Wi-Fi: Station

The Station sample demonstrates how to connect the Wi-Fi® station to a specified access point using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

Requirements 

The sample supports the following development kits:

Hardware platforms	PCA	Board name	Board target	Shields
Thingy:53	PCA20053	thingy53	`thingy53/nrf5340/cpuapp`	`nrf7002eb`
nRF7002 DK (emulating nRF7001)	PCA10143	nrf7002dk	`nrf7002dk/nrf5340/cpuapp/nrf7001`
nRF7002 DK	PCA10143	nrf7002dk	`nrf7002dk/nrf5340/cpuapp`
nRF54LM20 DK	PCA10184	nrf54lm20dk	`nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20b/cpuapp` `nrf54lm20dk/nrf54lm20a/cpuapp`	`"nrf7002eb2"`
nRF54L15 DK	PCA10156	nrf54l15dk	`nrf54l15dk/nrf54l15/cpuapp`	`"nrf7002eb2"` `"nrf7002eb_interposer_p1;nrf7002eb"`
nRF54H20 DK	PCA10175	nrf54h20dk	`nrf54h20dk/nrf54h20/cpuapp`	`"nrf7002eb_interposer_p1;nrf7002eb"`
nRF5340 DK	PCA10095	nrf5340dk	`nrf5340dk/nrf5340/cpuapp`	`nrf7002ek` `nrf7002ek_nrf7001`
nRF52840 DK	PCA10056	nrf52840dk	`nrf52840dk/nrf52840`	`nrf7002ek` `nrf7002ek_nrf7001`

Overview 

The sample can perform Wi-Fi operations such as connect and disconnect in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands depending on the capabilities of an access point.

Using this sample, the development kit can connect to the specified access point in STA mode.

The sample uses the Wi-Fi ready library to check Wi-Fi readiness. To use the Wi-Fi ready library, enable the CONFIG_WIFI_READY_LIB Kconfig option.

User interface 

The sample adds LED support to map with connection and disconnection events.

LED 1:

Starts blinking when the sample is connected to the access point.

Stops blinking when the sample is disconnected from the access point.

Configuration 

See Configuring and building for information about how to permanently or temporarily change the configuration.

Configuration options 

The following sample-specific Kconfig options are used in this sample (located in samples/wifi/sta/Kconfig):

CONFIG_CONNECTION_IDLE_TIMEOUT

(int) Time to be waited for a station to connect

CONFIG_NRF70_QSPI_ENCRYPTION_KEY

(string) 16 bytes QSPI encryption key, only for testing purposes

Specify the QSPI encryption key

CONFIG_STA_CONN_TIMEOUT_SEC

(int) Overall Connection timeout i.e., time to be waited for a station to connect and get an IP address

Specify the connection timeout, in seconds. This is the overall timeout i.e., time to be waited for a station to connect and get an IP address. DHCP retries should be taken into account when setting this value. If the timeout is set to 0, the connection will not timeout.

CONFIG_STA_SAMPLE_START_WIFI_THREAD_STACK_SIZE

(int) Stack size for Wi-Fi start thread

Set the stack size for the Wi-Fi start thread.

You must configure the following Wi-Fi credentials in the prj.conf file:

Wi-Fi static credential options

If you want to configure the credentials statically, set the CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC Kconfig option to y.

Important

Do not use static credentials in production environments.

Other options for statically configuring your Wi-Fi credentials:

CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC - This option enables static Wi-Fi configuration.
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_SSID - Wi-Fi SSID.
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_PASSWORD - Wi-Fi password.
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_TYPE_OPEN - Wi-Fi network uses no password.
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_TYPE_PSK - Wi-Fi network uses a password and PSK security (default).
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_TYPE_PSK_SHA256 - Wi-Fi network uses a password and PSK-256 security.
CONFIG_WIFI_CREDENTIALS_STATIC_TYPE_SAE - Wi-Fi network uses a password and SAE security.

Note

You can also use menuconfig to configure Wi-Fi credentials.

See Interactive Kconfig interfaces in the Zephyr documentation for instructions on how to run menuconfig.

Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (QSPI) encryption 

This sample demonstrates QSPI encryption API usage. You can set the key using the CONFIG_NRF70_QSPI_ENCRYPTION_KEY Kconfig option.

If encryption of the QSPI traffic is required for the production devices, matching keys must be programmed in both the nRF7002 OTP and non-volatile storage associated with the host. The key from non-volatile storage must be set as the encryption key using the APIs.

Power management 

This sample also enables Zephyr’s power management policy by default, which sets the nRF5340 System on Chip (SoC) into low-power mode whenever it is idle. See Power Management in the Zephyr documentation for more information on power management.

IP addressing 

The sample uses DHCP to obtain an IP address for the Wi-Fi interface. It starts with a default static IP address to handle networks without DHCP servers, or if the DHCP server is not available. Successful DHCP handshake will override the default static IP configuration.

You can change the following default static configuration in the prj.conf file:

CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV4_ADDR="192.168.1.98"
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV4_NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV4_GW="192.168.1.1"

Building and running 

This sample can be found under samples/wifi/sta in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

For more security, it is recommended to use the */ns variant of the board target (see the Requirements section above.) When built for this variant, the sample is configured to compile and run as a non-secure application using security by separation. Therefore, it automatically includes Trusted Firmware-M that prepares the required peripherals and secure services to be available for the application.

To build the sample, follow the instructions in Building an application for your preferred building environment. See also Programming an application for programming steps and Testing and optimization for general information about testing and debugging in the nRF Connect SDK.

Note

When building repository applications in the SDK repositories, building with sysbuild is enabled by default. If you work with out-of-tree freestanding applications, you need to manually pass the --sysbuild parameter to every build command or configure west to always use it.

