about noise level, signal level and quality

[Theodor Milkov]

On Mon, Jan 13, 2003 at 06:30:07PM -0500, Hairong Sun wrote:
<cut>
> Since "signal" and "noise" are converted by (1x100+v*100/255-100) and
> "quality" is converted by (signal-noise-35) in "prism2_ap_get_sta_qual()" from their
> original values (last_rx_signal and last_rx_silence) in the firmware, my
> questions are
> 
> 1. what do "signal","noise", last_rx_signal, and last_rx_silence
> really mean in the driver AND firmware?
> 2. how to explain the noise level reading in my experiments (i.e.,noise
> level changes little with the interference from neighboring AP)?

Our experience with 2002-10-12 version of hostap driver shows that
signal/noise readings in Master mode are in some unknown value and
signal level change of 2..3 points is actually change with 10's of dBm.

In Managed mode it seems that noise level doesn't change, but signal
level is actually function of signal level AND noise level. However
readings from hostap_cs/prism2 card and orinoco/ornoco_cs do not match.

Does anyone have more information?

-- 
        Theodor Milkov        Network Administrator
        Davidov Net           Phone: +359 (2) 730158