Smaller WIFI range with Annex32 1.5x
Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2023 7:24 pm
When using the latest Annex32 1.5x version, I had the impression of a significantly smaller WIFI range than with the same HW but earlier versions. My hardware is standard ESP32-devkit C, M5Stack Atom xxx .
Last somewhat disappointing test was an M5 ATOM lite ESP32pico as a WIFI bound remote sensor in a formerly well reachable location.
To investigate this I flashed two identical M5_ATOM_lite modules today.
One with ANNEX32_CAN_1.49.2 and the other with ANNEX32_CAN_1.51.3_LFS.
Logging the WIFI.RSSI of my own WIFI APs on both modules in different distances gave the same GOOD results in terms of RECEPTION strength.
So I set both modules to AP mode with the SSID name reflecting the Annex version, with the intention of logging their WIFI TRANSMIT power in a few places.
The modules were only 10cm apart but at the same distance from the receiving notebook. The distances to the logging PC were between 50cm and 10m with some walls in between.
This setup now seems to show that the transmitting power of the module with the newer version always seems to be significantly lower than with the older version - namely more than 20dB.
The following image is a combination of three WIFI logger screenshots with only the rows showing the two APs at three increasing distances.
I have no influence on the TX power here, so it appears that an attempt is already being made to log on as a WIFI client with insufficient transmission power.
This is why my modules with the newer firmware often went into AP mode immediately.
All this is not very visible when you are close to the WIFI AP.
But the difference becomes very obvious when the distance is increased and/or the line of sight is not clear of walls.
Can anyone confirm my observations?
Am I missing something?
Last somewhat disappointing test was an M5 ATOM lite ESP32pico as a WIFI bound remote sensor in a formerly well reachable location.
To investigate this I flashed two identical M5_ATOM_lite modules today.
One with ANNEX32_CAN_1.49.2 and the other with ANNEX32_CAN_1.51.3_LFS.
Logging the WIFI.RSSI of my own WIFI APs on both modules in different distances gave the same GOOD results in terms of RECEPTION strength.
So I set both modules to AP mode with the SSID name reflecting the Annex version, with the intention of logging their WIFI TRANSMIT power in a few places.
The modules were only 10cm apart but at the same distance from the receiving notebook. The distances to the logging PC were between 50cm and 10m with some walls in between.
This setup now seems to show that the transmitting power of the module with the newer version always seems to be significantly lower than with the older version - namely more than 20dB.
The following image is a combination of three WIFI logger screenshots with only the rows showing the two APs at three increasing distances.
I have no influence on the TX power here, so it appears that an attempt is already being made to log on as a WIFI client with insufficient transmission power.
This is why my modules with the newer firmware often went into AP mode immediately.
All this is not very visible when you are close to the WIFI AP.
But the difference becomes very obvious when the distance is increased and/or the line of sight is not clear of walls.
Can anyone confirm my observations?
Am I missing something?