ath12k pcie radios with MLO support?

[Ben Greear]

On 11/11/25 21:15, Vasanthakumar Thiagarajan wrote:
> 
> 
> On 11/12/2025 7:10 AM, Ben Greear wrote:
>> On 11/11/25 17:29, Jeff Johnson wrote:
>>> On 11/11/2025 7:27 AM, Ben Greear wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> Are there any current radios + software available where one can put
>>>> ath12k radios in (mini)pcie slots or similar and use those in x86-64
>>>> chassis and provide tri-band MLO?
>>>>
>>>> Last I looked, Compex had some dual-band radios and maybe single-band
>>>> 6ghz, but I am not sure those can be combined into a tri-band MLO solution?
>>>
>>> Most of the Compex modules use the AP-centric QCN chipsets.
>>> For your use case look for something using the WCN chipset.
>>>
>>> Something like:
>>> https://www.sparklan.com/product/wnfq-291bei/
>>>
>>> (I haven't tried it and don't endorse it, just giving as an example)
>>
>> Hello Jeff,
>>
>> Thanks for the link.  That too is dual band though.  I'm interested in
>> using ath12k radios for wifi testing purposes, so I'd really like tri-band
>> MLO to have some feature parity with the MTK 7996 radio board.
>>
>> Is ath12k able to combine discrete wifi NICs into tri-band MLO stations?
> 
> Yes, ath12k supports tri-band MLO STA. This has been validated for QCN chipsets.
> Not sure if this has been tested for WCN chipsets.

Can this work with some combination of Compex radios in an x86 chassis,
or does it require some integrated AP style platform?  If x86 is supported,
please suggest some radio model(s) you think will work.

>> Or is ath12k entirely DBDC at this point with no tri-band MLO capability?
>>
>> In addition, back in ath10k days, I was able to get the radio to do up to
>> 64 STA vdevs once I put the firmware on a diet.  From a quick look at the ath12k
>> driver, it seems the limit for STA vdevs is exactly 1.  Is there any somewhat-documented
>> way to get ath12k to support more STA vdevs?
> 
> Supporting more number of STA vdevs instead of the current 1 STA will require
> firmware changes (and of course more validations).

Any idea if QCA is offering ath12k FW source under NDA and/or for some price?

We could likely make the changes and validate, but we need the FW source and
a toolchain to compile it.

Thanks,
Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <greearb at candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com