ATH9K HTDMA Hybrid TDMA/CSMA MAC

+-----------+------------------------------------+
|           |                                    | Python HMAC Wrapper enables
|  User     |   HMAC Python Wrapper              | easy integration in python scripts
|  Space    |                                    | starts / stops / updates HMAC
|           |                                    | user-space daemon and schedule
|           +---------------+--------------------+ via ZMQ IPC
|                           |                    |
|                           | ZeroMQ             |
|                           |                    |
|                           |                    |  
|           +---------------v--------------------+  
|           |                                    | HMAC User Space Daemon  
|           |   HMAC User-Space Daemon           | schedules Software Queues  
|           |                                    | by sending Netlink Commands  
|           |                                    | to wake/sleep specific TIDs  
+-----------+---------------+--------------------+ of a Link identied through  
                            |                      MAC address  
                            |  Netlink  
                            |  
+-----------+---------------v--------------------+
|           |               |                    |
|  Kernel   |     cfg80211  |                    |
|  Space    |               |                    |
|           |               |                    |
|           +---------------v--------------------+
|           |               |                    |
|           |               |                    |
|           |     mac80211  |                    |
|           |               |                    |
|           +---------------v--------------------+
|           |               | MAC ao:f1:...      | ATH9k Traffic Identifier
|           |               +--+--+--+--+        | Software Queues
|           |     ath9k     |  |  |  |  |...     | HMAC pauses/unpauses Queues
|           |               |0 |1 |2 |3 |        | 7 Queues (TIDs per Link)
+-----------+---------------------------+--------+

HOW TO INSTALL ATH9K HTDMA on Ubuntu Linux in 3 steps:

Download HMAC sources:

cd ~; mkdir hmac; cd hmac; git clone https://github.com/szehl/ath9k-hmac.git; 

Install 3.12 kernel:

chmod +x ath9k-hmac/install_3.12_kernel.sh; ath9k-hmac/install_3.12_kernel.sh

Now reboot machine and choose 3.12 kernel during boot in the grub menu.

Install HMAC driver

cd ~/hmac/ath9k-hmac/backports-3.12.8-1; make defconfig-ath9k; make -j4; sudo make install

Now again reboot your machine and choose 3.12 kernel during boot in the grub menu. After Reboot the ATH9k-HMAC should be installed, you can check by typing

dmesg | grep HMAC

If the output is something like:

[    3.711813] ath: ATH9K HMAC ENABLED

Everything went well.

HOW TO USE ATH9k HMAC

First you have to compile the hmac_userspace_daemon. If you installed the ATH9k HMAC driver with the 3 step manual, you can simply use:

cd ~/hmac/ath9k-hmac/hmac_userspace_daemon; make;

Otherwise make sure that the file hmac_userspace_daemon/hybrid_tdma_csma_mac.c includes the correct nl80211.h you used during building the ATH9k HTDMA driver.

You can now use the HMAC Python Wrapper to start the ATH9k HMAC.

Make sure, that the ATH9K WiFi interface you want to use is up (e.g. sudo ifconfig wlan0 up), rfkill does not block WiFi (e.g. sudo rfkill unblock all).

cd ~/hmac/ath9k-hmac/; python hmac_python_wrapper/hmac_python_wrapper.py wlan0

The Usual Output of the Wrapper should be like this:

root@earth:~/hmac/ath9k-hmac$ python hmac_python_wrapper/hmac_python_wrapper.py wlan0
Function: installMacProcessor
Calling hybrid mac executable w/ = hmac_userspace_daemon/hmac_userspace_daemon -d 0  -iwlan0 -f20000 -n10 -c1,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#2,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#3,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#4,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1
[0: 
1: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
2: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
3: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
4: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
5: 
6: 
7: 
8: 
9: 
]

Debug = 0
Interface = wlan0
Slot Duration = 20000
Total number of slots in frame = 10
Config = 1,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#2,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#3,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#4,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1Using init schedule w/:
#0: , #1: 34:13:e8:24:77:be,1, #2: 34:13:e8:24:77:be,1, #3: 34:13:e8:24:77:be,1, #4: 34:13:e8:24:77:be,1, #5: , #6: , #7: , #8: , #9: , nl80211 init called v2
Worker routine started ... ready to receive new configuration messages via ZMQ socket.

