nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 14:08:13 GMT

Hi Brian,

Good to hear that you’ve identified the cause of the issue and made progress.

I also noticed that you generated and answered the Wi-Fi firmware in external flash question yourself. This feedback will be shared with our documentation team for further improvement.

Best regards,
Charlie

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:29:27 GMT

For the KCONFIG errors, I have managed to fix those (it doesn't like it in 2.9 if you disable all net logs (CONFIG_NET_LOG=n) as well as have log level settings. I have to disable all the logs anyway as otherwise the image is too big with 2.9 (increase of around 5kB just due to this)

The fatal build error was due to downloading NCS 2.9 from the giuthub directly as a zip, as the build now depends on finding the .git index file.... fixed by reinstalling 2.9 using west....

I will have to get the wifi firmware to be in a seperate XIP flash partition, as otherwise the 2.9 build is too large for mcuboot to accept for DFU... I will open a seperate ticket for this.

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:49:39 GMT

Hi Brian,

[quote user="BrianW"]What is the correct way in 2.9 to set the log level for these modules? (neccessary to get the image to fit in the flash)[/quote]

You can check the configuration dependency and conflict from page Kconfig search.

I think the better approach is to use the nRF Kconfig GUI for configuration, as it helps avoid conflicts and naturally follows dependencies.

After finishing the setup, you can save the modified debug configuration as an overlay file and reuse it for future builds.

You can check the final configuration used during the build in the build folder .config file.

[quote user="BrianW"][By the way, I built wifi_sta for ncs 2.8 (for another ticket) : this most basic wifi sample that literally just connects to a wifi access point and nothing else, uses 550kB out of the 1Mb available. This is not great...][/quote]

Assuming you expect a small memory footprint with such a "simple" sample, but that's not the case. STA mode is not that simple—running the full Wi-Fi stack and driver to support it requires around 500KB. You can find more details on the following page.

Considering the application protocol running on top of the IP protocol, you may need an additional 100-200KB for "simple" samples like UDP, TCP, HTTPS, MQTT, CoAP simple transmission. Scan mode consumes much less memory, around 150KB.

Unfortunately, this is just how the Wi-Fi stack works. Keep in mind that Wi-Fi is typically running on PCs or mobile devices with significantly more memory resources.

Memory requirements for Wi-Fi applications in Station mode

Memory requirements for Wi-Fi applications in Scan mode

Best regards,

Charlie

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:39:06 GMT

Hi Charlie

So, tried to move to 2.9

[quote userid="93921" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/118924/nrf5340-nrf7002-wifi-stack-in-case-of-problems-connecting-to-ap/523328"]NCS 2.9.0 actually has limited changes compared to NCS 2.8.0[/quote]

So, installed 2.9.0, updated the toolchain with the toolchain manager, and gave it a try:

1/ I got a bunch of prj.conf warnings like this one:

warning: The choice symbol NET_ARP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR (defined at
subsys/net/Kconfig.template.log_config.net:21) was selected (set =y), but no symbol ended up as the
choice selection. See docs.zephyrproject.org/.../kconfig.html
and/or look up NET_ARP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR in the menuconfig/guiconfig interface. The Application
Development Primer, Setting Configuration Values, and Kconfig - Tips and Best Practices sections of
the manual might be helpful too.

For all of these lines in my prj.conf

CONFIG_NET_CORE_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_PKT_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_IF_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_TC_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_UTILS_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_CONTEXT_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_CONN_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_ROUTE_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_HTTP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_DHCPV4_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_IPV4_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_TCP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_UDP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_ARP_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_L2_WIFI_MGMT_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_NET_MGMT_EVENT_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_DNS_RESOLVER_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_MQTT_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

CONFIG_TLS_CREDENTIALS_LOG_LEVEL_ERR=y

What is the correct way in 2.9 to set the log level for these modules? (neccessary to get the image to fit in the flash)

[By the way, I built wifi_sta for ncs 2.8 (for another ticket) : this most basic wifi sample that literally just connects to a wifi access point and nothing else, uses 550kB out of the 1Mb available. This is not great...]

2/ fatal build error:

-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: C:/work/dev/if-device-nrf53/cc1-med/build
←[92m-- west build: building application
←[0mninja: error: '/index', needed by 'zephyr/include/generated/ncs_commit.h', missing and no known rule to make it
FATAL ERROR: command exited with status 1: 'C:\ncs\toolchains\b620d30767\opt\bin\cmake.EXE' --build 'C:\work\dev\if-device-nrf53\cc1-med\build'

Any idea what this is and how to fix it?

And this is before I even TRY to use sysbuild....

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 08:58:21 GMT

Well, I now need to attempt the move to sysbuild anyway, as I need to push the wifi firmware patches out to external XIP flash to get the application to fit in the on-chip flash slot for mcuboot to be able to do DFU with it! Ran into this lovely issue (existing since v1.3.0) due to that:

NCSDK-20567: When building an application for MCUboot, the build system does not check whether the compiled application is too big for being an update image

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:24:13 GMT

Hi Brian,

Your understanding is correct. "parent-child" with "--no-sysbuild" are still can be used in NCS 2.9.0 for most samples, but we have stopped maintainace.

