Status of Atheros Wifi Hardware

Status of Atheros Wifi Hardware

Supported NICs

Generally speaking, all 802.11abgn NICs are supported, save the AR5513 MIMO 802.11abg NIC.

Anything listed on http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Atheros should be supported.

However:

The AR5513 is not supported
The AR5523 USB NIC is supported by uath(4)
The AR7010 and AR9271 NICs are not yet supported - the USB glue needs writing for ath(4).
The 802.11ac devices will be supported by an alternate driver (not yet written.)

Supported Chipsets

This is a list of chipsets which the ath(4) and ath_hal(4) code supports.

Chipset	Bus	MAC	Radio	Description	Antennas	802.11n Spatial Streams	Notes
AR5210	PCI	AR5210	AR5210	802.11a only, first generation	2	N/A
AR5211	PCI	AR5211	AR5211	802.11a / 802.11b / “pure-G” (no 11bg)	2	N/A
AR5212	PCI	AR5212	Various	802.11bg/802.11a chipsets	2	N/A
AR2413	PCI/PCIe		Integrated
AR5413	PCI/PCIe
AR5424	PCIe
AR2417	PCI
AR5213	?
AR5416	PCI	AR5416	AR2133 (2ghz) / AR5133 (2/5ghz)	802.11bg(a)n	3	2×2
AR5418	PCIe	AR5416
AR9130	PCI	AR9130	AR2133 (2ghz)	802.11bgn	3	2×2	Embedded; part of the AR913x CPU SoC
AR9160	PCI	AR9160	AR9103 (2ghz) / AR9106 (2/5ghz)	802.11bg(a)n	3	2×2
AR9220	PCI	AR9280	various	802.11bg(a)n	2	2×2
AR9280	PCIe	AR9280	integrated	802.11bg(a)n	2	2×2
AR9281	PCIe	AR9280	integrated	802.11bgn	2	1 TX, 2 RX	This requires an up to date -HEAD for the TX/RX chain configuration to be successfully read from EEPROM
AR9283	PCIe	AR9280	integrated	802.11bgn	2	2×2
AR9285	PCIe	AR9285	integrated	802.11bgn	2	1×1
AR2427	PCIe	AR9285	integrated	802.11bg	2	N/A	This is an AR9285 but without the 11n functionality
AR9287	PCIe	AR9287	integrated	802.11bgn	2	2×2	Supports Short-GI in HT/20 mode
AR9227	PCI	AR9287
AR9380	PCIe	AR9380	integrated	802.11abgn	3	3×3	See AR9300
AR9390	PCIe	AR9380	integrated	802.11abgn	3	3×3	See AR9300
AR9485	PCIe	AR9485	integrated	802.11abg	2	1×1	See AR9300
AR9462	PCIe	AR9462	integrated	802.11abgn	2	2×2	See AR9300
AR955x	PCIe	AR9550	integrated	802.11abgn	2	2×2	See dev/ath_Hal(4)/AR9300

Known chipset issues/limitations/bugs

AR5416 / AR5418

interrupt read-and-clear bug
PHY register read corruption bug
8K max aggregate size if RTS protected, otherwise 64K max size
radar detection limited to primary channel only
can't do 4-addr frames with aggregation; thus it can't participate in WDS without local (Atheros) extensions
block-ack issues with multi-ssid mode (?); thus aggregation is only supported on the first (lowest?) mac address. Or, just don't create more than one virtual 11n-enabled interface.
per-packet TPC can't set a TX Power value of 0dBm, the lowest valid value is 0.5dBm.

AR9130

interrupt read-and-clear bug
PHY register read corruption bug
interrupt mitigation isn't supported? (XXX this should be verified!)
block-ack issues with multi-ssid mode - fixed in revision 1.4.

AR9160

interrupt read-and-clear bug
PHY register read corruption bug
radar detection hang?
mac hangs? (check capabilities in HAL)
baseband hangs? (check capabilities in HAL)

AR9220/AR9280

interrupt read-and-clear bug
baseband hangs?

AR9285

interrupt read-and-clear bug
software-driven receive antenna diversity is implemented but not enabled (and only currently will be useful for station mode.) This isn't a hardware bug; it's a driver issue.

AR9227/AR9287

interrupt read-and-clear bug

Chipsets which I'll be working on

I'll be working on these chipsets once bugs/issues in the above are sorted out.

AR93xx, AR94xx, AR95xx, AR96xx - the descriptor handling and data path modifications are in -HEAD; the HAL is now open source. See AR9300 for more information.

