Max AP associations on SN8205x

Tip / Sign in to post questions, reply, level up, and achieve exciting badges. Know more

cross mob
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hello everybody,

When I'm trying to connect more than 3 clients on a Murata SN8205x module with SDK v3.1.2, the fourth client is not able to join the AP network.

I used this code to know the actual number of max association parameter :

/* Show max associations */

wwd_wifi_get_max_associations(&u32_MaxAssoc);

WPRINT_APP_INFO(("Max assoc %lu\r\n", u32_MaxAssoc));

This tells me that I have a max associations of 4. as far as I understand, this means 1 for STA and 3 for AP. So it is logical that my fourth client could not join the network.

I tried to increase the max number of AP associations by using the following code :

http://community.broadcom.com/community/wiced-wifi/wiced-wifi-forums/blog/2015/02/10/restricting-num...

But when I call wwd_wifi_set_max_associations(5), it failed. With value lower than 5 it works.

Do you know where this limitation took place ? Is it a BCM43362 hardware or firmware limitation or is it an SDK limitation ?

Thanks for yours replies.

0 Likes
1 Solution

You could connect 5 clients when disable security!

4 clients if enable security!

View solution in original post

0 Likes
9 Replies
MichaelF_56
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
250 sign-ins 25 comments on blog 10 comments on blog

Moving to Murata Partner Forum, assigning to skerr as he can ask someone from his team to respond.

gangi

0 Likes
MichaelF_56
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
250 sign-ins 25 comments on blog 10 comments on blog

Adding the Murata team: skerr hhyogo yfang@murata.com keith

0 Likes
Anonymous
Not applicable

Dear all,

I got the following answer from Murata support :

"The  Broadcom code can only supports 3 users in soft AP mode.  There is no way around this.  I do not know if they will be able to add more users in future release either."


So it seems to be a broadcom code limitation (in 43362A2.bin firmware ?) more than a limitation with the SN8205.


Do you know who wrote this firmware and if there is any possibility to modify it ? I request this especially because BCM43xx datasheet (43XX-AN801-R) tells that a maximum of 8 Station is possible in SoftAP mode (on page 2).


Thanks,

Frederic

0 Likes

The number of softAP clients supported is directly related to the amount of available memory.

The 43362 softAP implementation supports 5 clients.


ghouse

seyhan

0 Likes
Anonymous
Not applicable

seyhan ghouse

Outch, it sound like there is multiple reply concerning the number of supported client in AP !

Let's me make a status :

1. when I call wwd_wifi_get_max_associations() on SN8205, module's reply is 4.

2. Murata direct support tells me that "Broadcom code can only supports 3 users in soft AP mode"

3. mwf_mmfae tells me there is a maximum of 5 clients (and this depend on available memory)

In practical way, after connecting 3 differents clients on my SN8205 eval board, I can not connect a fourth one. If I disconnect one client, the fourth one could join the AP.

I'm not able to find the portion of code in the SDK 3.1.2 related to the client connections so I make the supposition that the client connections are managed by the BCM43362 firmware directly (but maybe I'm wrong). So I don't understand the relation with available memory on STM32 side. Could you please help me to understand how I can reach 5 client connections ?

Thanks a lot,

Best regards

0 Likes
Anonymous
Not applicable

Dear everybody,

After a month on other project, I took some time to re-check this problem.

I done some improvements in application memory allocation to reduce overall consumption. Doing so, I was able to increase the IP stack size to 6kB (IP_STACK_SIZE in wiced_network.h).

I split the stack size definition in three differents stacks because I only use AP network interface. This allows to increase stack size without increase overall memory usage if only one or two network interfaces are used.

Currently, the IP stack is the same for the 3 network interfaces (AP, STA, P2P) with this definition :

char wiced_ip_stack[3][IP_STACK_SIZE];

Here is what I did :

#if defined(__SEPARATE_STACK__)

static char*   wiced_ip_stack[3] = { NULL, NULL, NULL };

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_STA_INTERFACE

static char    wiced_stack_sta[IP_STACK_SIZE];

#endif

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_AP_INTERFACE

static char    wiced_stack_ap[IP_STACK_SIZE];

#endif

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_P2P_INTERFACE

static char    wiced_stack_p2p[IP_STACK_SIZE];

#endif

and in wiced_network_init()

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_STA_INTERFACE

    wiced_ip_stack[0] = wiced_stack_sta;

#endif

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_AP_INTERFACE

    wiced_ip_stack[1] = wiced_stack_ap;

#endif

#ifdef WICED_WIFI_USE_P2P_INTERFACE

    wiced_ip_stack[2] = wiced_stack_p2p;

#endif

The good new is that I am now able to connect 4 clients in AP and my software is stable. I can disconnect one client and reconnect an other one and it still works well.

In conclusion, this number of associations is the number given by the wwd_wifi_get_max_associations() call so this result seems logic to me. The previous limitation of 3 is a problem on "my side", I mean a problem with memory allocation of the IP stack. Concerning the 5 clients supported by 43362 softAP implementation, as said by mwf_mmfae, I cannot reach this number and I don't see how to do it. Maybe you can give me others inputs that I missed ?

Thanks for all

0 Likes

You could connect 5 clients when disable security!

4 clients if enable security!

0 Likes
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi Jone,

When you said "disable security", does that mean this : #define SOFT_AP_SECURITY WICED_SECURITY_OPEN in wifi_config_dct.h ?

I tried that on SN8205 module but I still have a maximum of 4 connections to my access point.

0 Likes
Anonymous
Not applicable

In general with the  3.x.x sdk the max is 4


This is due to the WLAN internal RAM limitations since I the fw implements P2P