This is the reason we encourage developer to use sysbuild from NCS 2.8.0 and avoid potenional strugglling in the further when then encounter issue with parent-child, and there will be no support avaliable.

Best regards,

Charlie

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 17:21:39 GMT

and of course the cmake build scripts in 2.8 are pretty direct about it:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
--- WARNING: Child and parent image functionality is deprecated ---
--- and should be replaced with sysbuild. Child and parent image ---
--- support remains only to allow existing customer applications ---
--- to build and allow porting to sysbuild, it is no longer ---
--- receiving updates or new features and it will not be possible ---
--- to build using child/parent image at all in nRF Connect SDK ---
--- version 2.9 onwards. ---
---------------------------------------------------------------------

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 16:22:36 GMT

[quote userid="93921" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/118924/nrf5340-nrf7002-wifi-stack-in-case-of-problems-connecting-to-ap/523560"]You can still use NCS 2.8 and 2.9 with parent-child images by adding --no-sysbuild since sysbuild is default option, but it may be removed in the future release.[/quote]

Ok, good. This text in 2.7 made me assume parent-child would be removed in 2.9

[quote userid="93921" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/118924/nrf5340-nrf7002-wifi-stack-in-case-of-problems-connecting-to-ap/523560"]The deprecated methods are scheduled for removal after the next release. [/quote]

(since 2.9 would be the one after 2.8 being the next)

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 15:06:55 GMT

nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0 Release Notes:

This release introduces significant, potentially breaking, changes to the SDK:

The previous method to define a board (hardware model) is deprecated and being replaced by a new method (hardware model v2).
The previous method to define multi-image builds (parent-child images) is deprecated and being replaced by Sysbuild (System build).

All samples and applications in the SDK have been migrated. Consult respective documentation as additional or changed parameters might be needed to build them successfully. Applications that are outside of the SDK and use custom-defined boards should not be affected by these changes. However, modifications might still be required as per the migration procedure described in Migration guide for nRF Connect SDK v2.7.0. nRF Connect for VS Code users migrating to the latest version of the SDK might be affected.

All samples and applications in the SDK are built with sysbuild by default. Applications that are outside the SDK are not built with sysbuild by default.

The deprecated methods are scheduled for removal after the next release. We recommend transitioning to the alternatives as soon as possible. Consult migration guides for Migrating to the current hardware model and Migrating from multi-image builds to sysbuild. Exercise caution when migrating production environments to the latest SDK.

You can still use NCS 2.8 and 2.9 with parent-child images by adding --no-sysbuild since sysbuild is default option, but it may be removed in the future release.

Best regards,

Charlie

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:46:44 GMT

[quote userid="93921" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/118924/nrf5340-nrf7002-wifi-stack-in-case-of-problems-connecting-to-ap/523328"]Sorry to hear you're struggling. NCS 2.9.0 actually has limited changes compared to NCS 2.8.0, which you can check in the nRF Connect SDK v2.9.0 Release Notes.[/quote]

The change that I cannot afford to debug right now is to move to sysbuild, as I could not get my application to build reliably when moving 2.6 -> 2.8 and had to revert to the child_image setup (the 2.8 migration took over 2 weeks just to get a stable system again without sysbuild).

The release notes are silent on this point - can I build my application in 2.9 using the child_image system?

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:58:14 GMT

Hi Brian,

Sorry to hear you're struggling. NCS 2.9.0 actually has limited changes compared to NCS 2.8.0, which you can check in the nRF Connect SDK v2.9.0 Release Notes.

I'll check with our Wi-Fi development team to see if they can provide a patch for your current NCS 2.8 solution.

Best regards,
Charlie

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

BrianW — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 15:56:31 GMT

Hi Charlie

I'm really unhappy about this. I just did the update from NCS 2.6 to 2.8 to 'fix' all the wifi issues (see

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 Connecting to wifi : ends up in blocked state consuming 60mA current?

) and now your only attempt at solution is again "upgrade to latest version"? And the zephyr patches you reference in that other discussion are all ancient (end 2023/start 2024)!

Given that the update from 2.6 to 2.8 cost me around 3 week of an unbuildable project and major KConfig issues to get everything to work again (despite identical app code between the 2.6 and 2.8 builds), and that I still didn't manage to get the horror show that is sysbuild to work, I am VERY relucant to try moving to 2.9. (which I understand REQUIRES use of sysbuild).

Can you suggest any workarounds or other config thngs that can get a stable wifi connection on NCS2.8 please?

RE: nrf5340/nrf7002 wifi stack in case of problems connecting to AP?

Charlie — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 14:17:22 GMT

Hi Brian,

Thanks for checking with us about the issues. I similar discussion is undergoing. Please refer to the mentioned fixes.

(+) nrf7002 - RPU is unresponsive for 10 sec - Nordic Q&A - Nordic DevZone - Nordic DevZone

Best regards,

Charlie