WiLink8 Feature Guide/mBSSID up to R8.5

Supported for versions R8.4, R8.4SP1, R8.4SP2, R8.5 and R8.5SP1

Feture Description

• 2 virtual APs on the same physical WL8 device.
• The 2 virtual APs shall operate on the same RF channel.
• In mBSSID mode, the WLAN Component will create 2 SoftAP network interfaces.

-Each AP will have a separate BSSID and SSID.

-Each AP will transmit a separate Beacon.

-Each virtual AP will respond to Probe-Requests separately.

• Support up to 10 traffic links (i.e. 10 connected STAs) total, for both BSSs combined.
• WiFi Privacy / Encryption

-Each of the two APs will be able to enable or disable Privacy, regardless of the other AP’s setting.

-All combinations of Encryption types will be supported.

Setup & Configuration

The mBSSID solution relies on running two instances of the ‘hostapd’ in parallel. This is handle by the ‘user-scripts’ provided by TI as part of the Engineering Drop.
These scripts can be used as a reference of how to operate the mBSSID feature, and their usage is described later in this chapter.
The configuration parameters of the hostapd are located in a configuration file called ‘hostapd.conf’. For the mBSSID feature, there are two such files, one for each AP.
The two files are named “hostapd.conf” (used for the 1st AP) and “hostapd2.conf” (used for the 2nd AP).
These files are provided and may be modified to meet the product requirements. However – there are restrictions and limitations on the content of these files,
and these restrictions and limitations must be met in order for the feature to function correctly.
In addition, two ‘udhcp.conf’ files are provided (see below) for control over the IP addresses provided in each BSS.

1. Make sure the following files are located in /usr/share/wl18xx/

a. hostapd.conf

b. hostapd2.conf

c. udhcp.conf

d. udhcp2.conf

2. Configure the hostapd.conf files as follows:

Attribute/File	hostapd.conf	hostapd2.conf	Comments
hw_mode	g/a	Must be the same
channel	Pick channel according to the HW mode	Must be the same
beacon_int	Pick a valid beacon interval value	Must be the same
interface	wlan1	wlan2
ssid	SitaraAP1	SitaraAP2	Must be different
ap_channel_sync	1	1	Must be set to 1 in both files
max_num_sta	{x}	{y}	x,y <10 and x+y<=10

3. Each AP should be configured with an IP on a different subnet.

The start and end of the IP lease block in the udhcp.conf files should be updated accordingly, as well as the “opt router” (i.e. default-gateway) parameter.

For example:

If AP1 was configured with IP 192.168.43.1 and AP2 was configured with IP 192.168.53.1 (both with 255.255.255.0 mask) then the start, end and opt router should be as follows:

Attribute/File	udhcp.conf	udhcp2.conf
start	192.168.43.20	192.168.53.20
end	192.168.43.254	192.168.53.254
opt router	192.168.43.1	192.168.53.1

User Guide & Examples

During mBSSID mode, each AP has it’s own network interface. The first AP network interface is named “wlan1” and the second AP network interface is named “wlan2”.
Note that these names must be configured in the hostapd.conf files accordingly (see above in setup & configuration).
Each AP is assigned with a unique MAC address. The MAC address is derived from the chip basic MAC address and is incremented serially.
For example if the basic MAC is E0:C7:9D:2D:AA:CC then the first AP will be assigned with E0:C7:9D:2D:AA:CD and the second with E0:C7:9D:2D:AA:CE.

Following are the scripts used for start/stop each BSS:

1. Start the 1st AP: ap_start.sh
2. Start the 2nd AP: ap_start2.sh
3. Stop the 1st AP: ap_stop.sh
4. Stop the 2nd AP: ap_stop2.sh

Note: you can also stop both APs using ap_stop_all.sh script.

Errata/Limitations

None.