Does CYW43353 support WiFi managed and mesh/ibss mode combinations?

[tiger]

I would like to connect to an AP (managed mode) and mesh network (either ibss or mesh point mode) at the same time using CYW43353.

The CYW43353 chip I use (with the current Linux driver and firmware) supports these modes:

        Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * P2P-device

And valid interface combinations are:

        valid interface combinations:
                 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1,
                   total <= 3, #channels <= 2
                 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-client } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
                   total <= 4, #channels <= 1

It seems that it does not support a combination of managed and mesh (or ibss) mode.

I tested Atheros AR9170, and it supports such combinations.

	Supported interface modes:
		 * IBSS
		 * managed
		 * AP
		 * AP/VLAN
		 * monitor
		 * mesh point
		 * P2P-client

	valid interface combinations:
		 * #{ managed, AP, mesh point, P2P-client } <= 2,
		   total <= 2, #channels <= 1

It shows that it supports managed and mesh point modes at the same time and my experiments confirmed it.

Would it be possible for CYW43353 to support such combinations (possibly with a different firmware/driver)?

Thank you.

[Zhengbao_Zhang]

Hello:

    I searched the internal system, but didn't find any clues that 43353 can support mesh function, we have a chip named 43907 that can support limited wifi mesh functions.

[tiger]

Hello,

As far as I know. CYW43353 supports IBSS mode, which can also be used for mesh networks (though not IEEE 802.11s mesh). I already tested the IBSS mode and it works. The problem is that it does not support manged and IBSS mode at the same time. Would it be possible to support manged + ibss mode combination?

Thank you.

[Zhengbao_Zhang]

Hi:

Ad-Hoc (IBSS) mode

The Ad-Hoc mode is used to create a wireless network without the need of having a Master Access Point in the network. Each station in an IBSS network is managing the network itself. Ad-Hoc is useful for connecting two or more computers to each other when no (useful) AP is around for this purpose.

So if there has an AP around, we can use AP connection, if there has no AP around, we can use IBSS.

so I want to know the actual use case for "manged + ibss mode combination".

Does it mean joining an AP BSS and another IBSS together?

Currently, I can't find a very clear internal flag for this function enabled.

[tiger]

Hello,

Yes. I would like to join an AP BSS and another IBSS together. This is helpful for a moving unit to be in an IBSS based mesh network while receiving data from the Internet when it approaches an AP. I think theoretically the chip should be able to support such a combination, if the firmware supports it. Preferably with two separate channels.

Thanks.

[Zhengbao_Zhang · Accepted solution]

Hello:

   I got a reference, I think we can have a try.

create wlan1 based on wlan0 , and set wlan1 role to ibss, use ibss/wpa_cli commands to create a connection on interface wlan1.

c) start supplicant on wlan0 interface using below command 

	./wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -Dnl80211 -c./wpa_supplicant.conf -m./p2p_supplicant.conf -puse_p2p_group_interface=1p2p_device=1 -e/var/run/entropy.bin -g/var/run/wpa_wlan0_cmd -dddd -B

d) Create wlan1 interface.

	sudo iw dev wlan0 interface add wlan1 type station

e) Add  wlan1 interface to supplicant
	
	./wpa_cli -iwpa_wlan0_cmd -p/var/run/ interface_add wlan1 /home/wpa_supplicant_wlan1.conf nl80211
	
f) Check the secondary interface creation using ifconfig command and assign IP to the interface created.
 

[tiger]

Hello,

Thanks for the information. I tried similar methods before. If the chip does not support the STA/IBSS combination, then I can't set the two interfaces in two different modes.

$ sudo iw list | grep -C 5 combination
                 * AP: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * P2P-client: 0x40 0xd0
                 * P2P-GO: 0x00 0x20 0x40 0xa0 0xb0 0xc0 0xd0
                 * P2P-device: 0x40 0xd0
        software interface modes (can always be added):
        valid interface combinations:
                 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1,
                   total <= 3, #channels <= 2
                 * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-client } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
                   total <= 4, #channels <= 1
        Device supports scan flush.

It does not support a combination of managed and IBSS.