Wi-Fi 7 Smart Home Network Solution based on Qualcomm IPQ5322

With the development of high-quality home audio and video, smart home IoT, high-speed online games, Yuanverse, VR and other technologies, the demand for bandwidth in home networks is also increasing. From the initial modems of several Kbps, to the hundreds of Mbps of ADSL, and now to the basic 1Gbps of optical fiber to the home, the leap in network speed is self-evident.

In addition, with the widespread use of handheld devices such as mobile phones and tablets, more and more devices choose to connect to home LANs through Wi-Fi instead of using Ethernet routes. This means that the increased demand for home network bandwidth also directly drives the demand for Wi-Fi bandwidth. From Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 6, and then to Wi-Fi 7, we can see the rapid evolution of Wi-Fi technology.

In response to this trend, Qualcomm has launched a variety of Wi-Fi 7 chips and launched a number of reference designs based on these chips. Among them, QRD442 is a Wi-Fi 7 immersive smart home network solution based on IPQ5322, which mainly includes IPQ5322, QCN6432 and QCA8386 units.

IPQ5322 is a highly integrated Wi-Fi 7 system-on-chip (SoC) designed for high-performance, energy-efficient and cost-effective wireless networking applications, suitable for home routers, mesh nodes, carrier gateways and enterprises access point etc. It includes a Wi-Fi subsystem, supports 2.4G 2x2/40 IEEE802.11be, and can configure different Wi-Fi 7 wireless transceiver chips through the PCIe interface. The network subsystem supports a variety of interfaces, including two USXGMII, SGMII+, SGMII interfaces, and two SerDes supporting external 10/5/2.5/1 GbE PHYs.

QCN6422 is an 802.11be Wi-Fi 7 PCIe wireless transceiver chip specially designed for home routers. It uses a full CMOS system on a chip (SoC) and supports 5/6 GHz IEEE 802.11BE/AX/AC/N/A/B/G /NApply. QCN6432 has AP and STA functions of 2 spatial streams, and is a Wi-Fi 7 wireless transceiver chip that supports native 320 MHz.

Opening the casing, we can see the base plate DP25-57856-300 and the two external PCIe modules DP25-40411-130 and DP25-40411-530. Then, follow the guidelines of IPQ5322.ILQ.12.4 CSU1 for QCN64xx Chip Family Release Notes to compile the single image. RDP442 comes with uboot out of the box. We can use this uboot to burn the compiled single image into the device.

After entering the uboot console, set relevant parameters, such as IP address and server address, and download and write to flash through ethernet. After resetting the device, you can boot into the kernel. After booting up, directly visit http://192.168.1.1/ to see the complete solution based on OpenWrt 19.07 and Linux Kernel version 5.4.

Enter the uboot console screen

Set uboot parameters

set ipaddr 192.168.1.11

set serverip 192.168.1.xx (TFTP server address)

ping $serverip

setenv bootargs ‘console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 cnss2.enable_mlo_support=0’ && saveenv setenv loadaddr 0x50000000 /* for LM512 / Premium profile*/

or

setenv loadaddr 0x44000000 /* for LM256 / 16M profile*/

Confirm bootargs and machid=8060002

Use smem to confirm flash_typ and look at the partition. Use this to confirm which single image to use. Here we use norplusenand-ipq5332.single.img

Then use ethernet to download and write flash

tftpboot xxxx-ipq5332-single.img

imgaddr=$fileaddr && source $imgaddr:script

After Flash is done, execute reset and you can boot into the kernel.

After booting up the computer, go directly to the web page at http://192.168.1.1/ and you will see the following information. QRDP442 is a complete solution based on OpenWrt 19.07 and Linux Kernel version 5.4.

In summary, RDP442 is a Wi-Fi 7 immersive smart home network solution launched by Qualcomm. It supports one 10G SPF and 4 Ethernet Ports, and supports 2x2 Wi-Fi 7 radio transceivers for 2.4G, 5G, and 6G. The software installed is OpenWrt 19.07, which provides a one-stop solution from hardware to software, making it the best choice for families entering the Wi-Fi 7 era.

►Product entity diagram

►Display board photo

►Solution block diagram

►Core technical advantages
 One-stop solution based on OpenWrt 19.07
 Support Wi-Fi 7 wireless transmission technology
 Support EasyMesh R4

►Project specifications
 The CPU is Qualcomm IPQ5322, with four cores and four threads + 1.5GHz maximum frequency, and a 1.5GHz NPU.
 The running memory is 1GB and the storage memory is 256MB.
 The 5G wireless module is QCN6422
 The 6G wireless module is QCN6422
 The switching module is QCA8386
 The physical network port is 2.5G electrical port*4
 Support switching dual WAN mode
 Supports one 10G SPF+
 The expansion interface is USB3.2Gen1*1, which can be used for file sharing or access to network card devices for networking.
 Support OpenWrt 19.07