Linux Wireless

ath10k is the mac80211 wireless driver for Qualcom Atheros QCA988x family of chips, which support IEEE 802.11ac.

A major difference from ath9k is that there's now a firmware and that's why we had to implement a new driver.

The ath10k driver is located under drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k directory. To easily browse the sources you can access that through github source listing.

• FAQ
• Backports
• Architecture
• Sources & patches
• Debug
• Firmware
• Configuration
• Coding Style
• Spectral Scan
• Monitor Mode
• TODO
• Private Support

• 2015-01-27 QCA6174 support added, will be in 3.20.
• 2013-09-02 Linux 3.11 released, the first kernel release with ath10k
• 2013-07-14 ath10k merged into Linux 3.11-rc1
• 2013-06-01 review v2: http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=137008586705509&w=2

ath10k has it's own mailing list for discussions and patches:

http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/ath10k

Archive for the mailing list:

http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/ath10k/

For real time discussions there is #ath10k channel on Freenode.

• firmware does not support association to the same AP from different virtual STA interfaces (driver prints “ath10k: Failed to add peer XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX for VDEV: X” in that case)
• packet injection isn't supported yet
• applying ath9k regulatory domain hack patch from OpenWRT causes firmware crash (reason: regulatory hint function is never called and ath10k never sends scan channel list to the firmware which in turn causes firmware to crash on scan)
• tx rate is reported as 6mbps due to firmware limitation (no tx rate information in tx completions); instead see /sys/kernel/debug/ieee80211/phyX/ath10k/fw_stats
• WEP doesn't work with AP_VLANs - frames are sent unencrypted (observed on: 999.999.0.636, 10.2.4.20-1, 10.1.467.2-1)

Please send bug reports to the mailing list ath10k@lists.infradead.org

ath10k supports Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac QCA98xx hw2.0 based devices, here's a list of known products:

• QCA9890 Version 2 found in A family of Dual band/Single band/high powered/extended temp radio modules from Doodle Labs
• QCA9892 Version 2 found in A family of DUal band/Single band/high powered/extended temp radio modules from Doodle Labs
• QCA9882 Version 2 found in Compex WLE600V5-27 11ac 2x2 miniPCIe Wireless Module
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in SparkLan: WPEA-352ACN - supports 802.11ac radio
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WPJ344 - supports 802.11ac radio
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WLE900V5-18
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WLE900V5-23
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WLE900VX [1]
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in Unex: DAXA-O1
• QCA9882 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WLE600V5-18
• QCA9882 Version 2 found in Compex acWave: WLE600V5-23
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in TP-Link : Archer C7 v2.x
• QCA9880 Version 2 found in TP-Link : WDR7500 v3.0

[1] The Compex WLE900VX card enumerates as PCI device on some PCs but not for some other PCs. The reason could possibly be electric issue, kernel version, or PC hardware. Detailed info: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84821. Compex says that the use of this card with ath10k is not officially supported. Windows drivers aren't released.

ath10k does NOT support older QCA98xx hw1.0 chips found, for example, from these devices:

• QCA9880 Version 1 found in TP-Link WDR-7500 v2 and Archer C7 v1.x