SoftAP mode

The nRF70 Series device supports Software-enabled Access Point (SoftAP or SAP) mode. This mode allows a device to operate as a virtual router or temporary access point (AP) and accept connections from other Wi-Fi® station devices. SoftAP mode is typically used in scenarios where a Wi-Fi device wishes to share its internet connection with nearby station devices. For instance, smartphone Wi-Fi hotspots utilize SoftAP mode. The smartphone acts as a virtual router, allowing other station devices to connect to the internet through it. Alternatively, SoftAP mode can be used to securely provision Wi-Fi devices into an access point network.

nRF70 Series devices support Wi-Fi provisioning using the SoftAP mode as one of the provisioning methods.

Supported functionality and limitations

The SAP mode in the nRF70 Series devices provides SoftAP support with the following limitations:

  • A network interface can operate in either SAP mode or Station mode, but not in both modes simultaneously.

  • SAP mode only supports the Wi-Fi 4 (IEEE 802.11n) mode of operation.

  • The SAP mode currently supports a single station device connection. However, the implementation provides an experimental support for up to eight station connections.

  • Only Wi-Fi personal security (WPA2-PSK) is supported.

Enabling the SAP mode

You can enable the SAP mode by setting the CONFIG_NRF700X_AP_MODE and CONFIG_WPA_SUPP_AP Kconfig options in the application project configuration file.

SAP mode configuration

The SAP mode is configured using the standard Wi-Fi configuration APIs in the Zephyr networking stack. See Zephyr Wi-Fi management API for more information.

Shell commands

The SAP mode can be configured using the following shell commands:

Command

Description

wifi ap enable

Starts the SAP mode.

wifi ap disable

Stops the SAP mode.

wifi status

Displays the status of the SAP mode interface.

wifi ap stations

Displays the list of stations connected to the SAP mode interface.

Wi-Fi configuration APIs

The SAP mode can be configured using the following Wi-Fi configuration APIs:

API

Description

Parameters

NET_REQUEST_WIFI_AP_ENABLE

Starts the SAP mode.
Interface
SSID
Channel
Security information

NET_REQUEST_WIFI_AP_DISABLE

Stops the SAP mode.

Interface

NET_REQUEST_WIFI_STATUS

Displays the status of the SAP mode interface.

Interface

The SAP mode generates the following events:

Event

Description

NET_EVENT_WIFI_AP_ENABLE_RESULT

Generated when the SAP mode is enabled.

NET_EVENT_WIFI_AP_DISABLE_RESULT

Generated when the SAP mode is disabled.

NET_EVENT_WIFI_AP_STA_CONNECTED

Generated when a station connects to the SAP mode interface.

NET_EVENT_WIFI_AP_STA_DISCONNECTED

Generated when a station disconnects from the SAP mode interface.

Note

There is no API to display the list of stations connected to the SAP mode interface. However, using the events generated by Zephyr Wi-Fi stack, you can get the list of stations connected to the SAP mode interface.

Note

The SAP mode operation is dictated by regulatory requirements. For more information on regulatory support, see Operating with regulatory support.

Stations handling

For a typical SAP mode operation, the nRF70 Series device acts as a virtual router, allowing other station devices to connect to it. The SAP interface needs to be configured with a valid IP address and a subnet mask. Without this configuration, the Wi-Fi station device might disconnect from the SAP interface. But the station devices use DHCP to get an IP address from the virtual router. Currently, the Zephyr networking stack does not support DHCP server functionality. So, the station devices must be configured with static IP addresses in the same subnet as the nRF70 Series device.

Note

The procedure to configure static IP addresses varies from device to device and is not covered in this documentation.