rt2x00: hardy netbook-lpia, signal strength is compressed
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 (Ubuntu) |
Fix Released
|
Medium
|
Colin Ian King |
Bug Description
Signal strength range reported by the rt2x00 driver is very compressed and almost useless as a metric of signal strength.
The driver starts out with values of 50% for rx_percentage and tx_percentage. Given that, signal strength should behave as follows:
Network connection w/ 0% RSSI - 40/100, rising to 80/100 assuming 0% frame loss
Network connection w/ 50% RSSI - 50/100, rising to 90/100 assuming 0% frame loss
Network connection w/ 100% RSSI - 60/100, rising to 100/100 assuming 0% frame loss
This calculation is only really useful for a network that you're already connected to. For determining signal strength of other networks, I think the easiest thing to do is recompute the signal strength with the assumption that the rx + tx values are (a) always 50% and (b) not interesting. This effectively recenters the scale as follows:
recalculated strength = (reported strength - 40) * 5
Driver-reported strength: realculated signal strength:
40 0
45 25
50 50
55 75
60 100
(This calculation *doesn't* work for networks you're connected to, because it's not valid to assume that tx/rx success percentage is always 50% in that case)
Changed in linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 (Ubuntu): | |
status: | New → In Progress |
importance: | Undecided → Medium |
assignee: | nobody → Colin King (colin-king) |
Changed in linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 (Ubuntu): | |
status: | In Progress → Fix Committed |
Changed in linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 (Ubuntu): | |
status: | Fix Committed → Fix Released |