Status of Atheros Wifi Hardware
| Driver | HAL | Supported Hardware | 802.11n support | Debugging |
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 |