ieee80211_st...ster_airtime(9)

🌸 ieee80211_sta_register_airtime — Kernel API Manual ✨

okay so bestie, buckle up, because we're diving into ieee80211_st...ster_airtime(9) — yes that's the shortened form of the name up there in the header, she's just a little truncated, it's fine, it's giving "name too long for the tab bar" 💅 — and honestly? This one is kind of a bop once you get what it's doing.

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💖 NAME

ieee80211_sta_register_airtime — register airtime usage for a sta/tid 🎀

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⭐ SYNOPSIS

void ieee80211_sta_register_airtime (struct ieee80211_sta *pubsta , u8
tid , u32 tx_airtime , u32 rx_airtime );

like, that's the whole signature, no cap 🫶

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🦋 ARGUMENTS

• pubsta — the station 💁‍♀️ like, the actual sta we're talking about here
• tid — the TID to register airtime for ✨ (yes, that specific one, don't be vague about it)
• tx_airtime — airtime used during TX (in usec) 🔥
• rx_airtime — airtime used during RX (in usec) 🌈

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👑 DESCRIPTION

Register airtime usage for a given sta on a given tid. 🎀 The driver must call this function to notify mac80211 that a station used a certain amount of airtime. Like, not "should", must, the way that word is doing so much work here 😭. This information will be used by the TXQ scheduler to schedule stations in a way that ensures airtime fairness — so basically it's the whole receipts system that keeps things fair between stations, and you're the one handing in the receipts, bestie 🧾✨

The reported airtime should as a minimum include all time that is spent transmitting to the remote station, including overhead and padding, but not including time spent waiting for a TXOP. Highkey important distinction there — transmitting time yes, waiting-for-your-turn time no 🙈

If the time is not reported by the hardware it can in some cases be calculated from the rate and known frame composition. When possible, the time should include any failed transmission attempts. yeah, the L's count too, they still ate up airtime 💀

The driver can either call this function synchronously for every packet or aggregate, or asynchronously as airtime usage information becomes available. TX and RX airtime can be reported together, or separately by setting one of them to 0. So like, your call on the timing, just don't skip it 🫶

