Mini PCIe

Mixtile Blade 3 (hereinafter referred to as Blade 3) provides a mini PCIe interface, which is a smaller form-factor for PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express). This interface provides both the standard PCI Express and USB 2.0 signals, allowing flexibility in peripheral design.

Specifically, this interface supports integrating the following devices:

• Wi-Fi modules
• Bluetooth cards
• Mobile network (4G, LTE, 5G) cards
• Storage drives
• Internal USB headers or adapters

This document describes how to connect a Wi-Fi module to Blade 3 using the mini PCIe interface.

Note: Blade 3 can work with Intel Wi-Fi modules, such as 6E AX411, 6E AX211, and 6 AX200 (used in this document) without the need to install any drivers. If you use Wi-Fi modules produced by other vendors, ensure that you install compatible drivers.

Preparations

• Set up connections of Blade 3 without connecting the Ethernet cable.
• Log in to Blade 3 using a serial communication tool.

Steps

Step 1. Install the Wi-Fi module

Fix the module to the mini PCIe socket with notch aligned and fasten the module using a screw, as shown in the following figure.

Step 2. Connect to Wi-Fi network

You can connect to Wi-Fi network either via GUI or via command-line interface (CLI).

Via GUI (recommended):

1. On the main window of Blade 3, click the network connection icon in the upper right corner. Available networks are listed, as shown in the following figure. 

2. Select a network. Enter the password for connection.

Via CLI:

Step 1. Check Wi-Fi connection and configuration. 

1.1 Enter Blade 3 console and check whether the Wi-Fi module has been connected by running the following command:

lspci

The command output is as follows. The last line indicates the Wi-Fi module.

0002:20:00.0 PCI bridge: Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd Device 3588 (rev 01)

0002:21:00.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1182

0002:22:03.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1182

0002:22:07.0 PCI bridge: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device 1182

0002:23:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 05)

0002:24:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 05)

0003:30:00.0 PCI bridge: Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd Device 3588 (rev 01)

0003:31:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)

1.2 Check information of this Wi-Fi module by running the following command:

ifconfig

The command output is as follows. wlP3p49s0 indicates the network interface of this Wi-Fi module.

wlP3p49s0: flags=4099 mtu 1500

ether 34:cf:f6:57:1c:e1 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 152 bytes 15614 (15.2 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 146 bytes 16423 (16.0 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

Step 2. List available Wi-Fi networks by running the following command:

sudo nmcli dev wifi

Step 3. Connect to a Wi-Fi network by running the following command. Replace [Wi-Fi name] and [password] with the actual value. Set network interface to the value obtained in Step 1 (wlP3p49s0 in this example).

sudo nmcli dev wifi connect [Wi-Fi name] password '[password]' ifname [network interface]

After successful connection upon the first time, you can run the following command to log in directly the next time:

sudo nmcli dev wifi connect test-1

Step 4. Check whether Blade 3 is connected to network successfully by running the following command:

ping www.google.com

If there is traffic, network connection is successful.