[TG] [TG11] Miracast with the Axiom Pro

[george123]

It has been several weeks and I was wondering if you have any update as to the miracast issue that I have reported. My customer is getting very concerned with this feature. When I upgraded from the older e95 which had the hard wired video he was very happy. Now that you removed this from the Axiom system we had to go to the miracast which is not reliable with the connection. Please provide an update has to the Raymarine plan to address this issue.

Thanks

George

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Sorry George, I've been out of the office doing dealer training and other things since our last communication.

I talked with colleagues overseas and their feeling is similar to mine, that when the signal level is good the Miracast connection is pretty solid. Like any wireless connection it's not always perfect, but the performance we see is sufficiently reliable. Speaking from the experience of myself and my colleagues in this office (Australia), we aren't getting many calls about unreliable wireless video. What we need to try to understand, then, is why your customer is seeing much lower reliability than most others.

I have set up a test system here, streaming alternately from a Windows 10 PC, an Android phone and and from an Axiom MFD to see if there's a difference in the reliability of the connections, and to look for some options for diagnostic tools, so I'll need to come back to you about all this. In the meantime, it would be helpful if you or the owner could 'measure' the Wifi signal level between the Axiom and Miracast dongle's location by connecting a phone to the Axiom's Wifi, placing it next to the Miracast dongle and then using the Wifi Analyzer app or similar to get a numerical measure of that connection's signal level. I know you've already done this sort of thing, but the numerical signal level in dBm would be good to know.

Finally, could you please make sure that the Axiom's Wifi isn't being used for anything else at the same time?
- wireless Quantum radar
- Netflix/Spotify
- Rayview/Rayremote/Raycontrol apps

Thanks,
Tom

[george123]

Thanks for the reply Tom

I am hoping to get to the boat this week to look at some other issues. I will perform the test that you recommend.

The Wifi from the Axiom is not used for anything else on the boat.

Thanks

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Hello George,

I've been looking at this some more, and am more convinced now that Wifi bandwidth is the likely cause of what you're seeing, but that getting a representative measure of Wifi signal level isn't quite trivial.

I have measured my signal level using the graph function of the Wifi Analyzer app, looking at the signal level from the MFD's access point on the phone as a proxy for Miracast signal level, and looking at the average signal level over a period of several minutes, and with the Settings > Scan Interval at L0. I found that:

• Momentary losses of signal level can be frequent depending on receiver location
• very small changes in the location of the receiver (centimetres or less) can result in big changes in signal level (5...10dBm, or up to a 10-fold change in signal power)
• The MS-WDA's Wifi antenna appears to be in the USB-connected half of of the interface, not the HDMI end, so that's the bit that needs to have a good signal level
• It seems as if one of the TVs I was using for testing might be noisy in the 2.4GHz band at very close range, which led to degraded signal level and performance when connected to that TV
• It looks like the Axiom and Microsoft Wireless Display Adaptor need a constant signal level of around -60dBm or better in order to get a good picture of a 'busy', hard-to-compress screen image. Lower signal levels give pixellated images, pauses for buffering and the like.
  

I'd suggest checking the signal level as I have and seeing what you get, and seeing whether you can improve that signal level by moving the Wifi/USB end of the MS-WDA into a higher-signal location using a USB extension cable, remembering that even a few centimetres of movement can give a significant change in signal level. Signal levels aren't predictable either, I saw higher signal with my phone on top of the TV behind a partition wall than in clear air with direct line-of-sight to the MFD.

Finally - it does seem that there are some inconsistencies about the MS-WDA and PIN access on the MFD, where the WDA and MFD are requiring a PIN even though PIN is turned off in the WDA's setup, and I wonder if some of the re-connection issues are a stale PIN being retained by the MFD. I'll keep on looking into this. Perhaps the MS adaptor isn't the best one for Axiom.

Tom

[george123]

This is good information. I will perform some testing when I get to the boat. I will also look to see what other wifi adapters are available. I have seen one that has its own antenna that can be mounted away from the TV.

[Tamrow]

My miracast came with a very short hdmi extension (maybe 6”) to attach to the tv’s hdmi input and I initially had issues with connectivity. I purchased a longer hdmi cable that was 6 feet long to move the miracast to a location with better reception. I used Velcro to attach it at an inconspicuous location. I also needed to power the miracast with a longer mini usb. I have not had any issues with connectivity since.

[Tom - Raymarine - Moderator]

Thanks Tamrow.

George, I'll be keen to see what results you have.

Tom

[george123]

Several weeks ago I also added a 6 ft HDMI extension to my adapter to see if that made any difference, it did not.
I am also looking to see if I can find a different adapter with an external antenna that can be located away from the TV.

I will be doing the testing as I said to see what I find.
George

[george123]

I went to the boat today and made some measurement. I rested my phone on top of the helm display that is the data master and connected the display to the TV down below. I turn on the wifi app. On my phone and recorded the signal. (LOOK AT PICTURE 305).You can see the signal just dropped for no reason and I lost the TV display. It did not reconnect when the wifi came back. I had to manually reconnect as you can see in the photo.. I restarted the same test see what would happen. LOOK AT the next photo. The signal dropped again but this time the TV did not disconnect (image 815). Very strange.
I next started a test with the phone at the master at the helm. Left it there for a few minutes To get a good signal level. I next moved the phone down below next to the TV. ( photo 733). This will give you signal level info.
To keep my customer happy I set up the system so that theslave system down below which is 8 feet from the TV will be the device that will connect going forward. I have asked him to tell me if he has any problem with this setup.

This was an interesting day of testing.

George

[george123]

Hi Tom

I tried sending these picture on Monday night put it looks like they did not go through. In picture 101305 you can see that the signal dropped to -100 and the TV lost the display picture and the miracast home screen was displayed on the TV. I had to manually reconnect the display ad you can see that in the picture. The second picture 104733 show when I moved the phone from next to the display at the helm to down next to the TV I still had the connection on the TV. In picture 101815 something very strange happened you can see where the signal dropped to -100 for a moment but I did not loose the picture on the TV.

Has Raymarine done any test with a different miracasting device that I could also try.

Thanks
George