Is Beamforming active by default?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi,

I have some R7800 APs and read in the forum that beamforming has not to be activated manually. But for Belkin RT3200 (https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/e8450) there is a not on the device page that it should be activated by:

option he_su_beamformee '1'
option he_bss_color '8'

Does anybody know how I can check if hostap is using beamforming?

Cheers,
Nils

2

The dynamically generated runtime hostapd configuration is stored under /tmp/, just search for it (find /tmp/ | grep hostapd).

1 Like
3

Checked hostapd-phy0.conf and hostapd-phy1.conf under /tmp/run and also the logfiles but there is no beamforming entry for Netgear R7800 and Zyxel NBG6817 but for Zyxel WAX206 if the settings are added...does this mean beamforming is inactive for R7800 and NBG6817 even if it has a supported flag?

WAX206
Nov 12 20:00:26 OpenWrt5 hostapd: Configuration file: data: driver=nl80211 logger_syslog=127 logger_syslog_level=2 logger_stdout=127 logger_stdout_level=2 country_code=DE ieee80211d=1 ieee80211h=1 hw_mode=a beacon_int=100 chanlist=100 tx_queue_data2_burst=2.0 #num_global_macaddr=1 ieee80211n=1 ht_coex=0 ht_capab=[HT40+][LDPC][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][TX-STBC][RX-STBC1][MAX-AMSDU-7935] ieee80211ac=1 vht_oper_chwidth=2 vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=114 vht_capab=[RXLDPC][SHORT-GI-80][SHORT-GI-160][TX-STBC-2BY1][SU-BEAMFORMER][SU-BEAMFORMEE][MU-BEAMFORMER][MU-BEAMFORMEE][RX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][TX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][RX-STBC-1][SOUNDING-DIMENSION-4][BF-ANTENNA-4][MAX-MPDU-7991][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP7] ieee80211ax=1 he_oper_chwidth=2 he_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=114 he_su_beamformer=1 he_su_beamformee=1 he_mu_beamformer=1 he_bss_color=8 he_spr_sr_control=3 he_default_pe_duration=4 he_rts_threshold=1023 he_mu_edca_qos_info_param_count=0 he_mu_edca_qos_info_q_ack=0 he_mu_edca_qos_info_queue_request=0 he_mu_edca_qos_info_txop_requ

Zyxel NBG6817/also R7800
Nov 15 20:33:36 OpenWrt hostapd: Configuration file: data: driver=nl80211 logger_syslog=127 logger_syslog_level=2 logger_stdout=127 logger_stdout_level=2 country_code=DE ieee80211d=1 ieee80211h=1 hw_mode=a beacon_int=100 chanlist=136, 140, 132, 116, 112, 108, 104, 100 tx_queue_data2_burst=2.0 #num_global_macaddr=1 ieee80211n=1 ht_coex=0 ht_capab=[HT40+][LDPC][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][TX-STBC][RX-STBC1][MAX-AMSDU-7935][DSSS_CCK-40] ieee80211ac=1 vht_oper_chwidth=1 vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42 vht_capab=[RXLDPC][SHORT-GI-80][SHORT-GI-160][TX-STBC-2BY1][SU-BEAMFORMER][SU-BEAMFORMEE][MU-BEAMFORMER][MU-BEAMFORMEE][RX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][TX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][RX-STBC-1][SOUNDING-DIMENSION-4][BF-ANTENNA-4][VHT160-80PLUS80][MAX-MPDU-11454][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP7] channel=36 interface=phy0-ap0 bssid=60:31:97:3e:89:25 ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd ap_isolate=1 ap_max_inactivity=1200 bss_load_update_period=60 chan_util_avg_period=600 disassoc_low_ack=0 skip_inactivity_poll=0 preamble=1 wmm_enabled=1 ignore_broadcast_ssid=0

Cheers,
Nils

1 Like
4

Found a thread that pointing out beamforming is active for Wifi5 by default and for Wifi6 is not. That should be the case because both devices behave differently.

This is the reason it should be enabled manually for Wifi6 (AX).

1 Like
5

Can you link that thread?

6

… and please answer your own question on the different Wifi 6 devices too?

In particular: does the WAX206 have beamforming active by default ? If not, how can one tell if the log does list it ?

7

To my knowledge BSS color has no special meaning related to beamforming. And certainly there is no magic value 8.
(BSS color is just a (pertty much randomly selected) ID used in wifi6 to indicate which BSSs are related in a "multiple APs overlapping" situation.)

1 Like
8
9

Is this also true for WAX206 device ? If so, what else needs to be added, as from the log it would appear beamforming is activated...

10

Those defaults seem to be overridden by the actual query for the phy capabilities...

11

This ''''Solution''' seems to be a mis-interpretation of the (generation of the) actual phy configuration (or inappropriately generalizing the finding on some of the OP's devices). It is of note that the ieee80211ax flag is missing in the OP's phy config of the ' Zyxel NBG6817/also R7800' devices...
For another Wifi6 device (DAP-X1860), the beamforming is active immediately upon factory firmware flash of OpenWrt 23.05.2, r23630-842932a63d.

small snippet for reference here:

...
ieee80211n=1
ht_coex=0
ht_capab=[HT40+][LDPC][SHORT-GI-20][SHORT-GI-40][TX-STBC][RX-STBC1][MAX-AMSDU-7935]
ieee80211ac=1
vht_oper_chwidth=1
vht_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42
vht_capab=[RXLDPC][SHORT-GI-80][TX-STBC-2BY1][SU-BEAMFORMER][SU-BEAMFORMEE][MU-BEAMFORMER][MU-BEAMFORMEE][RX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][TX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][RX-STBC-1][SOUNDING-DIMENSION-2][BF-ANTENNA-2][MAX-MPDU-7991][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP7]
ieee80211ax=1
he_oper_chwidth=1
he_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=42
he_su_beamformer=1
he_su_beamformee=1
he_mu_beamformer=1
he_bss_color=128
...
1 Like
12

It looks the same for me with OpenWrt 23.05.2


vht_capab=[RXLDPC][SHORT-GI-80][SHORT-GI-160][TX-STBC-2BY1][SU-BEAMFORMER][SU-BE
AMFORMEE][MU-BEAMFORMER][MU-BEAMFORMEE][RX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][TX-ANTENNA-PATTERN][
RX-STBC-1][SOUNDING-DIMENSION-4][BF-ANTENNA-4][MAX-MPDU-7991][MAX-A-MPDU-LEN-EXP
7]
ieee80211ax=1
he_oper_chwidth=2
he_oper_centr_freq_seg0_idx=114
he_su_beamformer=1
he_su_beamformee=1
he_mu_beamformer=1
he_bss_color=5
he_spr_sr_control=3
he_default_pe_duration=4
he_rts_threshold=1023
13

This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.