The throughput is not good

[Alex888]

Hi,

We are using MTK 6890 with the wifi chip AzureWave module(the model is AW-XM458) as an AP. We are measuring the 5Ghz 80211.ax throughput but it's not good .

Our testing is perfomed in a chamber. With one NB connected via RNDIS (RNDIS throughput is OK can reach 1.8Gbps),  and other NB connected via Wi-Fi. And we are using iperf3 to measure the TCP throughput:

iperf3 -c 192.168.XX.XX -p 8080 -t60 -O3 -P7 (-R)

The result is about 580Mbps in downlink

[SUM] 0.00-59.99 sec 4.06 GBytes 581 Mbits/sec sender
[SUM] 0.00-59.99 sec 4.06 GBytes 581 Mbits/sec receiver

and 540Mbps in uplink

[SUM] 0.00-60.00 sec 3.73 GBytes 537 Mbits/sec sender
[SUM] 0.00-60.00 sec 3.73 GBytes 537 Mbits/sec receiver

Compared to the throughput in the release note (PCIE-WLAN-UART-BT-9098-U16-X86-17.68.1.p109.2-17.26.1.p109.2-MXM5X17312.P5_V0V1-MGPL-Releasenotes):

which is 737 Mbps for TX and 760Mbps in RX (Mobile AP Mode Throughput - AX Mode | 5GHz Band | 80 MHz | 2SS), out throughput is not good.

Is there any parameters or settings that could affect the throughput?  Any suggestion?

This is very urgent because we will need to pass TR398 tests. Please help.

Thank you.

[weidong_sun]

Hello @Alex888 ,

In driver souce code, wlan_src directory, you can find README_MLAN.

you can try to re-configure mlan0.

-----addbapara

This command can be used to update the default ADDBA parameters.

where <m> is <timeout>
<timeout> - This is the block ack timeout for ADDBA request.
0 : Disable (recommended for throughput test)
1 - 65535 : Block Ack Timeout in TU

......

----arb
Set HW ARB mode
The command needs to be issued before association.

Usage:
mlanutl mlanX arb [mode]

where the parameter is:
[mode]:
0: arb mode 0 (default)
1: arb mode 1
2: arb mode 2
3: arb mode 3 (Improve TX throughput)
4: arb mode 4 (Improve RX throughput)

Example :
mlanutl mlan0 arb 1 : Set HW ARB mode 1

So try these 2 settings, then try to test it.

In addition, I feel your parameter list for loading driver should be Ok.

Regards,

weidong

[Alex888]

Hello Weidong,

Any suggestions?

Our main goal is to pass 720Mbps for uplink and downlink, specially uplink, since the best throughput we can achieve is about 530~550Mbps. We need to surpass 720 Mbps for TR398 testings. 

Could you please tell us what  was the NXP settings to get the throughput 737 Mbps for TX and 760Mbps in RX (Mobile AP Mode Throughput - AX Mode | 5GHz Band | 80 MHz | 2SS) in the release note?

Please kindly help ASAP. 

Thank you.

[Alex888]

Hi Weidong,

Since our product is AP, so we checked the README_UAP.

In the README there is the addbapara parameter: 

addbapara
---------
"./uaputl.exe addbapara [timeout txwinsize rxwinsize txamsdu rxamsdu]"
This command can be used to update the default ADDBA parameters.

The supported options are:
timeout - This is the block ack timeout for ADDBA request.
0 : Disable (recommended for throughput test)
1 - 65535 : Block Ack Timeout in TU
txwinsize - Buffer size for ADDBA request. (32 is default value)
rxwinsize - Buffer size for ADDBA response. (16 is default value)
txamsdu - amsdu support for ADDBA request. (1 is default value)
0 : Disable amsdu in ADDBA request.
1 - Enable amsdu in ADDBA request.
rxamsdu - amsdu support for ADDBA response. (1 is default value)
0 : Disable amsdu in ADDBA response.
1 - Enable amsdu in ADDBA response.
empty - Get current ADDBA parameters.

