NOTE: this page is for archival only, see the note at the end of the page.

ath10k architecture

ath10k is a mac80211 driver, the architecture is depicted in the diagram below.

ath10k architecture diagram

The driver is located in directory drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k/. The source code is available for browsing from this location:

https://github.com/kvalo/ath/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath10k

ath10k components

ath10k components diagram

MAC

  • Files: mac.h mac.c

This is the glue layer between mac80211 and ath10k lower levels. The interface to mac80211 is implemented through ath10k_ops. Data and management frames are sent to HTT, configuration commands to WMI.

Host-Target Transport (HTT)

  • Files: htt.c htt.h htt_rx.c htt_tx.c

The data path for ath10k. Sends frame descriptors to the firmware using HTC.

Wireless Module Interface (WMI)

  • Files: wmi.h wmi.c

The control path for ath10k. Sends all sorts configuration commands to the firmware and receives configuration events from the firmware.

Host-Target Communication (HTC)

  • Files: htc.h htc.c

Multiplexes the bus for different services. The services are defined in enum ath10k_htc_svc_gid.

Host interconnect Framework (HIF)

  • Files: hif.h

Abstracts the access to different bus types. Currently only supports PCI, but it's easy to add different bus types.

Debug

  • Files: debug.h debug.c

Component for various debug related to code. Currently only log messages and debugfs.

Tracing

  • Files: trace.h trace.c

Provides tracing data (HTT/WMI packets) etc to userspace using Linux tracepoints. trace-cmd is the recommend tool to access the tracepoints.

PCI

  • Files: pci.h pci.c ce.h ce.c
  • Module: ath10k_pci.ko

All PCI related code. Interface to HIF happens through ath10k_pci_hif_ops.

Bootloader Messaging Interface (BMI)

  • Files: bmi.h bmi.c

Firmware upload and everything else which happens before firmware is booted.

Core

  • Files: core.h core.c

Driver initialisation and firmware booting. Manages all ath10k components.


This is a static dump of the old wiki, taken after locking it in January 2015. The new wiki is at https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/.
versions of this page: last, v6, v5, v4, v3, v2, v1