NXP Semiconductors UM11483, User Manual

Page: 10 / 41

NXP Semiconductors
UM11483
Getting Started with NXP-based Wireless Modules on i.MX 8M Quad EVK Running Linux OS
3.2 Wi-Fi layer interfaces
The wireless module requires a kernel driver loaded on the i.MX 8M Quad host system
and a firmware running on 88W8987/88W8997 SoC. The MLAN module downloads
the firmware binary to the SD8987/PCIE8997 adapter when the SDIO/PCIe bus driver
detects the SDIO/PCIe interface of the module. The kernel driver (SD8987/PCIE8997) is
loaded between the bus driver and the network stack from the cfg80211 subsystem in the
kernel. NXP kernel driver includes a set of controls and configurations to communicate
with the user space through one of the following interfaces:
•
Input/output control (IOCTL)
• Wireless Extension (Wext)
• CFG80211
The IOCTL provides a path to the user space applications
iwconfig
and
iwpriv
whereas cfg80211 interface provides a different path to the user space applications
wpa_supplicant
,
hostapd
and
iw
.
Figure 6 illustrates the Wi-Fi layer interface.
Figure 6. Wi-Fi layer interface
UM11483 All information provided in this document is subject to legal disclaimers. © NXP B.V. 2021. All rights reserved.
User manual Rev. 2 — 21 January 2021
10 / 41