Wi-Fi disconnection in Jetson Nano with Intel AC-8265 Wi-Fi module

vivek_rawal · July 22, 2022, 11:53am

We have interfaced Jetson Nano Production Module (4 GB) with the Intel AC-8265 Wi-Fi module.

In our application, we are generating Access Point in Jetson Nano and an android device is connected to that Access Point
We are facing an issue with Wi-Fi disconnection in the Android device i.e. the Android device is disconnected from the Access Point automatically, but at the same time, other devices are connected with that Access Point.

We are looking for a solution to this issue.

The specifications of our system are listed below
Jetson Nano Production Module (4 GB)
OS: Ubuntu 18.04
L4T (Linux for Tegra) version: 32.5.1
Jetpack version: 4.5
Kernel version: 4.9
Wifi Chip: Intel AC-8265

alanz · July 25, 2022, 5:55am

Could you clarify more about the issue here? not quite understand.

MilanP · July 25, 2022, 7:39am

Hello @alanz ,

In our product we need to connect Android Tablet to Jetson Nano Board. And they both should be in continuous communication over Wi-Fi.
Fyi, Jetson Nano is only able to create hotspot (AP) at 802.11n -20MHz mode.

Now as mentioned by @vivek_rawal, sometimes Tablet drops the Wi-Fi with Jetson Nano. Hence, communication breaks which results into stop functioning of the product.

Moreover, we were checking and found that Jetson TX2 has power saving mode, when it is connected to router.
We tried to turn off Power saving mode in from Jetson Nano (it works when jetson is not configured as AP) but, the method does not work when Jetson Nano is working as AP.

below is the link we followed:

github.com

robwaat/Tutorial/blob/master/Jetson Disable Wifi Power Management.md

# Disabling the Wi-Fi Power Management on an Nvidia Jetson TX2
## Introduction
In using the Nvidia Jetson Tx2 for robotics and UAV applications where control and data signals are provided via Wi-Fi, the latency associated with the network is very important.
Extreme cases of latent data can cause the system to act on out of date information, degrading control performance or even causing crashes.
With Wi-Fi power management enabled, as is the default case on most Linux based systems such as the TX2, the network interface hardware periodically enters a low-energy sleep mode, waking up at regular intervals to check for received data waiting to be processed.
This means that data sent to a client can experience a large and variable latency (typically 20 - 120 ms) depending on when it arrives relative to the hardware sleep cycle.
Disabling the Wi-Fi interface power management helps stabilise this effect by preventing the hardware from ever entering low power mode.
This action thereby ensures that the Jetson is always ready to process signals in the lowest time possible.

The process of disabling the Wi-Fi power management on an Nvidia Jetson TX2 module, inserted in an Orbitty Carrier board and running the appropriate Connectech Board Support Package (BSP) is, however, non-trivial.

It is noted that the [standard method](https://askubuntu.com/questions/905273/cant-disable-permanently-power-management-on-wifi) for disabling the Wi-Fi power management in an Ubuntu 16.04 based Linux system does not function as desired in the above scenario. Specifically, there is **no effect** in editing `/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf` to resemble the code below, as would normally solve the issues.
```
[connection]
wifi.powersave = 2
```
Other untested methods are located in another [StackExchange thread](https://askubuntu.com/questions/85214/how-can-i-prevent-iwconfig-power-management-from-being-turned-on) but the method detailed in the [instructions](#Instructions) below is known to perform the job as desired.


## Instructions

This file has been truncated. show original

Is there any other way to turn off Power saving mode to jetson Nano while it acts as AP?

Kindly understand the issue and guide us how we can solve this.

vivek_rawal · July 25, 2022, 7:48am

Actually the title should be for this topic,
[Wi-Fi disconnection with target devices when Jetson Nano hosting hotspot (Intel AC-8265 Wi-Fi module)]

@MilanP , has briefed you about the issue
do let us know if any more info needed.

alanz · July 26, 2022, 6:37am

Let’s have a quick try with systemctl mask sleep.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target .

Pls let me know if there is still the disconnection, if yes, pls share the log here.

MilanP · July 27, 2022, 12:27pm

yes, we tried out with above mask.
The result is same. We had the disconnection problem after few hours.

kernlog.txt (1.1 MB)
syslog.txt (13.1 MB)
dmesglog.txt (91.2 KB)

alanz · July 28, 2022, 1:05am

Pls try to disable the ASPM state and test again.

"echo "performance" > /sys/modules/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy"

brijeshy · July 28, 2022, 12:42pm

Thanks for help
We have implemented this, we will continue to test with this next 2-3 days,

brijeshy · August 2, 2022, 6:49am

@alanz After disable of ASPM state by “echo “performance” > /sys/modules/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy”, disconnection issue is decrease, but it is still getting disconnected from android device.

system · August 31, 2022, 1:15am

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