Updating Hybrid MAC:
Function: updateMacProcessor
Received new configuration update: 5,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#6,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#7,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1#8,34:13:e8:24:77:be,1
Received reply from HMAC: OK
[0: 
1: 
2: 
3: 
4: 
5: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
6: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
7: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
8: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
9: 
]
Average slot duration: 20004.86

Stopping Hybrid MAC:
Function: uninstallMacProcessor
Received new configuration update: 0,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#1,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#2,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#3,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#4,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#5,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#6,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#7,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#8,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255#9,FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF,255
Received reply from HMAC: OK
Received new configuration update: TERMINATE
Received reply from HMAC:  OK
[0: 
1: 
2: 
3: 
4: 
5: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
6: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
7: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
8: 34:13:e8:24:77:be/1,
9: 
]
Terminating ...

#ATH9k Advanced Configuration

How to install HMAC on other Linux distributions and Kernels:

Go to https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable and look for the backports version that fits for your kernel, download and unpack it.

e.g.
cd /tmp/
mkdir backports
cd backports
wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable/v3.12.8/backports-3.12.8-1.tar.gz
tar -xzf backports-3.12.8-1.tar.gz

Download ATH9k-HMAC Patch for your kernel (hopefully we have the correct one for you, otherwise you have to adjust the patch on your own or switch to another kernel), apply patch to your backports source.

cd /tmp/
https://github.com/szehl/ath9k-hmac.git
cd backports/backports-3.12.8-1/
patch -t -p3 < ../../patch/ath9k-hmac/ath9k-hmac-backports-3.12.8-1.patch

Build and install the ATH9k-HMAC driver.

cd /tmp/backports/backports-3.12.8-1/
make defconfig-ath9k
make -j4
sudo make install

After Reboot the ATH9k-HMAC should be installed, you can check by typing

dmesg | grep HMAC

If the output is something like:

[    3.711813] ath: ATH9K HMAC ENABLED

Everything went well.

Steer ATH9K HMAC driver directly (without Python Wrapper)

This can also be used as a first functional test without the Python wrapper. Just execute the following line in the hmac_userspace_daemon folder (replace wlan0 with your ATH9k WiFi interface, take sure it is up and rfkill is disabled (e.g. sudo rfkill unblock all)):

sudo ./hmac_userspace_daemon -i wlan0 -f 20000 -n 10 -c 1,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#2,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#3,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#4,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#6,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#7,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#8,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#9,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1

If no error is shown and the daemon just prints out the current slot size, we are fine, the HMAC is working.

The HMAC user-space deaemon is using the following configuration parameters:

sudo ./hmac_userspace_daemon 
-i wlan0                     # ATH9k WiFi Interface on which HMAC schedule should be applied
-f 20000                     # Size of each slot in micro seconds
-n 10                        # Number of Slots
-c                           # Schedule, format: "Slotnumber","MAC Address of Destination","TID Bitmap"#
                             #e.g.:
1,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#2,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#3,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#4,b8:a3:86:96:96:8a,1#6,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#7,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#8,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1#9,ec:1f:72:82:09:56,1

The example uses the following configuration: Interface: wlan0, Size of each Slot: 20ms, Number of Slots: 10 (SuperSlot = 200ms), Scheduler Konfiguration: first slot, Link with STA b8:a3:86:96:96:8a, TID MAP: 0b0000001 means TID 1 (Best Effort), '#' is used as seperator, second slot: Link with STA ec:1f:72:82:09:56, TID TID MAP: 0b0000001 means TID 1 (Best Effort), ... etc.

Note that if the schedule configuration contains no entry for a specific slot, global sleep mode (All ATH9k Software Queues are paused) is activated during this slot.