ESP32-C6 Zigbee and wifi AP and STA error

[sonirohit3]

Board

ESP32-C6

Device Description

Esp32-c6 custom board

Hardware Configuration

ESP32-C6 custom board

Version

latest master (checkout manually)

IDE Name

Arduino

Operating System

Macos

Flash frequency

40

PSRAM enabled

yes

Upload speed

115200

Description

Wifi doesn't work in STA or AP more when Zigbee is initialized. Also I don't see a way to de-init zigbee.
Idea is to use Wifi OTA activated with a switch.
-> When using AP mode, the client can find the AP but cannot connect.
-> When using STA mode, the WiFi won't connect and return error:

Sketch

STA code:

  WiFi.mode(WIFI_MODE_AP);
  if (!WiFi.softAP(ssid, password)) 
  {
    log_e("Soft AP creation failed.");
  }
  IPAddress IP = WiFi.softAPIP();
  Serial.print("AP IP address: ");
  Serial.println(IP);



STA code:

WiFi.mode(WIFI_OFF);
  delay(100);
  WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  delay(5000);
  while (WiFi.waitForConnectResult() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
    log_i("WiFi failed, retrying.");
  }

Debug Message

Debug logs for STA mode

[ 20549][V][STA.cpp:110] _onStaArduinoEvent(): Arduino STA Event: 110 - STA_START
[ 22960][V][STA.cpp:216] _onStaEvent(): STA Disconnected: SSID: Soni_wifi2G_IOT, BSSID: 00:00:00:00:00:00, Reason: 201
[ 22961][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 113 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[ 22962][V][STA.cpp:110] _onStaArduinoEvent(): Arduino STA Event: 113 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[ 22962][W][STA.cpp:137] _onStaArduinoEvent(): Reason: 201 - NO_AP_FOUND
[ 22963][D][STA.cpp:155] _onStaArduinoEvent(): WiFi Reconnect Running
[ 22963][W][STA.cpp:541] disconnect(): STA already disconnected.
[ 25370][V][STA.cpp:216] _onStaEvent(): STA Disconnected: SSID: Soni_wifi2G_IOT, BSSID: 00:00:00:00:00:00, Reason: 201
[ 25371][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 113 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[ 25371][V][STA.cpp:110] _onStaArduinoEvent(): Arduino STA Event: 113 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[ 25372][W][STA.cpp:137] _onStaArduinoEvent(): Reason: 201 - NO_AP_FOUND
[ 25372][D][STA.cpp:158] _onStaArduinoEvent(): WiFi AutoReconnect Running
[ 25373][W][STA.cpp:541] disconnect(): STA already disconnected.
E (29754) wifi:sta is connecting, return error
[ 25566][E][STA.cpp:417] connect(): STA connect failed! 0x3007: ESP_ERR_WIFI_CONN
[ 25567][I][Handle_OTA.ino:37] init_wifiAP(): WiFi failed, retrying.
E (29766) wifi:sta is connecting, return error

Other Steps to Reproduce

Init Zigbee and then init the wifi.

I have checked existing issues, online documentation and the Troubleshooting Guide

• I confirm I have checked existing issues, online documentation and Troubleshooting guide.

[me-no-dev]

please provide full sketch code to reproduce the issue

[lbernstone]

Try adding this to your code:

#include <esp_coexist.h>
void setup() {
    esp_coex_wifi_i154_enable(void)

[sonirohit3]

Hi @lbernstone , Your suggestion worked for STA mode. Still the problem persists in AP mode. The AP is created but the client such as mobile is not able to connect. Any insight on that?

[P-R-O-C-H-Y]

Just a quick note: Since there is only one RF path in ESP32-C6, which means Wi-Fi and Zigbee can't receive simultaneously, it has a significant impact on performance. Hence the two SoCs solution is recommended.

[lbernstone]

Hi @lbernstone , Your suggestion worked for STA mode. Still the problem persists in AP mode. The AP is created but the client such as mobile is not able to connect. Any insight on that?

The SSID is not visible, or negotiation problems? Post a log.