Chipsets I won't be working on

USB chipsets, in particular the AR7010+AR9280, AR9271 or the AR9170 chipset
- although if someone would like to work on these, I'll be happy to help them with it

Vendor Sources

In the past, Ubquiti Networks (www.ubnt.com) shipped Atheros based boards and NICs. Any/all NICs from Ubiquiti work - however now they've moved to integrated units that include the wireless hardware onboard.
- These NICs are known to work: SR2, SR5, XR2, XR5, SR71-A, SR71-12, SR71-15, PCIe SR71

Unex (www.unex.com.tw) ship a variety of Atheros NICs.
- Their Mini-PCI NICs (http://www.unex.com.tw/wi-fi/mini-pci) should work - in particular, the AR9160 based NICs are known to work extremely well.
- Their Mini-PCIe NICs (http://www.unex.com.tw/wi-fi/pcie-mini-card) all work with the AR9380 HAL - except their new 802.11ac NIC. That requires a new driver.

Hardware Matrix

The following is a list of hardware I've used/tested on FreeBSD-HEAD.

Note that “Max TX power” normally refers to TX power at low rates (<24mbit.)

Hardware I own
Card	MAC	PHY	Revision Info	Bus	Modes	Max TX Power	Support	Problems	Last known good SVN revision
Ubiquiti SR71A	AR9160-AC1E	AR9106-AL1A	ath0: AR9160 mac 64.0 RF5133 phy 11.0	Mini-PCI	abgn	16dBm per radio; 3x TX radios	Works Well	Hostap in 11bg and 11a works well; Station mode works well	HEAD
Ubiquiti SR-2	AR5213A-001			MiniPCI	bg	26dBm	Works Well	WPA in hostapd mode is broken until the first group rekey	HEAD
Ubiquiti SR71A-12	AR9220			MiniPCI	bgn	26dBm	Broken	Currently broken and causes a PCI bus panic; need to investigate why	HEAD
Ubiquiti SR71A-15	AR9220		ath0: AR9280 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0	MiniPCI	an	26dBm	Works Well	STA and HostAP modes work well at full TX power mode	HEAD
Ubiquiti SR71E	AR9280		MiniPCIe	abgn	26dBm	Works well	Works well in all operating modes, STA/Hostap, legacy and 802.11n	HEAD
?	AR9283		ath0: AR9280 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0	Mini-PCIe	bgn	??	Works Well	Station mode is stable; hostap mode has not been tested; this is an open-loop TX power control board	HEAD r217921
?	AR2427 (AR9285 w/ 11n disabled)		ath0: AR9285 mac 192.2 RF5133 phy 14.0	Mini-PCIe	bg	??	Stable	11bg STA is stable
AR5BMB	AR5416-AC1A	?	ath1: AR5416 mac 13.10 RF5133 phy 8.1	MiniPCI	abgn	?	Stable	11bg STA is stable	-HEAD
?	AR9285	?	ath0: AR9285 mac 192.2 RF5133 phy 14.0	Mini-PCIe	bgn	?	Stable	11bg STA is stable	-HEAD
Unex DNMA-83	AR9160-BC1A	?	ath0: AR9160 mac 64.1 RF5133 phy 11.0	Mini-PCI	abgn	?	Stable	Stable in 11bg/11a; STA/hostap	-HEAD
AR9287	AR9287-BL1A	integrated	ath0: AR9287 mac 384.2 RF5133 phy 15.15	Mini-PCIe	bgn	?	Stable	Stable in 11bg/11gn; STA/hostap	-HEAD
MB97	AR9227	integrated		Mini-PCI	bgn	?	Stable	Sable in 11bg/11gn; STA/Hostap; this is a Kite rev 1.1 reference design	-HEAD
DBii F52N-PRO	AR9220-AC1A	integrated		Mini-PCI	abgn	??	Partially stable	4.9 and 5ghz stable; the NIC has issues w/ 2.4ghz channels	-HEAD
MB51	AR2413	RF2413 (integrated)	ath1: AR2413 mac 7.8 RF2413 phy 4.5	Mini-PCI	bg	?	Stable	This is an AR2413 reference design
MB55	AR2417	AR5424 (integrated)	AR2417 mac 15.0 RF5424 phy 7.0	Mini-PCI	bg	?	Stable	Stable in 11bg STA/Hostap; this is an AR2417 reference design
Reports from other users
AR5B95	AR9285	?	ath0: AR9285 mac 192.2 RF5133 phy 14.0	Mini-PCIe	bgn	?	Stable	Stable in station mode	-HEAD
3Com 3CRWE154A72	AR5212		ath0: AR5212 mac 5.6 RF5112 phy 4.1	PCMCIA	abg	?	Stable	Hostap untested	HEAD r221669

Table of Contents