USB3 and WiFi Interference?

@NicoD @klinsmn @thm82
I test it again just now.

  • I checked a SSD mobile hard disk at the USB3.0 port.
  • test method : Use iozone command to test the speed of mobile hard disk to keep the hard disk and USB3.0 port working at high speed.At the same time, I tested the WiFi rate of the board on the server.

This is the result of my test.
Dowload speed.

------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to 192.168.0.133, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 85.0 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[  3] local 192.168.0.250 port 59376 connected with 192.168.0.133 port 5001
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  3]  0.0- 1.0 sec  24.5 MBytes   206 Mbits/sec
[  3]  1.0- 2.0 sec  28.9 MBytes   242 Mbits/sec
[  3]  2.0- 3.0 sec  21.1 MBytes   177 Mbits/sec
[  3]  3.0- 4.0 sec  28.2 MBytes   237 Mbits/sec
[  3]  4.0- 5.0 sec  28.2 MBytes   237 Mbits/sec
[  3]  5.0- 6.0 sec  27.8 MBytes   233 Mbits/sec
[  3]  6.0- 7.0 sec  25.5 MBytes   214 Mbits/sec
[  3]  7.0- 8.0 sec  28.9 MBytes   242 Mbits/sec
[  3]  8.0- 9.0 sec  24.4 MBytes   204 Mbits/sec
[  3]  9.0-10.0 sec  27.4 MBytes   230 Mbits/sec
[  3] 10.0-11.0 sec  26.0 MBytes   218 Mbits/sec
[  3] 11.0-12.0 sec  32.4 MBytes   272 Mbits/sec
[  3] 12.0-13.0 sec  31.9 MBytes   267 Mbits/sec
[  3] 13.0-14.0 sec  25.1 MBytes   211 Mbits/sec
[  3] 14.0-15.0 sec  32.0 MBytes   268 Mbits/sec
[  3] 15.0-16.0 sec  24.6 MBytes   207 Mbits/sec
[  3] 16.0-17.0 sec  30.9 MBytes   259 Mbits/sec
[  3] 17.0-18.0 sec  37.9 MBytes   318 Mbits/sec
[  3] 18.0-19.0 sec  37.4 MBytes   314 Mbits/sec
[  3] 19.0-20.0 sec  35.5 MBytes   298 Mbits/sec
[  3] 20.0-21.0 sec  33.6 MBytes   282 Mbits/sec
[  3] 21.0-22.0 sec  33.8 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec
[  3] 22.0-23.0 sec  34.5 MBytes   289 Mbits/sec
[  3] 23.0-24.0 sec  32.4 MBytes   272 Mbits/sec
[  3] 24.0-25.0 sec  35.1 MBytes   295 Mbits/sec
[  3] 25.0-26.0 sec  36.6 MBytes   307 Mbits/sec
[  3] 26.0-27.0 sec  38.0 MBytes   319 Mbits/sec
[  3] 27.0-28.0 sec  34.2 MBytes   287 Mbits/sec
[  3] 28.0-29.0 sec  38.2 MBytes   321 Mbits/sec
[  3] 29.0-30.0 sec  36.4 MBytes   305 Mbits/sec
[  3]  0.0-30.0 sec   932 MBytes   260 Mbits/sec

Upload speed:

------------------------------------------------------------
Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 85.3 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[  4] local 192.168.0.250 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.133 port 57326
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]  0.0-30.1 sec   733 MBytes   204 Mbits/sec
[  5] local 192.168.0.250 port 5001 connected with 192.168.0.133 port 57328
[  5]  0.0-30.0 sec   750 MBytes   209 Mbits/sec

And then, I plugged in wireless mouse and keyboard on USB 3.0 port.
There was no change in the test results.
Can you tell me about your specific testing tools and procedures? I can restore your steps to test.

1 Like

Really appreciate for the detailed and objective info-share for that care.
@Gouwa @NicoD

Good job ! Glad to see the interaction and devotion of Khadas team.
The VM3 topic would be hot in every community after 10 Aug.

