Letux Kernel

Wireless

You are looking at an old revision of the page Wireless. This revision was created by Nikolaus Schaller.

Table of Content

How to configure wireless interfaces (UMTS, WLAN, Bluetooth)

WLAN

is configured as SDIO card "mmc1".

Driver: Marvel 8686 (libertas) Firmware: sd8686.bin

Power and Reset

VDD=3150000
# VDD=2800000
echo "255" >/sys/class/leds/tca6507:6/brightness # activate reset
echo "$VDD" >/sys/devices/platform/reg-virt-consumer.4/max_microvolts
echo "$VDD" >/sys/devices/platform/reg-virt-consumer.4/min_microvolts
echo "normal" >/sys/devices/platform/reg-virt-consumer.4/mode
echo "0" >/sys/class/leds/tca6507:6/brightness # release reset

The voltage range is 2.8 V - 3.15 V

Higher voltage means more TX power but drains the battery faster. Lower voltage means to risk malfunctions of the chip (it is specified for 3.0 V - 3.3 V).

Disable power

echo "255" >/sys/class/leds/tca6507:6/brightness # activate reset
echo "0" >/sys/devices/platform/reg-virt-consumer.4/max_microvolts

Configure

The libertas and libertas_sdio kernel modules should be loaded automatically after removing the reset with power enabled.

Then:

iwconfig wlan0 
ifconfig wlan0 up  (ifup wlan0 is broken)
iwlist wlan0 scan

Note: the interface name wlan0, wlan1 etc. is tied to the MAC address of the WLAN chip by udev. So if you swap your SD card to a different GTA04 device, the interface name will change as well (wlan0, wlan1, wlan2, ...)!

Create an ad-hoc network

On the phone run:

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc essid GTA04 enc off channel 6
ifconfig wlan0 10.1.1.1

On a laptop run:

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig wlan0 mode ad-hoc essid GTA04 enc off
ifconfig wlan0 10.1.1.2

Now they should be connected. To verify this try to ping each other.

The call to iwconfig will search for a network with the specified essid and join it. If none is found, a new one will be created. You can check if the devices are connected to the same network by comparing the cell address which can be displayed with 'iwconfig wlan0'.

Depending on the chipsets the syntax may be slightly different. Try 'enc none' if 'off' does not work.

Bluetooth

is accessed through UART1 (/dev/ttyO0 = oh-zero).

Enable power

see section WLAN above (power is shared)

Disable power

see section WLAN above (power is shared)

Configure

Attach to UART1 as HCI interface

SPEED=3000000  # choose 115200 for GTA04A3 boards
hciattach -s $SPEED /dev/ttyO0 any $SPEED flow && sleep 2
hciconfig -a
hciconfig hci0 up; sleep 2
hciconfig hci0 name GTA04
hcitool dev
hcitool scan

Remember to activate where necessary the bluetooth device via the rfkill switches after launching hciatttach.

This assumes a default bit rate of 3 MBit/s. Please check with the manual of your version.

Increase data rate to benefit from bluetooth 2.0 EDR

If your bluetooth chip does not come with 3 MBit/s (only GTA04A3 boards) you can reprogram the interface. This assumes kernel 3.x (or hw-validation kernel after 17th dec 2011) as the UART speed of older kernels might be limited to 115200.

hciattach -s 115200 /dev/ttyO0 any 115200 flow
hciconfig hci0 up
bccmd -d hci0 psset baudrate 12288
bccmd -d hci0 warmreset
killall hciattach
hciattach -s 3000000 /dev/ttyO0 any 3000000 flow
hciconfig hci0 up

If everything went right (watch your kernel log for tx timeout error messages) you should now get the full bluetooth 2.0 EDR speed.

This change is not permanent and has to be done every time you power up the Wi2Wi module.

To save the new baudrate use the following command, but PLEASE make sure everything worked with these settings. If not you might brick your bluetooth chip!

bccmd -d hci0 psset -s 0x1 baudrate 12288

If you personally don't like such high baudrates you can choose your own using the equation:

BAUDRATE = PSKEY_UART_BAUDRATE / 0.004096

where PSKEY_UART_BAUDRATE is the value you need for bccmd (12288 for 3MBaud) and BAUDRATE is the value needed for hciattach.

If you want to know the current baudrate of your chip you could use

bccmd -d hci0 psget -s 0x0 baudrate

The default (power up) baudrate will be shown with

bccmd -d hci0 psget -s 0x1 baudrate

Cofiguring bluetooth in Debian

You can configure bluetooth in init scripts:

echo "-s 3000000 /dev/ttyO0 any 3000000 flow" > /etc/bluetooth/uart

After this

/etc/init.d/bluetooth start

will be working and you can use bluez dbus interface.

WWAN

is connected to the internal HS-USB. Use lsusb to identify the modem and the bus.

Operation needs the OPTION HSO-kernel driver modules which load automatically as soon as the device is recognized on the bus.

The AT command interface is usually /dev/ttyHS3 (or ttyHS4 depending on some race condition during initialization).

Enable power

On the GTA04A3 board the module powers up automatically. Due to a hardware bug in the GTA04A3 it can not be completely powered down. So it will go to sleep mode (3-10 mA) and drain the battery slowly even if the OMAP system is halted. If there is an incoming call, it will even draw more, trying to wake the CPU.

On the GTA04A4 board give a 200ms impulse (0-1-0) on GPIO186 top power on. And a second one to power off. You can identify if the device has been powered up (after approx. 1-2 seconds) through lsusb.

 echo 0 >/sys/devices/virtual/gpio/gpio186/value
 echo 1 >/sys/devices/virtual/gpio/gpio186/value  # 0->1: on
 sleep 1
 echo 0 >/sys/devices/virtual/gpio/gpio186/value
 lsusb
 ... do something
 echo 1 >/sys/devices/virtual/gpio/gpio186/value  # stops operation (but not power)
 sleep 1
 echo 0 >/sys/devices/virtual/gpio/gpio186/value  # 1->0: off

NOTE: the module does not automatically power down if the kernel is shut down or the TPS65950 is forced to remove power from the CPU. Depending on network registration state and reception quality this may draw between 3 and 100 mA.

Voice call

Here are the most important commands:

Command Description
AT+COPS=1 make ATD block until connection set up is sent or rejected
ATDnumber; the semicolon is important to start a voice connection; number allows [0-9]+#*GgIg
AT+CHUP hang up
AT_OPCMENABLE=1 enable the PCM interface
AT+VTS=[0-9A-D]+* send DTMF (if connection is established)

It is possible to set up a (long latency) connection between microphone, speakers and the UMTS voice channel by this command:

arecord -fS16_LE -r8000 | aplay -Dhw:1,0 &
arecord -Dhw:1,0 -fS16_LE -r8000 | aplay &

A real phone software should use pulseaudio instead of these simple pipes and background processes to keep delays low.

Use amixer to control the volume etc. If voice is provided in speakerphone mode or through a (bluetooth) headset, switch to the appropriate filter profile by AT_OPCMPROF