(no subject)

[Maksim Iushchenko]

Hello,
I am creating a Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv. I read that
batman-adv is able to work with any types of interfaces, but I still
have a question related to ad-hoc networking. Will Wi-Fi ad-hoc
network (based on batman-adv) work if Wi-Fi chip does not support
802.11s standard?
Unfortunately, there is no mention of ad-hoc mode support in
documentation of many Wi-Fi chips.

How to check if a Wi-Fi chip is suited to be used to create a Wi-Fi
ad-hoc network based on batman-adv?

For example, is ATWILC3000-MR110CA an appropriate chip to build a
Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv? Or maybe you could suggest
any another Wi-Fi chips?

Thanks in advance

Re: WiFi chips/drivers supporting IBSS/802.11s

[Sven Eckelmann]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1984 bytes --]

On Thursday, 14 May 2020 10:17:07 CEST Maksim Iushchenko wrote:
> Hello,

Please add subjects to your mails. Next time, I will just reject this
kind of mail.

> I am creating a Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv. I read that
> batman-adv is able to work with any types of interfaces, but I still
> have a question related to ad-hoc networking. Will Wi-Fi ad-hoc
> network (based on batman-adv) work if Wi-Fi chip does not support
> 802.11s standard?

Hu? You are mixing stuff up. There is traditional IBSS (often called adhoc) 
and then there is 802.11s (meshpoint interfaces with and without an integrated 
mesh protocol).

> Unfortunately, there is no mention of ad-hoc mode support in
> documentation of many Wi-Fi chips.
> 
> How to check if a Wi-Fi chip is suited to be used to create a Wi-Fi
> ad-hoc network based on batman-adv?

Check for "valid interface combinations" in `iw phy`. Here for example from an 
QCA955x (when I remember correctly)

        valid interface combinations:
                 * #{ managed } <= 2048, #{ AP, mesh point } <= 8, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ IBSS } <= 1,
                   total <= 2048, #channels <= 1, STA/AP BI must match, radar detect widths: { 20 MHz (no HT), 20 MHz, 40 MHz }

You can see here that it supports a limited number of mesh points interfaces 
(802.11s) together with AP interfaces. It also supports IBSS (adhoc). Just
keep in mind that there are a lot of broken wifi drivers and wifi firmwares
out there which claim to support IBSS/802.11s but fail to reliably receive
or transmit over these interface types.

> For example, is ATWILC3000-MR110CA an appropriate chip to build a
> Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv? Or maybe you could suggest
> any another Wi-Fi chips?

No idea what it is.

ath9k based chips work good. ath10k work also with ath10k firmware in 802.11s 
mode. Just make sure that you disable mesh_fwding when you want to run 
batman-adv over an meshpoint interface.

Kind regards,
	Sven

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 833 bytes --]

Re:

[fboehm]

Maksim, for clarification:

ATWILC3000 is a Wifi-Module for low-end embedded systems. This module 
consists of a Wifi-Chip + a small processor. The processor does stuff 
like authentication/registration with the Wifi network, WPA-Encryption 
and this kind of things. A typical use-case would be to add a Wifi 
interface to some sort of IoT device or some sort of computer peripheral 
device (like a Wifi-enabled printer or a smart-speaker).

Looking at the driver code it might not be impossible but it's just very 
unlikely that you will be happy to use it in combination with Batman. 
You would first of all need to connect the module to a much more 
powerful processor that runs Linux and Batman. But assuming you anyway 
need such a powerful processor for your application then you have a good 
chance that you can use a real Wifi-Adapter (with USB or PICe interface) 
instead of such a Wifi-Module.

Regards,
Franz


Am 14.05.20 um 10:17 schrieb Maksim Iushchenko:
> Hello,
> I am creating a Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv. I read that
> batman-adv is able to work with any types of interfaces, but I still
> have a question related to ad-hoc networking. Will Wi-Fi ad-hoc
> network (based on batman-adv) work if Wi-Fi chip does not support
> 802.11s standard?
> Unfortunately, there is no mention of ad-hoc mode support in
> documentation of many Wi-Fi chips.
>
> How to check if a Wi-Fi chip is suited to be used to create a Wi-Fi
> ad-hoc network based on batman-adv?
>
> For example, is ATWILC3000-MR110CA an appropriate chip to build a
> Wi-Fi ad-hoc network based on batman-adv? Or maybe you could suggest
> any another Wi-Fi chips?
>
> Thanks in advance