A little background. We have an adhoc network running on 5Ghz already. We are looking for new wifi modules that support adhoc on 5Ghz. Through suggestions, we found a website called AsiaRF that sells wifi modules and they claim that they support 5Ghz adhoc.
I bought several modules from them. They have single and Multi Radio channel modules. The 2 single channel versions that I had tried have worked as expected and I was able to connect to the 5Ghz network that already exists. All of these are MediaTek based.
I bought several ones that have multiple radio interfaces:
AW7915-NPD
AW7915-NP1
AW7615-NP1
AW7916-NPD
However, I'm a little confused as the process isn't the same.
The AW7915-NPD is supposed to have both 2.4 and 5Ghz on each interface. Using it as a client, I can see 2.4Ghz on one radio and 5Ghz on the other radio only. When setting up the Adhoc on the 5Ghz version, I can connect to the adhoc network with the correct BSS ID, but can't ping or connect to the other nodes.
For the AW7915-NP1, I can only see one radio interface on ifconfig, even though this version's description is supposed to be about being able to select the required frequency on each of the radio interface.
Maybe I'm confused on how to use these or I'm misunderstanding something. If someone has any knowledge, I would greatly appreciate it.
No, this device has both 2.4 and 5GHz interfaces on one device. This is Dual Band Dual Concurrent.
Meaning you can have both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands running at the same time. Two interfaces, one interface for each band. You don't get both bands on both interfaces.
There is only one interface, and on this interface you can select either 2.4GHz or 5GHz. Dual Band, but not Dual Concurrent. Cannot run both bands at the same time.
That explains what I was seeing then. I guess I misunderstood from the description. I'm still unsure why setting up the ad-hoc on the 5Ghz interface did not work though. It gets the correct BSSID but then doesn't ping the other devices. Any suggestions here if you have dealt with adhoc before?
I'm confused about this still. This description seems to be for all standard WIFI modules, you can usually select which band you want. What's special about this and why would it be more expensive than the the NPD version?
Thank you for your help.
The AW7915-NP1 is 4T4R mu-mimo. The AW 7915-NPD is DBDC, but only 2T2R. The NPD also mixes the 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals on shared antennae. This results in some signal loss. The NP1 doesn't have this issue since 2.4GHz and 5GHz isn't used at the same time. In short, for a dedicated router it's a better choice. For in adhoc, the NP1 is likely less appealing.