nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Elfving — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 08:20:12 GMT

Glad to hear it! Let us know if there is anything else!

Regards,

Elfving

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:55:25 GMT

After investigation, it appears that the one that stopped communicate was expected to do so due to other factors. The 4 that are supposed to communicate are still doing so. So I would say that with wifi_ready lib + RPU recovery mechanism, it is okay, thank you for your help

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 10:41:41 GMT

Hi,

I put 5 devices on a long test. I am following the event loop now. After 10 days. One of them stopped to communicate, which is significantly better than before, but still not working perfectly. I give you a ppk2 trace where we can see 150mA spikes and 50mA plateau every 100ms. The radio module seems to try to do things without succeeding to do so

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../radio_5F00_crash.ppk2

Sorry for the schematic, I skipped that part. Yes please put my ticket private so I can give you a schematic and more code so you can check my event loop is correct.

I see someone has the same issue, and gave you a code that reproduce the issue, did you make any progress?

Best regards

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Elfving — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 07:53:05 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="Ben_Squar3d"]

I am not sure to understand this. To have a successful connection, one have to use Wi-Fi first right?

[/quote]

Of course we need to trigger a Wi-Fi connection once Wi-Fi is ready, using Wi-Fi in this context here means sending data (after connection)

[quote user="Ben_Squar3d"]

Do you mean I have to stop AS SOON as I receive the event? What if I was already sending something? In the sample, this case is not showed.

[/quote]

Even if the application doesn't stop sending, those packets will fail once Wi-Fi is unready. It really depends on the application design on how best to handle this.

[quote user="Ben_Squar3d"]

This would avoid to have 2 k_sem_wait.

[/quote]

Your suggestion makes sense, we can improve this.

EDIT: Could you also give me the schematics and potentially layout for your board, so that I can confirm that everything is in order there? I can make the case private so that only you and Nordic personell can see the case, if that is preferable to you.

Regards,

Elfving

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 15:12:04 GMT

I will try to follow the event loop, but I have some remarks.

[quote userid="75734" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121786/nrf7002-cannot-connect-to-ssid-after-a-while/539719"]then start using Wi-Fi on successful connection[/quote]

I am not sure to understand this. To have a successful connection, one have to use Wi-Fi first right?

1 (bis)

[quote userid="75734" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121786/nrf7002-cannot-connect-to-ssid-after-a-while/539719"]Wi-Fi not ready event, it has to stop using Wi-Fi (don't send any traffic)[/quote]

Do you mean I have to stop AS SOON as I receive the event? What if I was already sending something? In the sample, this case is not showed.

2) the sta event loop is a bit unclear to me. Is there any particular reason to repeat the instructions

ret = k_sem_take(&wifi_ready_state_changed_sem, K_FOREVER);
			if (ret) {
				LOG_ERR("Failed to take semaphore: %d", ret);
				return ret;
			}

from lines 325 to 329 and then goto check_wifi_ready while check_wifi_ready could also perform the k_sem_wait? A bit like following :

check_wifi_ready:
		LOG_INF("Waiting for Wi-Fi to be ready");
		ret = k_sem_take(&wifi_ready_state_changed_sem, K_FOREVER);
		if (ret) {
			LOG_ERR("Failed to take semaphore: %d", ret);
			return ret;
		}
		if (!wifi_ready_status) {
			LOG_INF("Wi-Fi is not ready");
			/* Perform any cleanup and stop using Wi-Fi and wait for
			 * Wi-Fi to be ready
			 */
			continue;
		}
.
.
.

#ifdef CONFIG_WIFI_READY_LIB
			goto check_wifi_ready;
#else

This would avoid to have 2 k_sem_wait.

I keep you in touch about my tests, thank you for your answers

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Simonr — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 13:24:29 GMT

I'm back in office, and will try to support you on this again.

Can you try to make sure the Wi-Fi ready is integrated properly? When the application receives a Wi-Fi not ready event, it has to stop using Wi-Fi (don't send any traffic) and wait for Wi-Fi ready event and trigger a connection explicitly and then start using Wi-Fi on successful connection. The code just check for Wi-Fi readiness only before issue connect, this is incomplete. Please see the event loop https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf/blob/main/samples/wifi/sta/src/main.c#L295 for reference (should be customized as per use case).

Best regards,

Simon

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:26:55 GMT

By digging a bit more I wanted to see if I could use the command used in this ticket nRF7002 randomly unable to connect to Wifi - Nordic Q&A - Nordic DevZone - Nordic DevZone to recover the RPU, but I see that the function is like the following :

1) What is the use of the mutex if it is used only in this function and not in any sample?

2) Also :

If the stack uses the interface every 20 minutes for example, how can it knows if it has to free resources in the meantime ? I don't see any propagation mechanism in this function, nor in any piece of code encapsulated between CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_RPU_RECOVERY clauses that would propagate this info.

3) How can I call nrf_wifi_util_trigger_rpu_recovery or simillar directly from the code without having to enable and use a shell?

Thank you for your clarifications

[EDIT] I updated to ncs 3.0.2 and I see that now the semaphore is used, and the default propagation delay is 2000ms. And in the ticket that is similar to mine, it doesn't work. It means I am back to square one. The only lead I have now is to be able to trigger rpu_recover like the nrf70 util rpu_recovery_test command but without using shell (we can't afford it in therm of flash and we can't interact with the device when it is in the field). please give instructions.

