some time ago I posted about an issue related to connecting an AX210 wifi card to an RPi 5 and running it on OpenWRT. The problem that I ended up with was that I was unable to activate interfaces of the two radios (AX210 and built-in wifi) like APs, once clicked on enable they would automatically become disabled after a few seconds.
In the meanwhile I was able to get to the bottom of the issue, it was the ACS that failed to select or assign (?) a channel causing the interface to auto shutdown. Once I selected a channel manually everything worked correctly (both the AX210 card interfaces as well as the RPi in-built wifi module APs).
I am currently using the latest factory image SNAPSHOT (r27290-64dae1052b), downloaded via the firmware selector for the RPi 5.
The error log as follows:
daemon.err hostapd: ACS: Unable to collect survey data
daemon.err hostapd: ACS: All study options have failed
daemon.err hostapd: Interface initialization failed
daemon.notice hostapd: eth0: interface state ACS->DISABLED
daemon.notice hostapd: eth0: AP-DISABLED
daemon.err hostapd: ACS: Possibly channel configuration is invalid, please report this along with your config file.
daemon.err hostapd: ACS: Failed to start
daemon.notice hostapd: eth0: AP-DISABLED
This is just a heads-up since I was able to get around this problem by manually selecting a channel and it doesn't really affect me anymore now. But maybe there are people experiencing the same issue and this post might make developers aware of it. Otherwise, if you're also using OpenWRT on an RPi5 and ACS works for you, any troubleshooting advice is greatly appreciated.
Little addition: Some people might say that ACS fails because of the AX210 module since it can only work as an AP in the 2.4 Ghz band, however the same problem occurs with the in-built wifi module which can work in both bands and for the AX210 radio node the 2.4 Ghz band was definitely selected when channel selection was on "auto".
Intel does work as AP only in 2.4GHz band
Builtin adapter maximum one access point XOR mesh node XOR client.
Please connect to your OpenWrt device using ssh and copy the output of the following commands and post it here using the "Preformatted text </> " button:
Remember to redact passwords, MAC addresses and any public IP addresses you may have:
ubus call system board
cat /etc/config/network
cat /etc/config/wireless
Builtin adapter maximum one access point XOR mesh node XOR client.
Does that mean I can only have one AP or one mesh node active at a time ? No AP and mesh node operation simultaneously ?
I mean the plan is to connect the phone via USB to the router and then just use the mesh node anyway (I'm building something similar to the MPU5).
I still don't understand where all this limitations are coming from...
Idk, the card is working ok so far and the range is also good. Like I said all I need is just one interface to be active on the card, my device will be a manheld radio not a router providing multiple APs. Connection between OpenWRT and phone happens via USB cable.
From a military tactical standpoint an AP is a safety hazard anyway since it's visible to anyone whose scanning for wifi signals.
According to that document 5 Ghz AP doesn't work on the onboard wifi module (not referring to the AX210 card in this case), however iirc I tested 5 Ghz yesterday and it seemed to do fine (in terms of connecting my phone to the AP and accessing the UI in the browser)...
But I'm gonna test it again today a little bit later just to make sure I'm not writing any bullshit here...
There are multiple issues that have to be taken into consideration: first I want it to be at least 2x2 MIMO which this card offers, then I need multiple USB and RJ45 ports (which are going to be bridged via IP68 connectors).
Think of it this way: the radio is always going to be somewhere near me ideally connected via cable to the radio since a wireless AP is just increasing your radio signature. If an additional AP is absolutely needed I can use the onboard module for that even though it's crap but range doesn't matter for the wireless AP since the phone is always somewhere right next to the radio (the radio being carried on a PC, backpack or so).
Also an OS can be installed on the RPi 5 which is offering you a variety of features that might be needed out in the field (think of it as having a little mini computer and comms radio in one unit)
Of course, safety features like FHSS are still missing but WPA2/3 will do for now.
