TX Power Change Issue for Intel AX210

[Aytek]

Hi,

We have a test bed in our company to perform Wi-Fi performance tests of the samples. The corresponding performance tests are utilized for both AP-STA and mesh backhaul types. We're using a Minix PC that has Intel ax210 Wi-Fi cards as a client. We have a digital attenuator between DUT and clients to adjust attenuation levels. You can find the brief schematic between DUT and client boxes at the attachment side. 

The issue we have seen is related to the TX power changing of the Intel ax210 clients. You can find our observations below. 

• Case1: We have two Intel ax210 clients and they are used as STA4 and STA2 on our test bed. We use the below commands to get information about the Intel client and change the TX power of the Intel clients respectively. 
  • Get Information: iw dev wlan0 info
  • Change TX power: sudo iw dev wlan0 set txpower fixed 2000 (2000 to set 20dBm)

I can set any TX power value to the STA4 client easily. I can see TX power changing by checking RSSI levels while creating TCP traffic between AP and Intel ax210 client. When I decrease the TX power of the Intel ax210 client, the RSSI levels decrease while running TCP traffic. This is valid for all attenuation levels.  

However,  I use the same commands for the STA2 client, I can not see RSSI differences when I change the TX power of the AX210 client. I set TX power and checked it with the two above commands, but I can not see any RSSI differences when I change TX power for AX210 client. That's why, I'm not sure TX power is changed really or not. 

You can find the information about the our Intel ax210 clients below. 

STA4 AX210 client: configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.19.0-0.deb11.2-amd64 firmware=71.058653f6.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-71.uc ip=192.168.1.39 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

STA2 AX210 client: configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.19.0-0.deb11.2-amd64 firmware=72.daa05125.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-72.uc latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

• Case2: Sometimes I can see the effect of the TX power changing in STA4after certain attenuation levels. I mean that normally I change TX power and see the RSSI difference for STA-4 easily. This is valid for all attenuation levels. But sometimes I can not see any RSSI difference till 20dBm attenuation, although I change TX power of the AX210 client (STA-4) . This is seen randomly, not always. But I have not achieve to find root cause of this issue yet. 

Could you help me about these issues? Why might these errors occur? Do you any any suggestions that we can apply on our side? 

Regards,

Ali

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello Aytek,

Thank you for posting in our communities.

We will do further research on the case that we have and post the response on this thread once it is available.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Aytek]

Hi @ACarmona_Intel ,

Thanks for your reply and contribution to this issue. 

Please let me know if you need additional knowledge about the case. 

Regards,

Ali

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello Aytek,

Thank you so much for patiently waiting on our response.

Based on our investigation, this seems to be a design or development enquiry.

May we know if you are using the AX210 IOT kit (you may send us an adapter photo with labels so we can identify it by MM number) and was the adapter pre-installed or did you integrate it into the Mini PCs?

We look forward to your response!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello Aytek,

We are checking in with you to see if you already have the answers to our questions so we can further isolate our issue.

Thank you, and have a great day!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello Aytek,

We are checking in with you, as we have not heard any response from you.

Thank you, and have a great day!

Best regards,

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ACarmona_Intel]

Hello Aytek, 

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this enquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you, and have a great day ahead. 

Best regards, 

Carmona A.

Intel Customer Support Technician