Wi Fi Stability Issues WICED 3.5.1

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grphc_1578046
Level 4
Level 4
10 likes received First like received First like given

During our testing we have found some stability issues with the Wi-Fi networking on WICED 3.5.1.

What we have found after significant time reviewing the Wi-Fi network code operation is that there are many areas where the WICED code does not do error checking during network shutdown. This seems to leave hanging items (pointers, partially initialized structures etc.)  in the network structure which we believe result in the networking failure and the network fails to restart effectively when a Wi-Fi dropout occurs. We have over 100 devices in a couple of locations all running on the same network that are constantly encountering these conditions. Without our changes the devices end up hung – offline, while their internal WICED states show the network up.

We take the drastic action of rebooting these devices when we encounter these failed conditions. The result is the network remains “working”. The reboot is a serious issue as we are dealing with commercial IoT solution and the results of the reboot are visible to observers of the system.

Please review the code additions to this file to see where we have found issues. They are clearly marked with Sierra Telecom tags. We have run this code in the debugger and have found that these failures exist in “normal” operation. We have not spent the time needed to work out what the real cleanup should be when these routines fail. BUT without catching these errors and taking action we know the system becomes unstable and goes offline –

Thanks

File from: WICED-SDK 3.5.1/WICED/WWD/internal

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14 Replies
AxLi_1746341
Level 7
Level 7
10 comments on KBA 5 comments on KBA First comment on KBA

Hi sierratelecom​,

I do observe the same issues while testing with large number of devices.

My workaround to fix it is similar to yours, REBOOT. (Otherwise the device is useless.)

This is really something needs fix/improve in the SDK.

Axel

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Cypress support team is looking into thIs.

Same issue on my side.
Thank you Cypress team !

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Anonymous
Not applicable

gangi -  Any projected timelines for the bugfix  ?

Anonymous
Not applicable

I'm also waiting.

This issue is also observed WICED SDK 3.1.2.

gangi wrote:

Cypress support team is looking into thIs.

Any update on this issue?

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gangi wrote:

Cypress support team is looking into thIs.

I don't see any fixes/improvements about this issue in latest 3.7.0-3 SDK release note.

How is the status about this issue?

mwf_mmfae

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gangi wrote:

Cypress support team is looking into thIs.

gangi

I don't see any fix about this issue mentioned in latest SDK.

What is the status about this issue?

May people asking the status update in the thread.

Why there is no response from Cypress team?

Hello,

The changelog in SDK 4.0 listed improvements to Wifi. Can we assume that the problems listed in this forum thread are fixed with the 4.0 SDK?

thanks

rifo

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riforifo wrote:

Hello,

The changelog in SDK 4.0 listed improvements to Wifi. Can we assume that the problems listed in this forum thread are fixed with the 4.0 SDK?

thanks

rifo

I don't see anything mentioned the improve about wifi stability issuse (see below change log)

In additional, I need to know what is exactly fixed because I need to backport it to older SDK if possible.

Changes for WICED-SDK 4.0

* Applications

  * New rewritten WICED Audio Player - demo.audio_player, supersedes snip.audio_player, snip.flac

  * New Wi-Fi Connection Manager API and Sample application framework (snip.wifi_connection_manager)

  * Documentation and API Enhancements

* Libraries, Protocols, Drivers

  * Integrated Bluetooth embedded stack support for BCM20706A2 chips (when used in conjunction with the BCM43907 SoC)

  * Support for AMQP v1.0

  * Stability fixes (including resolution to memory leaks) to BESL TLS and DTLS libraries

  * Homekit enhancements

  * Enterprise security support on BCM4390x platforms

   * Support for EAP-TLS Enterprise security protocol with SteelBelt, FreeRadius, IAS, ACS and Device

   * Support for PEAPv0 Enterprise security protocol with SteelBelt, FreeRadius and Device

  * Added support for NuttX RTOS. Currently this is supported on 4390X platforms only

  * Added support for Cypress FM4 MCU

  * Added AAC Audio Decoder (supporting iTunes M4A Audio files)

  * AK4961 DSP Driver enhancement for using integrated DSP on AK4961 for post-processing

  * New wiced console logging API for syslog style event logging

  * New WLAN firmware 7.15.168.76 for 4390x

  * New WLAN firmware 5.90.230.15 for 43362

  * New WLAN firmware 7.45.98.4 for 43364, 4343X

Hello Axel,

I thought that below points may contain some fixes for the issues listed in this thread but of course I am merely speculating

  * New WLAN firmware 7.15.168.76 for 4390x

  * New WLAN firmware 5.90.230.15 for 43362

  * New WLAN firmware 7.45.98.4 for 43364, 4343X

riforifo wrote:

Hello Axel,

I thought that below points may contain some fixes for the issues listed in this thread but of course I am merely speculating

  * New WLAN firmware 7.15.168.76 for 4390x

  * New WLAN firmware 5.90.230.15 for 43362

  * New WLAN firmware 7.45.98.4 for 43364, 4343X

It does not include the platform I'm using.

In additional, it does not tell what is exactly fixed in new firmware.

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grphc_1578046
Level 4
Level 4
10 likes received First like received First like given

We have migrated our code base to 4.0. The main improvement came when using the new Wi Fi Binary update.
We have seen a considerable improvement but still have a few outstanding issues. Some of them we have made workarounds and modifications to WICED code which we have shared with Cypress. Main issues involve failure to correctly handle error conditions that result in failed communications and leaves system in undefined states.

We still see null function floods on the Wi Fi network.

To enhance network stability we implemented our own keep alive system. Multicast seems to drop from groups at times and we are still reviewing this issue.

sierratelecom wrote:

To enhance network stability we implemented our own keep alive system. Multicast seems to drop from groups at times and we are still reviewing this issue.

I have my own implementation of keep alive mechanism to avoid stability issues as well.

However, any workaround for stability issues has to reboot device when necessary which is a user visible behavior.

That is why I asked the fixes/root cause of this issue since gangi​ replied "the cypress team is looking into this issue" a couple months ago. No further feedback so far?