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💜 SEE ALSO

okay this part is literally a whole friend group, so get comfy 🍓

Kernel file ./include/net/mac80211.h — then: Introduction(9), Calling mac80211 from interrupts(9), Warning(9), Frame format(9), mac80211 workqueue(9), mac80211 software tx queueing(9), HW timestamping(9), enum ieee80211_max_queues(9), enum ieee80211_ac_numbers(9), struct ieee80211_tx_queue_params(9), enum ieee80211_chanctx_change(9), struct ieee80211_chan_req(9), struct ieee80211_chanctx_conf(9), enum ieee80211_chanctx_switch_mode(9), struct ieee80211_vif_chanctx_switch(9), enum ieee80211_bss_change(9), enum ieee80211_event_type(9), enum ieee80211_rssi_event_data(9), struct ieee80211_rssi_event(9), enum ieee80211_mlme_event_data(9), enum ieee80211_mlme_event_status(9), struct ieee80211_mlme_event(9), struct ieee80211_ba_event(9), struct ieee80211_event(9), struct ieee80211_mu_group_data(9), struct ieee80211_ftm_responder_params(9), struct ieee80211_fils_discovery(9), struct ieee80211_parsed_tpe(9), struct ieee80211_bss_npca_params(9), struct ieee80211_bss_conf(9), struct ieee80211_nan_channel(9), struct ieee80211_nan_peer_map(9), struct ieee80211_nan_peer_sched(9), enum mac80211_tx_info_flags(9), enum mac80211_tx_control_flags(9), enum mac80211_tx_status_flags(9), enum mac80211_rate_control_flags(9), struct ieee80211_tx_rate(9), struct ieee80211_tx_info(9), struct ieee80211_tx_status(9), struct ieee80211_scan_ies(9), ieee80211_tx_info_clear_status(9), enum mac80211_rx_flags(9), enum mac80211_rx_encoding_flags(9), struct ieee80211_rx_status(9), enum ieee80211_conf_flags(9), enum ieee80211_conf_changed(9), enum ieee80211_smps_mode(9), struct ieee80211_conf(9), struct ieee80211_channel_switch(9), enum ieee80211_vif_flags(9), enum ieee80211_offload_flags(9), struct ieee80211_eml_params(9), struct ieee80211_nan_sched_cfg(9), struct ieee80211_vif_cfg(9), struct ieee80211_neg_ttlm(9), enum ieee80211_neg_ttlm_res(9), struct ieee80211_vif(9), ieee80211_vif_usable_links(9), ieee80211_vif_is_mld(9), ieee80211_vif_link_active(9), wdev_to_ieee80211_vif(9), ieee80211_vif_to_wdev(9), enum ieee80211_key_flags(9), struct ieee80211_key_conf(9), struct ieee80211_key_seq(9), enum set_key_cmd(9), enum ieee80211_sta_state(9), enum ieee80211_sta_rx_bandwidth(9), struct ieee80211_sta_rates(9), struct ieee80211_sta_txpwr(9), struct ieee80211_sta_aggregates(9), struct ieee80211_link_sta(9), struct ieee80211_sta(9), enum sta_notify_cmd(9), struct ieee80211_tx_control(9), struct ieee80211_txq(9), enum ieee80211_hw_flags(9), struct ieee80211_hw(9), struct ieee80211_scan_request(9), struct ieee80211_tdls_ch_sw_params(9), wiphy_to_ieee80211_hw(9), SET_IEEE80211_DEV(9), SET_IEEE80211_PERM_ADDR(9), ieee80211_free_txskb(9), ieee80211_purge_tx_queue(9), Hardware crypto acceleration(9), Powersave support(9), Beacon filter support(9), Spatial multiplexing power save(9), Frame filtering(9), AP support for powersaving clients(9), HW queue control(9), enum ieee80211_filter_flags(9), enum ieee80211_ampdu_mlme_action(9), struct ieee80211_ampdu_params(9), enum ieee80211_frame_release_type(9), enum ieee80211_rate_control_changed(9), enum ieee80211_roc_type(9), enum ieee80211_reconfig_type(9), struct ieee80211_prep_tx_info(9), struct ieee80211_ops(9), ieee80211_alloc_hw_nm(9), ieee80211_alloc_hw(9), ieee80211_register_hw(9), struct ieee80211_tpt_blink(9), enum ieee80211_tpt_led_trigger_flags(9), ieee80211_get_tx_led_name(9), ieee80211_get_rx_led_name(9), ieee80211_get_assoc_led_name(9), ieee80211_get_radio_led_name(9), ieee80211_create_tpt_led_trigger(9), ieee80211_unregister_hw(9), ieee80211_free_hw(9), ieee80211_restart_hw(9), ieee80211_rx_list(9), ieee80211_rx_napi(9), ieee80211_rx(9), ieee80211_rx_irqsafe(9), ieee80211_rx_ni(9), ieee80211_sta_ps_transition(9), ieee80211_sta_ps_transition_ni(9), ieee80211_sta_pspoll(9), ieee80211_sta_uapsd_trigger(9), ieee80211_sta_set_buffered(9), ieee80211_get_tx_rates(9), ieee80211_tx_rate_update(9), ieee80211_tx_status_skb(9), ieee80211_tx_status_ext(9), ieee80211_tx_status_noskb(9), ieee80211_tx_status_ni(9), ieee80211_tx_status_irqsafe(9), ieee80211_report_low_ack(9), struct ieee80211_mutable_offsets(9), ieee80211_beacon_get_template(9), ieee80211_beacon_get_template_ema_index(9), struct