We checked on our device, the default value of addbapra was:

/ # uaputl addbapara
ADDBA parameters:
timeout=65535
txwinsize=64
rxwinsize=64
txamsdu=1
rxamsdu=1

So we disabled it as below:

uaputl addbapara 0 64 64 1 1

But the throughput result after change seems to be almost the same. One question, after set timeout to 0 (Disable), the other parameters  like txwinsize or txamsdu are invalid, right?

The other parameter ----arb (Set HW ARB mode) I could not found it on README_UAP. I have tried with

mlanutl mlan0 arb command but shows:

/ # mlanutl mlan0 arb
mlanutl: No such device
mlanutl: arb fail

Are there other settings  that we could try to improve the throughput?

Which logs can we check from the AP side? (For example, logs or any error messages about the TCP throughput?

Thanks.

[weidong_sun]

Hello @Alex888 ,

AzureWave should have the throughput test report of AW-XM458 module.

could you ask them for the report for reference?

Regards,

weidong

[Alex888]

Hi Weidong,

Yes, Azw has provided the throughput test report of AW-XM458 module.

The result is simmilar to the release note of NXP.

TCP throughput on 802.11ax is 663.39Mbps for TX and 704.89 Mbps for RX.

Please refer to the attached pic (Azw_wifi_tput.jpg)

Thanks.

[weidong_sun]

Hello @Alex888 

I  checked it internally.

The test platform we use is Linux PC, so the data of release note is based on PC platform. The throughput of WiFi is affected by different platforms.

We analyzed your iperf3 command. You test it with 7 streams, and the throughput value you get is relatively high.

Regards,

weidong

[Alex888]

Hi Weidong,

So the test platform you used was Linux PC? What is your test environment and wi-fi STA chipset? We are using intel Wi-fi 6 chipset.

And also could you tell us what's your iperf command?

As told before,  our throughput measured are 540Mbps for TX and 580Mbps for RX, 

it's hugh difference compared to the tput value on the NXP's release notes (737 Mbps for TX and 760Mbps for RX). It's about 26.7% difference on TX and 23.6% on RX!

Also we need to pass TR398 (https://www.broadband-forum.org/download/TR-398.pdf) tests, which 6.2.2 Maximum Throughput requires 720Mbps for TX and RX as pass criteria.

Thanks.

[weidong_sun]

Hello @Alex888 

Sorry for my delay reply!

I tried to test throughput of 9098 even if I don't have shielding room.

I just want to know which command can improve throughput.

So you can try these 2 commands.

1. ./uaputl.exe addbapara 0 64 64 0 0

test it.

command, ./uaputl.exe addbapara, is to get current settings.

2. ./mlanutl uap0 tcpackenh 0 (or 1)

0, disable tcp ack enhancement.

1, enable tcp ask enhancement. (default setting)

then 

test it and comprare previous throughput. if no improvement, go back to default setting.

Regards,

weidong

[weidong_sun]

Hello @Alex888 ,

When loading 9098 driver, add host_mlme=1 to parameter list, please!

Then try it again,please!

In addition, for testing throughput, you should consider sheilding room, because radio siginal in normal enronment will have a larger effect on your test.

Regards,

weidong

[Alex888]

Hello Weidong,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

In our firmware, when loading 9098driver, host_mlme=1 is already in the parameter list.

The parameters in wifi_mod_para.conf are as below:

PCIE9098_0 = {
cfg80211_wext=0xa
max_vir_bss=1
cal_data_cfg=none
mfg_mode=0
fw_name=nxp/pcieuart9098_combo_v1.bin
drv_mode=0x2
host_mlme=1
cntry_txpwr=1
pm_keep_power=1

}

Are these paramters correct?

Yes, we were testing in a sheilding room (I wrote "chamber", but it's the sheilding room where we do the tests)

THanks.