[sonirohit3]

Hi @lbernstone & @P-R-O-C-H-Y , The SSID is visible in mobile but the connection is always getting failed. Unfortunately there are no logs when client tries to connect. I do understand that RF path is single. If I can disable Zigbee ( like Zigbee.disable()) and init a WiFi AP mode, this will solve my purpose.
Here is the code snippet:

setup:

void setup()
{
Serial.begin(115200);
log_i("Booting up...");
esp_coex_wifi_i154_enable();
init_pheripherals();
init_Zigbee();
init_flash();
digitalWrite(PCA_OE, LOW);

}

Init_ota function which is called with longpress of switch:

void OTA_init()
{
is_ota_en=1;
WiFi.mode(WIFI_MODE_AP);
if (!WiFi.softAP(ssid, password))
{
log_e("Soft AP creation failed.");
}
IPAddress IP = WiFi.softAPIP();
Serial.print("AP IP address: ");
Serial.println(IP);

OTA_server_init(); // simple AP based webserver
}

Below are logs for same:

[ 48363][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 101 - WIFI_READY
[ 48372][V][AP.cpp:108] _onApEvent(): AP Started
[ 48373][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 130 - AP_START
[ 48373][V][AP.cpp:88] _onApArduinoEvent(): Arduino AP Event: 130 - AP_START
[ 48376][V][AP.cpp:112] _onApEvent(): AP Stopped
[ 48377][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 131 - AP_STOP
[ 48377][V][AP.cpp:88] _onApArduinoEvent(): Arduino AP Event: 131 - AP_STOP
[ 48669][V][AP.cpp:108] _onApEvent(): AP Started
[ 48670][V][NetworkEvents.cpp:113] _checkForEvent(): Network Event: 130 - AP_START
[ 49184][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 11 with value : 0
[ 49185][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 12 with value : 0
[ 49186][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 13 with value : 1
[ 49187][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 14 with value : 0
[ 49188][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 15 with value : 1
[ 49189][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:69] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Temperature Endpoint : 16 with value : 0
[ 49190][V][ZigbeeTempSensor.cpp:58] setTemperature(): Updating temperature sensor value...
[ 49190][D][ZigbeeTempSensor.cpp:60] setTemperature(): Setting temperature to 0
[ 57066][V][ZigbeeCore.cpp:352] esp_zb_app_signal_handler(): ZDO signal: NLME Status Indication (0x32), status: ESP_OK
[ 59217][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 10 with value : 0
[ 59218][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 11 with value : 0
[ 59219][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 12 with value : 0
[ 59220][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 13 with value : 1
[ 59221][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 14 with value : 0
[ 59222][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:59] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Endpoint : 15 with value : 1
[ 59223][I][Handle_Zigbee.ino:69] Update_devstate_server(): Updating Temperature Endpoint : 16 with value : 0
[ 59224][V][ZigbeeTempSensor.cpp:58] setTemperature(): Updating temperature sensor value...
[ 59224][D][ZigbeeTempSensor.cpp:60] setTemperature(): Setting temperature to 0

[TD-er]

I don't know enough about Zigbee, but I wonder what channels it needs.
Is there some overlap in frequencies?
If so, maybe you could try to force the AP to use a channel which is overlapping with the Zigbee frequency?

For STA mode, you do have 'idle' time inbetween beacons.
However when using AP mode, you have not.
That's also why you absolutely need to use the same channel for STA and AP in AP+STA mode, or else your connection is as stable as a drunk on rollerskates.

So I guess the problem here is the constant frequency hopping.

I found this online:

So maybe you could use WiFi channel 1 along with Zigbee channel 12 or 13?
And perhaps you can limit your WiFi AP mode to 802.11g as this is smaller than the 20 MHz width as depicted by the blue area in the image.

If Zigbee does use frequency hopping, like Bluetooth does, then it sounds to me like a lost cause as it is technically hardly usable.

[sonirohit3]

@TD-er , So in this case only way to tackle this issue is to disable Zigbee when AP for firmware update has to be init. Better to have Zigbee.disable function.

@P-R-O-C-H-Y , Can you suggest if we have this functionality?

[P-R-O-C-H-Y]

@sonirohit3 I was searching through all available APIs of esp-zigbee-sdk and I didn't see any option to disable/deinit Zigbee.

[sonirohit3]

@P-R-O-C-H-Y , I agree. I also looked on this and found this missing. Any workaround you can suggest?

[P-R-O-C-H-Y]

@sonirohit3 I asked the Zigbee team if there is any way. I was also curious about the C5 as it have 5 GHz WiFi.
I forced the WiFi to be 5GHz only and I when Zigbee was also running I was not able to connect to the AP.
When I have any news, I will let you know.