I’ve got this with my USB3 SD-card reader plugged in to USB3, and also with my SSD with SATA to USB3 adapter.
Wifi is still connected. But surfing isn’t possible. Packages are getting lost. When not connected to wifi I can see the available wifi networks. But when trying to connect to it, it asks for the password(normally it should automatically log in without asking this). But after entering this, it tells me it’s the wrong password. (it for sure isn’t)
I had this with Ubuntu Server without and with a desktop installed, and also with Ubuntu XFCE.
I haven’t been able to test in another OS since I’m unable to connect wifi in Android (missing connect button).
And as far as I know none of the other available OS’es have the wifi drivers integrated yet.

I use Armbian with a wifi dongle. So I don’t find it a problem personally.

With my 2.4Ghz mouse/keyboard dongle plugged into the USB3 port I only got about 1Mbps download speed. (normally +40Mbps)
That was the first thing I noticed. After a while I thought about using a USB hub in the USB2 port for everything 2.4Ghz wifi and since I haven’t had any issues at all.

I’ve just gotten a few NVMe drives. I’ll connect one. Then the USB3 port should work as USB2. I’ll see if on-board wifi then works with something plugged into that port.
Greetings.

Thanks für the test, the results are looking good on a first look!

Did you test with a 2.4 or 5 GHz WiFi access point?
And what distance between access point and the VIM3? Was there a wall in between?

I had the problems on the Up Core with a 2.4 GHz access point about 5 meters away.
5 GHz was not available on that board, but I would need 2.4 GHz anyhow due to the much better range when walls etc are present. I also read that USB3 is especially prone to 2.4 GHz interference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0

I did not test a USB3 hard disk. It was a USB3 camera. But I suspect that should not make any difference.
At least this very interesting white paper from Intel states a hard drive also as problematic: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.pdf
They also measured a ~ 25 dBm Noise floor increase, from -115 going up to -90 dBm, that’s a lot. Still, WiFi needs a signal with about 8-10 dBm signal-to-noise-ratio for proper decoding. So at small distances and with line of sight there might be no drop in transmission rate even in case of such a strong USB3 interference. A -80 dBm Signal is easily possible in such conditions. That’s why I asked about the testing conditions :slight_smile:

Go on with your good work, really appreciate your support!

1 Like

I test with 5GHz WiFi,I will tst with 2.4GHz today.

The distance is more than 5 meters, but there is no wall in the middle. I use a Gigabit router with six antennas.

Thank you for your information. I will continue to test with different boards.

I will test with SD-card reader today.

If nothing is plugged into your USB 3.0 port, will this problem arise? Forgive me for asking a very low-level question. Is your antenna connected?

Android’s WiFi settings are in more settings.If conditions permit, I hope you can help test Android’s WiFi on your board.

Thank you for your test.

1 Like

@NicoD @thm82 Can you tell me you firmware version which you used ? This may be related to firmware versions. Early firmware versions of BUG were more common.

Which tool you used to test ? I passed the LAN test.Because passing the extranet test will be affected by the speed of the extranet.My test tool is iperf.

@NicoD @thm82
Maybe I found the problem.
The reason why our test results are different is that we use different networks.
I’m using a 5GHZ wifi, and you’re using a 2.4 GHz wifi.
With the USB 3.0 port using the device, 5 GHz WiFi can still be used normally, but 2.4 GHz WiFi will be affected.We will try to find out the reason and solve it in the next step.It may take some time.

1 Like

Glad you’ve found it.
Indeed only with 2.4Ghz. USB3 has an interference on the 2.4Ghz frequency. It should be well known, but clearly not known enough.

I can’t connect to 5Ghz wih it(in Ubuntu). It only shows my 2.4Ghz wifi. But it does work very fast for 2.4Ghz wifi.
It never shows my 5Ghz equivalent.

I’ve asked @Gouwa multiple times if this chip was able to do 5Ghz wifi but did not get a reply so I assumed it’s only 2.4Ghz.
I also say in my conclusison that with 5Gz wifi this would not be a problem.

So another thing is, why can’t I see any 5Ghz wifi connect point.

