ath12k pcie radios with MLO support?

[Vasanthakumar Thiagarajan]

On 11/12/2025 9:06 PM, Ben Greear wrote:
> 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.

Supported only on AP platforms where the QCN devices are connected with WSI
(https://lore.kernel.org/all/20241211153432.775335-2-kvalo@kernel.org/).

> 
>>> 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?
> 

I'm not aware.

Vasanth