Hi Nvidia and Fellow developer,
I’m working on a project with a Jetson Orin Nano that requires seamless Wi-Fi roaming for a mobile application. I’ve set up a mesh network with three routers, and now I’m trying to ensure the Jetson device properly supports 802.11k/v/r (Fast Roaming).
My Setup:
Device: Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit
Jetpack Version: Jetpack 6.2.1
Kernel Version: 5.15.148
Wi-Fi Card: Intel AX210 M.2 card
The Core Problem:
The default Jetpack 6.2.1 kernel does not include the iwlwifi driver for Intel cards. I have successfully cross-compiled the iwlwifi module from the official NVIDIA kernel sources and loaded it onto my Jetson. The Wi-Fi card is detected and works for basic connectivity.
However, my goal is to enable 802.11k/v/r for seamless roaming. When I check the device’s capabilities, these features are missing.
# These commands return no output
$ iw list | grep -i "Neighbor Report"
$ iw list | grep -i "BSS Transition"
$ iw list | grep -i "Fast BSS Transition"
Investigation and Troubleshooting Steps:
I’ve spent a considerable amount of time diagnosing this, and here’s what I’ve found. The key issue seems to be a mismatch between the iwlwifi driver and the firmware it tries to load.
The dmesg log shows a critical warning:
$ sudo dmesg | grep iwlwifi
...
[ 11.934833] iwlwifi 0001:01:00.0: api flags index 2 larger than supported by driver
[ 11.935239] iwlwifi 0001:01:00.0: loaded firmware version 66.f1c864e0.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-66.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
...
This “api flags… larger than supported” message strongly suggests that the iwlwifi driver from the Kernel 5.15 source is too old for the modern firmwares (v66) available in the linux-firmware package.
I then systematically tried forcing the driver to load older firmware versions (v63, v62, v59) by using symbolic links.
Firmware v63 & v62: The “api flags” warning persisted.
Firmware v59: The driver failed to initialize completely, resulting in a kernel panic within the module and no Wi-Fi interface. The log showed Failed to start RT ucode: -110.
This leads me to believe that the iwlwifi driver within the L4T 36.4.4 kernel source is fundamentally too old to correctly handle any available AX210 firmware for advanced features.
My Questions for the Community:
Has anyone successfully enabled 802.11k/v/r on an Intel AX210 card with Jetpack 6.2.1? If so, what combination of kernel source, driver configuration (.config), and firmware version did you use?
Is there a recommended patch or a specific kernel source branch I should use to compile a more up-to-date iwlwifi driver that is compatible with the Jetson’s 5.15 kernel?
Are there any specific kernel configuration options (CONFIG_…) related to iwlwifi or mac80211 that must be enabled during compilation to expose the 802.11k/v/r capabilities? I used the default tegra_defconfig and enabled the iwlwifi modules.
I’m at a point where I’ve confirmed basic driver compilation works, but I’m stuck on enabling these crucial roaming features. Any guidance, pointers, or shared experiences would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you in advance!