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 08:29:10 GMT

Hello, okay, I will try 2000ms. I tried 200ms but it doesn't fix the issue. Howerver, I see the default value is 10ms. If 2s is suggested (x200!) would it be relevant to consider to increase this default value significantly?

[quote userid="6207" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/121786/nrf7002-cannot-connect-to-ssid-after-a-while/539302"]Also, I’d suggest running the wifi_station sample with and without your firmware on both the DK and your custom board[/quote]

It is not likely a custom board issue, as I am not the only one having this issue. Is it a possiblity for you to consider running your wifi_station sample + your DK for a long test? As it is Nordic's solution, it appears consistent you run this kind of tests to check if everything works as expected. If so, might it be that running a more complex firmware make the issue rise?

Thank you for your help

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Susheel Nuguru — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 05:45:28 GMT

Sorry for the late reply Benait, Simon is away and I will try to assist you as best as I can.

You can start with setting CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_RPU_RECOVERY_PROPAGATION_DELAY_MS=2000. This gives the app/stack enough time to release everything cleanly before the RPU tries to come back up. Without this delay, it might try to restart while Zephyr is still cleaning up the previous context, and that can easily explain the weird current profile you’re seeing — kind of half-awake, not fully connecting.

Also, I’d suggest running the wifi_station sample with and without your firmware on both the DK and your custom board. That might help narrow down whether it’s board-related or something deeper in the app logic or configs.

Let me know what you see with the delay applied.

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 08:17:56 GMT

Hi,

Sorry for delay, I was out of office. I could tweak CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_RPU_RECOVERY_PROPAGATION_DELAY_MS but how much? What are typical values and which value do you suggest?

Best regards

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Simonr — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:34:28 GMT

Hi Benoit

Håkon is out of office, so I have taken over this case while he's away. Have you also set the RPU recovery propagation delay for example which seems to be required when doing an RPU recovery. https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-latest/page/nrf/drivers/wifi/nrf70_native.html#kconfig_configuration

If not it could be that this strange behavior is the device being caught in a reset loop due to the RPU recovery because the app/stack hasn't had enough time to clean up the resources used before rebooting.

Are you able to see this issue when running one of our sample projects on your custom board? Alternatively, can you see the same issue when using an nRF7002 DK with your custom firmware?

I think a good first step is to narrow down whether this is a SW or HW issue.

Best regards,

Simon

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Wed, 28 May 2025 08:58:28 GMT

Hi, thank you for your answer.

I have RPU recovery kconfig enabled in an extra KConfig frangment (wifi_overlay.conf)

Do you confirm it is a valid way ?

I have enabled wifi-ready library and implemented this semaphore following a private ticket I created and the bug still appear.

Here is my loop :

Net_if_up -> k_sem_take(wifi_ready_sem) -> wifi_connect -> http transmit -> wifi_disconnect -> net_if_down

Should I wait between disconnect and net_if_down? Even though I should, wasn't RPU recovery supposed to recover my system ?

Thank you for your answer

[EDIT] This morning, I had another device that was in bad state. This time, I remembered to save the ppk trace, but it was not consuming 750µA but around 60mA (!) like it was communicating all along.

Here is the trace : devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../radio_5F00_NOK.ppk2

The relevant part is this one, when I removed the battery to measure only ppk2 current and when I attempted a manual loop (net up, wifi co, etc...). The consumption slightly increase, but nothing happens

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Elfving — Wed, 28 May 2025 08:27:05 GMT

Might be that some things need to be set up again after you've turned off the interface. You could for instance have a look at how the STA sample handles this, with the CONFIG_WIFI_READY_LIB and wifi_ready_state_changed_sem. Or just follow the guide below (I think it should still be valid for NCS 2.7):

To enable the RPU recovery (in v2.5-branch and newer), you need to enable this kconfig: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-2.6.2/page/nrf/drivers/wifi/nrf700x/nrf700x.html#cmdoption-arg-CONFIG_NRF_WIFI_RPU_RECOVERY
And implement the Wi-Fi Ready library + handle the events in the application itself: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-2.6.2/page/nrf/libraries/networking/wifi_ready.html
An example of such an handling is implemented in the wifi/sta sample: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-2.6.2/page/nrf/samples/wifi/sta/README.html#rpu_recovery
See the implementations guarded with "CONFIG_WIFI_READY_LIB" here: https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf/blob/v2.5-branch/samples/wifi/sta/src/main.c#L56

This will only reset the nRF7002, not the application. A reset of the nRF7002 will require that the application re-connects to the network and also handle any previous connections as such.

Regards,

Elfving

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Ben_Squar3d — Tue, 27 May 2025 11:51:25 GMT

Hi,

It is a custom design, ncs v2.7.0. When everything is fine, mean consumption is ~85µA or ~150µA when net_if is up but not communicating. After each communication, we disconnect from network and turn off the interface. The system is not in hard fault because everything else is working, it is only not able to connect to SSID anymore, as if the radio was in a bad state.

Thank you

RE: nRF7002 cannot connect to SSID after a while

Elfving — Tue, 27 May 2025 10:52:20 GMT

Hi,

Are you using the nRF7002DK? And what NCS version are you using?

Regards,

Elfving