Running throughput tests

[Bart Jooris]

Dear Kalle,

On 03/28/2014 04:31 PM, Kalle Valo wrote:
> Bart Jooris <Bart.Jooris at intec.ugent.be> writes:
>
>> On 02/27/2014 04:59 PM, Kalle Valo wrote:
>>> Bart Jooris<Bart.Jooris at intec.ugent.be>  writes:
>>>
>>>> Just got a stable 160Mbps
>>>> What could be the next steps to speed up the link?
>>> First I would use the full hostapd configuration which I just added to
>>> the wiki:
>>>
>>> http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath10k/configuration#Full_hostapd_configuration
>>>
>>> Next I would disable all possible debug features from kernel and make
>>> sure that they are not included in the build. And last try to find a
>>> free channel with little interference as possible.
>> No luck for now. 160Mbps seems to be the limit using the mentioned
>> configuration (I had to fix the channel to 36 and add
>> vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42 again to bring up the AP)
>> I'm using sparkLAN WPEA-351AC cards with QCA9880 chip set.
> You are providing very little information which makes it difficult to
> help. For starters:
>
> * What firmware version?
I've cloned 'recently' https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/

tree -D /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X
└── [Mar 29 10:46] hw2.0
├── [Feb 26 19:39] board.bin
├── [Feb 26 19:39] firmware-2.bin
└── [Feb 26 19:39] otp.bin

>
> * What version of ath10k are you using?
I compiled kernel 3.13.5.

bjooris at DSS-1300-2:~/hostap/hostapd$ modinfo ath10k_core
filename: 
/lib/modules/3.13.5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/ath10k_core.ko
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Core module for QCA988X PCIe devices.
author: Qualcomm Atheros
srcversion: DA55C25E71B79D3290536E8
depends: cfg80211,mac80211,ath
intree: Y
vermagic: 3.13.5 SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: debug_mask:Debugging mask (uint)
parm: uart_print:Uart target debugging (bool)
parm: p2p:Enable ath10k P2P support (uint)

bjooris at DSS-1300-2:~/hostap/hostapd$ modinfo ath10k_pci
filename: 
/lib/modules/3.13.5/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/ath10k_pci.ko
firmware: ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board.bin
firmware: ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/otp.bin
firmware: ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware.bin
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Driver support for Atheros QCA988X PCIe devices
author: Qualcomm Atheros
srcversion: 5F60FB9DB0EE6DA2012D4DB
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000003Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: ath10k_core,mac80211
intree: Y
vermagic: 3.13.5 SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: ath10k_target_ps:Enable ath10k Target (SoC) PS option (uint)

>
> * Are you sure that the host is not limiting the throughput in any way?
>    Try to disable _all_ kernel debug options.
/var/log/syslog and dmesg doesn't to be packed with messages related to 
the throughput test. I don't think to have seen the CPU being overloaded 
during the test.
I'm planning to go back to the office tomorrow to verify this.

Further I have these in my kernel config
CONFIG_ATH10K=m
CONFIG_ATH10K_PCI=m
# CONFIG_ATH10K_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_ATH10K_DEBUGFS=y
CONFIG_ATH10K_TRACING=y

I will disable the last two too.

>
> * Also describe your test setup in detail.
>
Common for AP and STA:

-DSS-1300 with i5-2540M CPU @ 2.60GHz - 8GB RAM - SSD 64GB.
-1 sparkLAN WPEA-351AC card with QCA9880 chip set and 3 dual band antenna's.
-Kernel 3.13.5 containing the ath10k modules
-firmwares cloned end of February
-iperf in udp mode used for the  throughput test

AP only:
-ubuntu 12.04 LTS as crda wouldn't build on ubuntu 13.10 (libgcrypt issue).
-hostapd v2.2-devel
-modified regulatory database and crda build
-your Full_hostapd_configuration + channel=36 and vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42

STA only:
-ubuntu 13.10
-nmcli is used to connect to the AP

Distance between AP and STA: 60 cm. Antenna's are now directed orthogonal per device, antennaX (X=1..3) on both devices are pointing in the same direction.
Although I've played a lot with the antenna's directions already and I can't remember one run where it had a lot of impact...

The spectrum analyser measured a band of almost 80MHz being used.


Thanks a lot,

Bart



-- 
Bart Jooris
Department of Information Technology
Internet Based Communication Networks and Services (IBCN)
Ghent University - iMinds
Gaston Crommenlaan 8 (Bus 201), B-9050 Gent, Belgium
E-mail: bart.jooris at intec.UGent.be
M: +32 474 59 53 42
Tel. +32 9 33 14900
Fax +32 9 33 14899