Maintaining WiFi connection on Raspberry Pi

[dalogue1]

I have had issues with my four Raspberry Pi BirdNET-Pis becoming disconnecting from the WiFi. (Multiple Pis, different locations, different Access Points) It turns out to not be an uncommon problem. The best solution to date is to configure a watchdog to reestablish the wlan0 connection and to disable the power saving mode for the WiFi. This is applicable regardless of Raspberry Pi or whether bookworm or bullseye.

Watchdog Configuration
The following web link describes the monitor process:
https://www.dzombak.com/blog/2023/12/Maintaining-a-solid-WiFi-connection-on-Raspberry-Pi.html

Turning Off the Power Saving Mode
The problem appears to be related to a power saving mode option that can be turned off by creating a configuration file named /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8192cu.conf containing the following and then rebooting:

options rtl8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0 rtw_ips_mode=1

See the last message in this link https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=278409
However, note that the name of the driver has since 2020 been changed to rtl8192cu instead of 8192cu as stated in the link.

[alexbelgium]

Thanks for sharing!

[dalogue1]

BTW Turning Off the Power Saving Mode was enough to eliminate the dropping connection. The Watchdog Configuration is a backup measure.

[dalogue1]

You can create the configuration file by entering the following commands using the Web Terminal:

sudo -s
cat > /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8192cu.conf
options rtl8192cu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0 rtw_ips_mode=1
^D
exit

After creating the file as shown above, simply reboot and the Power Saving Mode is disabled.
(Note: the ^D implies hitting "Control D" not typing the string.)