All have a great day. NicoD

@NicoD
We’ll write a description of this USB 3.0 and 2.4 GHz on the forum.

Do you mean that your Ubuntu firmware can’t use 5GHz network?

Indeed. Only the 2.4Ghz wifi connections are available. No 5Ghz.
My 5Ghz wifi network works fine with other boards. And my pc is always connected to it.

I tried my NVMe drive yesterday but it didn’t seem to detect it. I didn’t have time to investigate further. I’ll have to check with another device first.
Greetings.

I am sure that the 5GHz WiFi is work fine.All our WiFi tests used 5GHz WiFi.


And in server version that it’s same too.

khadas@Khadas:~$ nmcli d wifi list
IN-USE  SSID                          MODE   CHAN  RATE        SIGNAL  BARS  SEC
        ChinaNet-2.4G-9991            Infra  1     270 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA
        VIM                           Infra  5     195 Mbit/s  100     ▂▄▆█  WPA
        --                            Infra  1     270 Mbit/s  99      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        Wesion                        Infra  7     260 Mbit/s  95      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        --                            Infra  1     270 Mbit/s  92      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        weepor666                     Infra  6     130 Mbit/s  87      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        DIRECT-RRDESKTOP-4JQO0DUmsMV  Infra  1     195 Mbit/s  84      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        Khadas                        Infra  1     270 Mbit/s  82      ▂▄▆█  WPA
        VIM_5G                        Infra  161   405 Mbit/s  79      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        dmatekNEW                     Infra  4     270 Mbit/s  74      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        HP-HOTSPOT-48-LaserJet M1218  Infra  7     54 Mbit/s   70      ▂▄▆_  -- 
        ChinaNet-xjCH                 Infra  13    270 Mbit/s  70      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        test123                       Infra  1     54 Mbit/s   69      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        Khadas_5G                     Infra  149   270 Mbit/s  69      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        ChinaNet-5G-9991              Infra  161   270 Mbit/s  69      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        HUAWEI-999C                   Infra  161   270 Mbit/s  69      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        --                            Infra  161   270 Mbit/s  69      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        wotofo001                     Infra  9     270 Mbit/s  65      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        abc                           Infra  13    270 Mbit/s  65      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        VIM3                          Infra  36    270 Mbit/s  65      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        BRGCN                         Infra  1     405 Mbit/s  60      ▂▄▆_  WPA
        TP-LINK_2.4GHz_CJWQ           Infra  6     270 Mbit/s  60      ▂▄▆_  WPA

So,I think you need to make sure that your antenna is correct or that your hardware is broken.And the router settings you need to confirm.

Becase Khadas VIM3 contains a data switch to switch the “combo interface” between PCIe and USB 3.0 . The default mode is USB 3.0 .You need to switch to NVMe,And there is the courese how to swtich NVMe.

2 Likes

Thanks for this information. Worked without issue. NVMe drive accessible on VIM3 for me now.:slight_smile:

3 Likes

Hi Frank, good to know that you were able to reproduce the issue with 2.4 GHz Wifi and USB 3.0.

I suspect it will be not easy to fix due to the close proximity of USB 3.0 and the WiFi module on the board. Nevertheless, still hoping that you will be able to solve this in a future stepping!

1 Like

@thm82 . We also hope that we can solve thsi problem.But this is a tricky proble,we will try our best to slove it.

Hi @thm82:
It’s confirmed by Khadas official that VIM3 also with issue of USB 3.0 and 2.4G Wi-Fi interference, but the 5G ac Wi-Fi is not affected and can work normally.

We will try to improve it when we design next Gen VIM in the future, for example, place the USB 3.0 interface on another side(close to USB-C).

Good day!

1 Like

Please confirm this issue. I have not yet ordered a VIM3 Pro that I had planned.
My project design requires the use of a USB3 device and wifi and BlueTooth communications all at the same time under Android O/S
Will this be possible?

Thank you

Hi @JustSumDad
It’s confirmed that the 5G AC wi-fi with issue to work with USB3.0, but fine for 2.4G Wi-Fi.

Good day!

3 Likes