and recompile.

Which of course I do not suggest, condone or otherwise recommend. 8)
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Offline summat

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #26 on: December 22, 2015, 07:52:43 am »
Instructions I used to make my own regulatory.bin are HERE

There are a few broken links but you can find the packages easily enough.

I used an ubuntu server box to create a signed regulatory.bin - I used the one present on my Almond+ as a starting point which I SCP'd off to ubuntu, then used regdbdump to dump into a text file which I edited the parameters for UK, then used the files in the crda package to compile it back into a regulatory.bin and resign it.

I then replaced the original regulatory.bin with my own followed by a full reboot. I'm assuming (but don't know enough really to say for sure) that if I'd created an invalid regulatory.bin and Almond+ was really using that file to set the reg info, that it would have broken wireless (or somehow otherwise impacted things) rather than continued working exactly the same way. If my changes were correct, and the regulatory.bin was correct, presumably it would then have listened to my changes.

Nothing happened at all, so my conclusion is that the reg info is being set elsewhere, possibly as you highlighted, within the compiled driver itself. This would be unfortunate as there is NO way to fix that ourselves - we are completely reliant on Securifi to have the inclination to build and test new drivers.

Given the rate of updates over the last few months I'd be surprised if we saw this update any time soon unfortunately :(

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #27 on: December 22, 2015, 08:21:43 am »
That's the how I do several things, build it over on another box (often ubuntu) and push it to the Almond.

As long you have the keys working properly, it should be fine.

btw, that's the same link (networkgeekstuff) I bumped into yesterday when I was looking through this stuff haha

The only thing to note is creating your 'custom country' code versus changing the info for the UK. If you went the custom country code route, I could understand why that would fail.

Meaning what might be hardcoded is the use of Eur/UK stuff and so you have to actually change the Eur/UK settings instead of telling the box to use a different Region. Even if they did that, it shouldn't be hard to change. Just have to dig up that other link that showed a sample of that instance.

I have to go back to the Kickstarter and see how they shipped things to different regions.

Still the best solution is to have Securifi update the Region info. Unless there's some other problem we're not privy to, I don't think it's a lot of work.




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Offline summat

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #28 on: December 22, 2015, 09:19:54 am »
I did indeed edit the GB (its Great Britain rather than UK for this file) parameters.

No difference. Nothing broke, nothing changed - leads me to believe regulatory.bin is not in use on Almond+.

Hopefully someone from Securifi could comment here and give us a hint of some kind that this can be remedied!

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Re: txpower not configurable?
« Reply #29 on: January 01, 2016, 06:38:33 am »
Having been through a bit of back and forth with Securifi support about this - including a factory reset, and them testing on their own Almond+ units, they confirm the issue is to do with the driver for the wireless - regulatory info is baked into it.

They say that:

Quote
the transmitting power of 5 GHz completely depends upon the region and also the driver which we receive from the hardware manufacturer
and
Quote
unfortunately, we would not be able to do much on this. I could only request your understanding on this.

To be honest, that's less helpful than I was expecting (maybe I'm expecting too much?) - presumably they are saying this as the wireless driver we currently have is never going to be replaced to correct this issue, because they either can't or won't update it.

Not even a 'we're not working on it at the moment but its coming'.

Sigh.

 

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