ieee80211_ema_beacons(9), ieee80211_beacon_get_template_ema_list(9), ieee80211_beacon_free_ema_list(9), ieee80211_beacon_get_tim(9), ieee80211_beacon_get(9), ieee80211_beacon_update_cntdwn(9), ieee80211_beacon_set_cntdwn(9), ieee80211_csa_finish(9), ieee80211_beacon_cntdwn_is_complete(9), ieee80211_color_change_finish(9), ieee80211_proberesp_get(9), ieee80211_pspoll_get(9), ieee80211_nullfunc_get(9), ieee80211_probereq_get(9), ieee80211_rts_get(9), ieee80211_rts_duration(9), ieee80211_ctstoself_get(9), ieee80211_ctstoself_duration(9), ieee80211_generic_frame_duration(9), ieee80211_get_buffered_bc(9), ieee80211_get_tkip_p1k_iv(9), ieee80211_get_tkip_p1k(9), ieee80211_get_tkip_rx_p1k(9), ieee80211_get_tkip_p2k(9), ieee80211_tkip_add_iv(9), ieee80211_get_key_rx_seq(9), ieee80211_set_key_rx_seq(9), ieee80211_gtk_rekey_add(9), ieee80211_gtk_rekey_notify(9), ieee80211_key_mic_failure(9), ieee80211_key_replay(9), ieee80211_wake_queue(9), ieee80211_stop_queue(9), ieee80211_queue_stopped(9), ieee80211_stop_queues(9), ieee80211_wake_queues(9), ieee80211_scan_completed(9), ieee80211_sched_scan_results(9), ieee80211_sched_scan_stopped(9), enum ieee80211_interface_iteration_flags(9), ieee80211_iterate_interfaces(9), ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces(9), ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_atomic(9), for_each_interface(9), for_each_active_interface(9), ieee80211_iterate_active_interfaces_mtx(9), ieee80211_iterate_stations_atomic(9), for_each_station(9), ieee80211_iterate_stations_mtx(9), ieee80211_queue_work(9), ieee80211_queue_delayed_work(9), ieee80211_refresh_tx_agg_session_timer(9), ieee80211_start_tx_ba_session(9), ieee80211_start_tx_ba_cb_irqsafe(9), ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_session(9), ieee80211_stop_tx_ba_cb_irqsafe(9), ieee80211_find_sta(9), ieee80211_find_sta_by_ifaddr(9), ieee80211_find_sta_by_link_addrs(9), ieee80211_sta_block_awake(9), ieee80211_sta_eosp(9), ieee80211_send_eosp_nullfunc(9), ieee80211_sta_recalc_aggregates(9), ieee80211_txq_airtime_check(9), ieee80211_txq_aql_pending(9), ieee80211_iter_keys(9), ieee80211_iter_keys_rcu(9), ieee80211_iter_chan_contexts_atomic(9), ieee80211_iter_chan_contexts_mtx(9), ieee80211_ap_probereq_get(9), ieee80211_beacon_loss(9), ieee80211_connection_loss(9), ieee80211_disconnect(9), ieee80211_resume_disconnect(9), ieee80211_hw_restart_disconnect(9), ieee80211_cqm_rssi_notify(9), ieee80211_cqm_beacon_loss_notify(9), ieee80211_radar_detected(9), ieee80211_chswitch_done(9), ieee80211_channel_switch_disconnect(9), ieee80211_request_smps(9), ieee80211_ready_on_channel(9), ieee80211_remain_on_channel_expired(9), ieee80211_stop_rx_ba_session(9), ieee80211_mark_rx_ba_filtered_frames(9), ieee80211_send_bar(9), ieee80211_manage_rx_ba_offl(9), ieee80211_start_rx_ba_session_offl(9), ieee80211_stop_rx_ba_session_offl(9), ieee80211_rx_ba_timer_expired(9), struct ieee80211_tx_rate_control(9), enum rate_control_capabilities(9), rate_control_set_rates(9), ieee80211_get_he_iftype_cap_vif(9), ieee80211_get_he_6ghz_capa_vif(9), ieee80211_get_eht_iftype_cap_vif(9), ieee80211_get_uhr_iftype_cap_vif(9), ieee80211_update_mu_groups(9), ieee80211_ave_rssi(9), ieee80211_calculate_rx_timestamp(9), ieee80211_report_wowlan_wakeup(9), ieee80211_tx_prepare_skb(9), ieee80211_parse_tx_radiotap(9), struct ieee80211_noa_data(9), ieee80211_parse_p2p_noa(9), ieee80211_update_p2p_noa(9), ieee80211_tdls_oper_request(9), ieee80211_reserve_tid(9), ieee80211_unreserve_tid(9), ieee80211_tx_dequeue(9), ieee80211_tx_dequeue_ni(9), ieee80211_handle_wake_tx_queue(9), ieee80211_next_txq(9), ieee80211_txq_schedule_start(9), ieee80211_schedule_txq(9), ieee80211_return_txq(9), ieee80211_txq_may_transmit(9), ieee80211_txq_get_depth(9), ieee80211_nan_func_terminated(9), ieee80211_nan_func_match(9), ieee80211_nan_sched_update_done(9), ieee80211_nan_cluster_joined(9), ieee80211_nan_try_evacuate(9), ieee80211_calc_rx_airtime(9), ieee80211_calc_tx_airtime(9), ieee80211_get_fils_discovery_tmpl(9), ieee80211_get_unsol_bcast_probe_resp_tmpl(9), ieee80211_obss_color_collision_notify(9), ieee80211_is_tx_data(9), ieee80211_set_active_links(9), ieee80211_set_active_links_async(9), ieee80211_send_teardown_neg_ttlm(9), ieee80211_chan_width_to_rx_bw(9), ieee80211_prepare_rx_omi_bw(9), ieee80211_finalize_rx_omi_bw(9), ieee80211_vif_nan_started(9), ieee80211_encrypt_tx_skb(9) 🌟

like. that's the entire extended universe. iykyk 🫶

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ngl bestie, the one thing to actually internalise: the driver must call this, and the airtime you report is what keeps the TXQ scheduler fair. don't fumble the receipts 💅

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and that's the page!! mwah 💖 this little number lives at ./include/net and it's dated October 2026, so like, future-dated slay 👑✨ bye bestie, go report some airtime 🦋🎀