To build for the nRF7002 DK, use the nrf7002dk/nrf5340/cpuapp board target. The following is an example of the CLI command:

west build -b nrf7002dk/nrf5340/cpuapp

Refer to the sample.yaml file for a complete list of supported boards and their corresponding build command options.

Testing 

After programming the sample to your development kit, complete the following steps to test it:

Connect the kit to the computer using a USB cable. The kit is assigned a serial port. Serial ports are referred to as COM ports on Windows, /dev/ttyACM devices on Linux, and /dev/tty devices on macOS. To list Nordic Semiconductor devices connected to your computer together with their serial ports, open a terminal and run the nrfutil device list command. Alternatively, check your operating system’s device manager or its equivalent.

Connect to the kit with a terminal emulator (for example, the Serial Terminal app). See Testing and optimization for the required settings and steps.

The sample shows the following output:

[00:00:02.016,235] <inf> sta: Connection requested
[00:00:02.316,314] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:02.316,314] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:02.616,424] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:02.616,424] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:02.916,534] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:02.916,534] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:03.216,613] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:03.216,613] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:03.516,723] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:03.516,723] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:03.816,802] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:03.816,802] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:04.116,882] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:04.116,882] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:04.416,961] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:04.416,961] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:04.717,071] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:04.717,071] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:05.017,150] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:05.017,150] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:05.317,230] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:05.317,230] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:05.617,309] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:05.617,309] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:05.917,419] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:05.917,419] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:06.217,529] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:06.217,529] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:06.517,639] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:06.517,639] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:06.817,749] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:06.817,749] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:07.117,858] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:07.117,858] <inf> sta: State: SCANNING
[00:00:07.336,730] <inf> wpa_supp: wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff (SSID='<MySSID>' freq=5785 MHz)
[00:00:07.353,027] <inf> nrf_wifi: nrf_wifi_wpa_supp_authenticate:Authentication request sent successfully

[00:00:07.417,938] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:07.417,938] <inf> sta: State: AUTHENTICATING
[00:00:07.606,628] <inf> wpa_supp: wlan0: Trying to associate with aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff (SSID='<MySSID>' freq=5785 MHz)
[00:00:07.609,680] <inf> nrf_wifi: nrf_wifi_wpa_supp_associate: Association request sent successfully

[00:00:07.621,978] <inf> wpa_supp: wpa_drv_zep_get_ssid: SSID size: 5

[00:00:07.622,070] <inf> wpa_supp: wlan0: Associated with aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
[00:00:07.622,192] <inf> wpa_supp: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff completed [id=0 id_str=]
[00:00:07.622,192] <inf> sta: Connected
[00:00:07.623,779] <inf> wpa_supp: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SUBNET-STATUS-UPDATE status=0
[00:00:07.648,406] <inf> net_dhcpv4: Received: 192.168.119.6
[00:00:07.648,468] <inf> net_config: IPv4 address: 192.168.119.6
[00:00:07.648,498] <inf> net_config: Lease time: 3599 seconds
[00:00:07.648,498] <inf> net_config: Subnet: 255.255.255.0
[00:00:07.648,529] <inf> net_config: Router: 192.168.119.147
[00:00:07.648,559] <inf> sta: DHCP IP address: 192.168.119.6
[00:00:07.720,153] <inf> sta: ==================
[00:00:07.720,153] <inf> sta: State: COMPLETED
[00:00:07.720,153] <inf> sta: Interface Mode: STATION
[00:00:07.720,184] <inf> sta: Link Mode: WIFI 6 (802.11ax/HE)
[00:00:07.720,184] <inf> sta: SSID: <MySSID>
[00:00:07.720,214] <inf> sta: BSSID: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
[00:00:07.720,214] <inf> sta: Band: 5GHz
[00:00:07.720,214] <inf> sta: Channel: 157
[00:00:07.720,245] <inf> sta: Security: OPEN
[00:00:07.720,245] <inf> sta: MFP: UNKNOWN
[00:00:07.720,245] <inf> sta: RSSI: -57
[00:00:07.720,245] <inf> sta: Static IP address:

RPU recovery 

The RPU recovery mechanism is used to recover from the RPU (nRF70) hang. This feature performs an interface reset (down and up), which triggers a RPU cold boot. Application’s network connection will be lost during the recovery process, and it is application’s responsibility to reestablish the network connection.

Testing 

To test RPU recovery, you must build the sample with CONFIG_SHELL and CONFIG_NRF70_UTIL Kconfig options.

Trigger RPU recovery using the following command:
```
nrf70 util rpu_recovery_test
```
If RPU recovery is triggered, you should see an output similar to the following:
```
RPU recovery triggered
```

Power management testing 

You can use this sample to measure the current consumption of both the nRF5340 SoC and the nRF7002 device independently by using two separate Power Profiler Kit II (PPK2) devices. The nRF5340 SoC is connected to the first PPK2 and the nRF7002 DK is connected to the second PPK2.

See Measuring current for more information about how to set up and measure the current consumption of both the nRF5340 SoC and the nRF7002 device.

The average current consumption in an idle case can be around ~1-2 mA in the nRF5340 SoC and ~15 µA in the nRF7002 device.

See Power optimization for more information on power management testing and usage of the PPK2.

Performance testing and memory footprint analysis 

The sample can be used to test the performance of the Wi-Fi connection. The performance tuning is done to achieve a trade-off between memory usage and performance.

You can use the overlay-zperf.conf file to run the performance test. The default build, without the overlay, is used for memory footprint testing and analysis. The overlay must be enabled to run the performance test corresponding to the memory footprints.

Dependencies 

This sample uses the following nRF Connect SDK libraries: