Wireless Ethernet Wireless Lans: Design Goals: - 54 Mbit/S - 5 GHZ - Ofdm

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Wireless Ethernet Wireless LANs: Design Goals

• Wireless equivalent to Ethernet: “Wireless LAN” (WLAN)
• Exclusively data-oriented, wide-band Internet access solution
• Standardized by the IEEE as IEEE 802.11 • Global, seamless operation
IEEE 802.11 (data rate of 2 MBit/s), standardised in 1997 • Low power for battery use
IEEE 802.11a with 54 MBit/s, use of a 5 GHz frequency band • No special permissions or licenses needed to use the LAN
IEEE 802.11b with 11 MBit/s in a 2.4 GHz frequency range • Robust transmission technology
IEEE 802.11g: enhancement of 802.11b with up to 54 MBit/s • Simplified spontaneous cooperation at meetings
IEEE 802.11n: data rates up to several hundreds of MBit/s (not finished) • Easy to use for everyone, simple management
… • Protection of investment in wired networks
802.11a • Security (no one should be able to read my data), privacy (no one should be able
• 54 MBit/s to collect user profiles), safety (low radiation)
• 5 GHz
802.11 • OFDM
• Transparency concerning applications and higher layer protocols, but also
• 1 or 2 MBit/s location awareness if necessary
• 2.4 GHz 802.11b 802.11g
• FHSS, DSSS
• 11 MBit/s • 54 MBit/s
• 2.4 GHz • 2.4 GHz
• DSSS • OFDM, DSSS
Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 1 Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 2

Structure of a WLAN Infrastructure Network

1. Infrastructure network • Station (STA)
802.11 LAN Computer with access mechanism to
• Access Points (APs) are attached to an existing 802.x LAN
the wireless medium and by this radio
fixed network (Ethernet, Satellites, …) AP Fixed network
L a p to p
STA1 connection to the AP

• Each AP manages all communication AP AP
in its reception range L a p to p L a p to p L a p to p L a p to p
BSS1 • Access Point (AP)
• APs using the same frequency range must Access Portal Station which is integrated both in the
have enough distance to avoid disturbances Point radio and the wired network
(distribution system)
• Control functionality (medium access, mobility management, authentication, …) are Distribution System
realized within the infrastructure, wireless devices only need a minimum of • Basic Service Set (BSS)
Access
functionality ESS Group of stations incl. the AP within
Point
an AP transmission range
2. Ad-hoc Network
Laptop
BSS2 • Portal
• If no AP is available, stations also can
build up an own LAN Gateway to another fixed network
Laptop Laptop
• The transmission now takes place directly STA2 • Distribution system

between the stations STA3 Connection of different AP areas to
802.11 LAN
• Higher complexity needed within the stations (control functionality) one logical network (EES: Extended
service set). Simplest principle: switch
Ad-hoc Network 802.11 Protocols
802.11 LAN
Direct communication within limited range
STA1
• Station (STA)
STA3 Applications should not
IBSS1 Computer with access mechanism to
the wireless medium be aware of the
existence of the wireless
STA2
• Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS) network (except
Group of stations which use the same capacity, longer access
carrier frequency within a transmission times)
range
Different IBSS are possible by spatial
IBSS2 separation or by using different carrier
Medium Access Control
STA5 frequencies
• Access mechanism, fragmenting, encryption
No designated stations for the forwarding
STA4 of data, routing,… … • MAC management: synchronization, roaming between APs, power management
802.11 LAN Physical layer
• Channel selection, modulation, coding

IEEE 802.11 Variants IEEE 802.11 Variants
802.11a 54 MBit/s WLAN in the 5 GHz band

802.11m Summary of earlier enhancements, correction of errors in former specifications
802.11b 11 MBit/s WLAN in the 2,4 GHz band
(maintenance)
802.11c Wireless Bridging between Access Points
802.11n Enhancement for a future, faster WLAN with data rate of 100 - 600 MBit/s
802.11d "World Mode", Adaptation to regional regulations (e.g. used frequency ranges)
802.11p WAVE - Wireless Access for the Vehicular Environment (such as ambulances and
802.11e QoS und streaming enhancement for 802.11a/g/h passenger cars)
802.11f Inter Access Point Protocol (IAPP), allows communication between Access Points of 802.11q Support of Virtual WLANs
different vendors, e.g. for exchanging roaming information
802.11r Fast roaming between APs to avoid gaps in Voice over WLAN audio
802.11g 54 MBit/s WLAN in the 2,4 GHz band
802.11s ESS Mesh Networking
802.11h 54 MBit/s WLAN in the 5 GHz band with dynamic adaptation of channel and
802.11t Wireless Performance Prediction (WPP) - test methods and metrics
frequency choice as well as automatic adaptation of transmission power
(enhancement of IEEE 802.11a for Europe) 802.11u Interworking with non-802 networks (for example, cellular)
802.11i Authentication/encryption for 802.11a/b/g, e.g. WPA 802.11v Wireless network management
802.11j Japanese variant of 802.11a for the frequency range of 4,9 GHz - 5 GHz 802.11w Protection of Management Frames
802.11k Improved measurement/evaluation/management of radio parameters (e.g. signal 802.11y 3650-3700 MHz Operation in the U.S.
strength), e.g. for enabling location based services

802.11 – Physical Layer IEEE 802.11b
Variants for transmission: 2 using radio (in the 2.4 GHz band), 1 using infrared • Data rate • QoS
• FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) – 1, 2, 5.5, 11 MBit/s, depending – Best effort, no guarantees (some
on SNR defined in “bad” way, later on much
– 79 different channels with 1 MHz bandwidth each
– User throughput max. approx. better standardized in 802.11e)
– Hopping between 2 channels for 1 MBit/s, between 4 channels for 2 MBit/s
6 MBit/s • Manageability
– Min. 2.5 hops/sec
• Transmission range – Limited (no automatic key distribution,
– GFSK modulation
– 100m outdoor, 30m indoor symmetrical encryption)
– Max. transmission power: 1 W (USA)/100 mW (EU), min. 1 mW (directed links: several km) • Special advantages/disadvantages
• DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) – Max. data rate ~ 10m (indoor) – Advantages: free ISM band, many
– DBPSK modulation for 1 MBit/s (Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying), • Frequency range vendors, simple system
DQPSK for 2 MBit/s (Differential Quadrature PSK) – Unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band – Disadvantage: heavy interferences on
– Chipping sequence: (+1, -1, +1, +1, -1, +1, +1, +1, -1, -1, -1), a Barker-Code • Security the ISM band, no QoS, relatively low
– Max. transmission power: 1 W (USA)/100 mW (EU), min. 1 mW – SSID, WPA2 data rates
• Connection setup time • Usage
• Infrared
– Connectionless, „always on“ – Preferred version in Europe
– 850-950nm, diffuse light, typically 10 m range

Channels in IEEE 802.11b Channels in IEEE 802.11b

• Two APs using the same frequency would have interferences in the overlapping Available in the ISM band (most of Europe): 2400 – 2483,5 MHz Channel 1
2401 2412 2423
area – thus: divide the whole frequency range in channels
USA/Canada: channel 1 - 11
• Each channel in IEEE 802.11b has a bandwidth of 22 MHz
Carrier frequency
• 13 channels in Germany (2412, 2417, 2422, …, 2472 MHz), 11 in USA/Canada Channel 1 Channel 6 Channel 11
• Channels overlap! Non-overlapping choice of channels: 2401 2412 2423 2426 2437 2448 2451 2462 2473
Channel 2 Channel 7 Channel 12

Channel 1 Channel 6 Channel 11 2406 2417 2428 2431 2442 2453 2456 2467 2478
Channel 3 Channel 8 Channel 13

2411 2422 2433 2436 2447 2458 2461 2472 2483
[MHz]
2400 2412 2437 2462 2483.5 Channel 4 Channel 9
2416 2427 2438 2441 2452 2463
22 MHz
11 Channel 5 Channel 10
6 Japan ( 1 – 14)
2421 2432 2443 2446 2457 2468
• Ideal case: only use channels 1, 6 und 11: 1 1
Channel 14
11 2473 2484 2495
6 MHz
2400 2410 2420 2430 2440 2450 2460 2470 2480
Dynamic Rate Shifting Channels

Adjustment of the data rate to the transmission quality: The whole 2.4GHz ISM band is divided into 11 resp. 13 overlapping channels. On
each channel, DSSS is used for signal spreading:
Data Rate Code length Modulation Used Symbol Rate Bits/Symbol
→ One sub-band has a bandwidth of 22 MHz. The sent data are spread to those
1 Mbit/s DSSS/PSK 1 bandwidth to avoid environmental disturbances
11 (barker code) 1 MS/s
2 Mbit/s DSSS/QPSK 2 → The chips of the barker code resp. CCK are sent in sequence – this increases
the number of symbols per second compared with “pure” sending of the data,
5,5 Mbit/s Modified 4 thus a larger bandwidth is needed
8 (CCK) 1,375 MS/s
11 Mbit/s DSSS/QPSK 8 → Purpose: even if the frequency range Channel n
is disturbed partly, enough of the signal
CCK: Complementary Code Keying power reaches the receiver on the rest
• Use of an 8-chip spreading sequence where each chip is modulated with QPSK of the channel; if a non-spread
• QPSK has 4 states, chipping sequence has length 8 → 48 resulting states transmission would take place, the
• Select 64 (for 11 Mbit/s) resp. 4 (for 5,5 Mbit/s) of the states which have as good whole data would be lost in case of
cross correlation characteristics as possible (i.e. are as different as possible) narrowband interference 22 MHz
• That means: make use of 4 resp. 16 code words which can be transferred instead → If CCK is used, we use “several codes” instead of the same chipping sequence
of only 1 as with the barker code (i.e. skip some robustness) everytime - the transmission becomes more susceptible for disturbances than
with use of the barker code, if we have a distortion (maybe caused by an
overlapping channel)!

Range of IEEE 802.11b Range of 802.11b
Due to “abused” spreading in case of CCK, the higher data transmission rates are
more susceptible for disturbances. Thus, a smaller range results:
Data rate
10
Mbit/s
8
4 802.11b
2
802.11
0
10 30 60 100 m Distance

IEEE 802.11a Channels in IEEE 802.11a
• Data rates • Connection setup time Channels are also overlapping, as in 802.11b:
– 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 MBit/s, – Connectionless, „always on“
depending on SNR • QoS
36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 channel-no.
– User Throughput: max. 32 MBit/s – Best effort, no guarantees
– 6, 12, 24 MBit/s mandatory (same as for 802.11b)
• Transmission range • Manageability
– 100m outdoor, 10m indoor (e.g. – Limited (same as for 802.11b) 5150 5180 5200 5220 5240 5260 5280 5300 5320 5350 [MHz]
54 Mbit/s up to 5 m, 48 up to • Special advantages/disadvantages 16,6 MHz
12 m, 36 up to 25 m, 24 up to 30
– Advantages: uses less crowded
m, 18 up to 40 m, 12 up to 60 m)
free ISM band, available
• Frequency range center frequency =
worldwide, simple system, many 149 153 157 161 channel-no. 5000 + 5·channel-no. [MHz]
– Free 5.15-5.35 + 5.725-5.825 vendors
GHz ISM band – Disadvantages: strong shading
• Security due to high frequencies, no QoS
– SSID, WPA2 • Usage 5725 5745 5765 5785 5805 5825 [MHz]
– Preferred version in USA 16,6 MHz

Modulation in 802.11a: OFDM Medium Access Control

• OFDM with 52 subcarriers (64 in total, 6 as guard space on each side)
We can assign one channel with an AP – but then we have to coordinate all mobile
• Subcarriers overlap with 312,5 kHz spacing, but orthogonality of chosen stations in their communication with the AP. Chosen for IEEE 802.11a/b/g/…:
frequencies allows for clear separation
„Wireless Ethernet“ – MAC protocol is oriented at CSMA/CD
• 48 data subchannels + 4 subchannels for phase reference (pilot)
• Hidden Station Problem
• Pilots are used by the receiver to deal with multipath propagation: phase
references for the whole band are sent here, the receiver can interpolate phase • Exposed Station Problem
shifts for the data carriers
312,5 kHz Solution of the problems, especially Hidden Station
phase reference (pilot)
And: IEEE 802.11g simply CSMA/CA – CSMA with Collision Avoidance
is introducing OFDM on the
existing 802.11b system, Types of traffic
i.e. replacing of DSSS by • Asynchronous data service (standard)
OFDM for higher data rates Exchange of data by „best effort“
(while keeping the ability to Support of broadcast and multicast
switch to DSSS for
• Time-bound services (optional)
interworking with 802.11b)
Implementation of some degree of QoS
-26 -21 -7 -1 1 7 21 26 subcarrier Only for infrastructure networks
number
Chapter 3.2: WLAN channel center frequency Page 19 Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 20
802.11 – MAC Layer: DFWMAC 802.11 – MAC Layer

Access strategies Priorities for medium access
• defined through different timing intervals
• DFWMAC-DCF CSMA/CA (standard)
• no guaranteed priorities
DFWMAC: Distributed Foundation Wireless MAC
DCF: Distributed Coordination Function • SIFS (Short Inter Frame Spacing) – 10µs
collision avoidance by random access with backoff mechanism – highest priority, used for ACK, CTS, polling response
Minimum time between two frames • PIFS (PCF IFS) – 30µs
ACKs for acknowledging correct receipt (not for broadcast) – medium priority, for time-bounded services using PCF
• DFWMAC-DCF with RTS/CTS (optional) • DIFS (DCF IFS) – 50µs
Avoidance of Hidden Stations – lowest priority, für asynchronous data service
MACA variant (Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance)
DIFS DIFS
• DFWMAC-PCF (optional)
PIFS
PCF: Point Coordination Function
SIFS
Collision-free, centralized Polling strategy where the AP has a list of Medium busy contention next frame
all connected stations t
direct access, if
time the medium is free ≥ DIFS

802.11 - CSMA/CA Method Example - Backoff

contention window
DIFS DIFS (randomized backoff
mechanism) B1 = 25
PIFS B1 = 5
SIFS wait data
Medium busy next frame
waiting time t
time slot (20 µs)
data wait
• Mandatory for all implementations
• Before sending, a station performs carrier sense B2 = 20 B2 = 15 B2 = 10
• If the medium is free for at least the duration of a DIFS, the station may send
• If the medium is occupied, when becoming free the station waits for one DIFS and
then randomly chooses a backoff time (collision avoidance, in multiples of a slot
time). The station continues to listen to the medium B1 and B2 are backoff intervals
• If the medium is occupied by another station during the backoff time, the backoff at nodes 1 and 2
timer stops. In the next try, no new backoff time is chosen randomly, but the old
timer is gone on with.
• Also usable for broadcast
Competing Stations 802.11 - CSMA/CA Method

DIFS DIFS DIFS DIFS
boe bobo
e r bobo
e bo
e r boe busy Unicast transmission: the receipt is additionally confirmed, since collisions
Station1 possibly are not detected by the transmitter
boe busy • Data can be sent after waiting for DIFS
Station2 • Receivers answer immediately (after SIFS, without additional backoff time), if
the frame arrived correctly (CRC)
busy
Station3 • In case of an error the frame is repeated automatically. No special treatment
of a transmission repetition, same access mechanism as before
boe busy boe bor
Station4
bobo
e bo
e r boe busy boe bor DIFS
Station5 Data
t sender
SIFS
busy Medium busy (Frame, ACK, etc.) boe elapsed backoff time ACK
receiver
DIFS
Sending request bor remaining backoff time Data
other
The size of the competition window (Contention Window, CW) affects the efficiency. Therefore stations t
waiting time contention
(similar to Ethernet) it starts with CW = 7 and is doubled with each collision up to CW max = 255

Competing Stations (with ACK) 802.11 – DFWMAC with RTS/CTS

DIFS SIFS DIFS DIFS DIFS Optional extension for the avoidance of the hidden station problem:
bo11 bo11 bo11 busy
Station1 • RTS with holding time as parameter can be sent after waiting for DIFS
(plus backoff time)
bo21 busy • Confirmation of the receiver by CTS after SIFS (also containing holding time)
Station2
• Immediate sending of the data is possible, confirmation by ACK
busy • Other stations store the holding time, which were sent in the RTS and CTS, in their
Station3 NAV (Network Allocation Vector)
ACK bo41 busy bo42 • Collisions are only possible with RTS/CTS messages, but substantial overhead
Station4 through RTS/CTS messages
DIFS
bo51 bo51 busy bo52 RTS data
Station5 sender
t
SIFS SIFS
CTS SIFS ACK
busy Medium occupied (Frame, ACK, etc.) boij jth backoff time of station i receiver
contention
Sending request ACK Acknowledgement
NAV (RTS) DIFS
The size of the competition window (Contention Window, CW) affects the efficiency. Therefore other NAV (CTS) data
(similar to Ethernet) it starts with CW = 8 and is doubled with each collision up to CW max = 256 stations t
Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 27 Chapter 3.2: WLAN waiting time Page 28
802.11 – DFWMAC with RTS/CTS DFWMAC-PCF

• Fragmenting data can decrease the damage caused by transfer errors • PCF for guarantees concerning bandwidth and access delay
• Special mechanism: adapt size of the fragments to current error rate of the • AP controls medium access and cyclic queries all stations (Polling)
medium • Super-frames with competition-free period and competition period (like before)
• First: normal reservation with RTS/CTS • If the medium gets free (t1) after the begin of the super-frame (t0), the coordinator
• Fragments and ACKs (except the last for each case) contain reservation durations cyclic asks all stations x (Dx) for sending needs. If necessary, they answer with Ux
(the data to be sent)
• If the phase is ended earlier than planned (t2 instead of t3), more time remains for
the competition phase (end is announced by a control frame CFend)
DIFS t0 t1 t2 t3
RTS frag1 frag2 super-frame t4
sender
SIFS SIFS SIFS
CTS SIFS ACK1 SIFS ACK2 PIFS SIFS SIFS PIFS SIFS
receiver D1 D2 D3 D4 CFend
NAV (RTS) SIFS SIFS SIFS

NAV (CTS) U1 U2 U4
NAV (frag1) DIFS
other NAV (ACK1) data
stations t NAV
contention contention-free period t
contention

What is implemented? Frame Format
Any vendor has to implement the standard CSMA/CA variant, the other two are • Types
optional Control frames, administrative frames, data frames
• RTS/CTS very often is implemented by AP manufacturers, but: disabled! • Sequence numbers
• Usual method: For detecting duplicated frames due to lost ACKs
A frame size threshold is defined, and only frames longer than the threshold • Addresses
are sent with RTS/CTS (to avoid overhead for small frames) Receiver, transmitter (physical), sender (logical), BSS identifier
The threshold value in basic configuration is sent to maximum allowed frame • Misc
length…
Duration of transmission, data
Changing the threshold value allows you to enable the RTS/CTS
Only possibility to really avoid collisions
bytes 2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0-2312 4
• PCF mechanism usually is not implemented
Frame Duration/ Address Address Address Sequence Address
Not needed in many cases, and not possible in ad-hoc networks Control ID 1 2 3 Control 4
Data CRC
Would allow for real-time data transmission, but is not good in it, thus it
doesn’t became prominent – instead, a QoS enhancement for real-time bits 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
transmission was defined (IEEE 802.11e) Protocol To From More Power More
Type Subtype Retry WEP Order
version DS DS Frag Mgmt Data

Frame Format MAC Address Format
Frame Control Scenario to DS from DS address 1 address 2 address 3 address 4

• Protocol version, frame type (administration, control, data), fragmenting, encryption ad-hoc network 0 0 DA SA BSSID -
information, meaning of the following address fields infrastructure 0 1 DA BSSID SA -
network, from AP
Duration ID infrastructure 1 0 BSSID SA DA -
• Sent along with RTC, CTS for setting the NAV network, to AP
infrastructure 1 1 RA TA DA SA
Sequence Control network, within DS
• Recognition of duplicated frames by sequence numbers
CRC
• Checksum for detecting transmission errors
Addresses DS: Distribution System
AP: Access Point
• Each field contains a 48-Bit MAC address. MAC frames can be transferred DA: Destination Address
between two stations, between station and AP or between two APs within the SA: Source Address
distribution system. In the field Frame Control, two bits are determining the current BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier
meaning of the addresses. Addresses can be: Final destination, source address, RA: Receiver Address
BSS Identifier, intermediate sender address, intermediate receiver address TA: Transmitter Address

Special Frames FHSS Frame Format (PHY)

• Synchronization
bytes 2 2 6 4 – Synchronization of receivers by the pattern 010101...
Acknowledgement, ACK Frame
Duration
Receiver
CRC
• SFD (Start Frame Delimiter)
Control Address – 0000110010111101 to announce start of frame
• PLW (PLCP_PDU Length Word)
– Length of payload including the 32 Bit CRC (at the end of the payload).
bytes 2 2 6 6 4 Allowed values are between 0 and 4095
Frame Receiver Transmitter • PSF (PLCP Signaling Field)
Request to Send, RTS Duration CRC
Control Address Address
– Data rate of payload (1 or 2 Mbit/s)
• HEC (Header Error Check)
– CRC with x16+x12+x5+1
bytes 2 2 6 4 80 16 12 4 16 variable Bits
Frame Receiver
Clear to Send, CTS Duration CRC Synchronization SFD PLW PSF HEC Payload
Control Address
Preamble Header
transmission transmission with
with 1 Mbit/s 1 or 2 Mbit/s
DSSS Frame Format (PHY) IEEE 802.11b – Frame Format (PHY)

• Synchronization Long frame format:
– Synchronization, gain setting, energy detection, frequency offset compensation 128 16 8 8 16 16 variable Bits
• SFD (Start Frame Delimiter) synchronization SFD signal service length HEC payload
– 1111001110100000 as start pattern
• Signal Preamble Header
– Data rate of payload (0A: 1 Mbit/s DBPSK; 14: 2 Mbit/s DQPSK)
• Service 192 µs at 1 Mbit/s DBPSK 1, 2, 5.5 or 11 Mbit/s
– Reserved for future use, standard: 00 for 802.11 frames
• Length (length of payload) and HEC (CRC) as for FHSS Short frame format, optional:
56 16 8 8 16 16 variable Bits
128 16 8 8 16 16 variable Bits short synch. SFD signal service length HEC Payload
Synchronization SFD Signal Service Length HEC Payload
Preamble Header
Preamble Header (1 Mbit/s, DBPSK) (2 Mbit/s, DQPSK)
transmission transmission with
with 1 Mbit/s 1 or 2 Mbit/s 96 µs 2, 5.5 or 11 Mbit/s

IEEE 802.11a – Frame Format (PHY) 802.11 - MAC Management

• Synchronization
Find a LAN, try to remain in the LAN
4 1 12 1 6 16 variable 6 variable Bits Synchronization of internal clocks (e.g. FHSS, PCF, power saving
rate reserved length parity tail service payload tail pad mechanisms)
Timer etc.
• Power management
PLCP-Header
Sleep mode without missing a message
Periodic sleeping, frame buffering, traffic monitoring
• Association/Re-association
Preamble, SFD Signal Data Integration into a LAN
12 1 variable Symbols Roaming, i.e. moving between networks from one Access Point to another
Scanning, i.e. active search for a network
6 Mbit/s 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54 Mbit/s • MIB - Management Information Base
Managing, read and write of management attributed and state variables
inside APs, the distribution system, etc
Synchronization using a Beacon Synchronization using a Beacon (Ad-hoc)
• Beacon frame contains time stamps and administrative information for power • All stations try to send a Beacon frame in fixed intervals
saving mechanisms and roaming • Standard access procedure with backoff
• Varying times between beacon frames, since the medium can be occupied • One station wins and sends a beacon frame at first. All other stations synchronize
• In infrastructure networks: AP takes over the sending of the beacons to this frame.
Interval of the beacon interval

periodic radio
signal (beacon):
20ms - 1s B1 B1
Station1
B2 B2
B B B B Station2
AP
busy busy busy busy
busy busy busy busy Medium
Medium t
t B
B value of the timestamp beacon frame random backoff
value of the timestamp beacon frame

Power Management with Wake-up Patterns
Power Management
(Infrastructure)
• Idea: Switch off the sending/receiving device when not needed
• Timing Synchronization Function
TIM interval DTIM interval
Regular activation of all stations. Transmissions for sleeping stations are buffered;
when waking up, the stations receive the transmission
• Infrastructure: D B T T d D B
AP
AP can store all pending frameworks for sleeping stations
With each beacon frame, a Traffic Indication Map (TIM) is sent along which Medium
busy busy busy busy
indicates, for which stations frames are buffered.
Additionally: List for broadcast/multicast receivers (Delivery Traffic Indication Station
p d
Map, DTIM) t
• Ad-hoc T TIM D DTIM awake
Similar to the infrastructure mod, an aA-hoc Traffic Indication Map (ATIM) is
defined B Broadcast/Multicast p PS Poll d Data transmission
from/to the station
Stations, which have data to send, announce the receivers of stored packages
More complex, no central AP: all stations have to temporarily store frames
Collisions of ATIMs possible (scalability?)
Power Management with Wake-up Patterns
802.11 - Roaming
(Ad-hoc)
Bad or even no connection?
ATIM
window beacon interval • Scanning
– Scanning of environment (listen for beacons of APs or send a probe and
wait for a response)
B1 A D B1
Station1
• Reassociation Request
– Station requests joining the network to AP(s)
B2 B2 a d
Station2 • Reassociation Response
– If an AP responds, the station takes part in the network
t – Otherwise, go on scanning
B beacon frame random backoff A ATIM transmission D data transmission
• AP accepts Reassociation Request
awake a ACK for ATIM d ACK for data – Announce new station to the Distribution System
– Distribution System updates its databases (location information)
– The old AP is informed by the Distribution System

Quality of Service – IEEE 802.11e Extended Distributed Channel Access
The PCF variant of CSMA/CA should allow some quality in data transmission: The scheme from before (all stations use the DIFS time interval) is refined:
• By polling at certain times, allow for deterministic delay of information • Assign different priorities to different data streams (traffic classes, TC)
• Also, guarantee a certain data rate to each participant • As before, priority is given by waiting times: the Arbitration Inter-Frame space (AIFS)
• But…frames in polling can be between 0 and 2304 bytes… and the data rate on AIFS[TC0] TC Access Category (AC) Purpose
physical layer can change due to channel conditions… 0 0 Best Effort
AIFS[TC6]
→ no way to calculate transmission time of a frame in advance, thus the above 1 1 Background
quality cannot be given DIFS = 2 1 Background
AIFS[TC7] 3 2 Video Probe
Solution: define additional CSMA/CA variants which can give priority to real-time PIFS 4 2 Video
data (defined in IEEE 802.11e) SIFS 5 2 Video
busy RTS
• Only an add-on the IEEE 802.11a/b/g, not a stand-alone WLAN standard 6 3 Voice
contention window t 7 3 Voice
• Definition of
Extended Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) as better version of DCF using
several classes of access priority by refining the inter-frame gaps and • Classify all data streams in traffic classes regarding their QoS
introducing so-called Transmission Opportunities (TXOP) • 8 priority classes, TC 7 has highest priority
Hybrid Coordination Function Controlled Channel Access (HCCA) as better • Give longer waiting times to lower priority – thus higher priority streams can start
version of PCF also using TXOP sending earlier
Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 47 •Chapter 3.2: WLAN
Fairness Page 48
is given – even high priority senders can draw a large backoff number
EDCF Implementation HCCA
With EDCF, each station has to handle up to 8 queues performing the same access
procedure as “plain” DCF with backoff counter (BC) and contention window (CW): As in PCF, HCCA is a combination of a contention-free period and a contention
period
• In the contention-free period the AP polls the stations
Difference to PCF: stations can place reservations for the polling phase
The AP polls stations by granting a TXOP oriented at reservation wishes and
current traffic load
• In the contention period, EDCF is used
Question: why giving QoS? Why not overprovisioning, i.e. only increase the data rate?
One more enhancement: each class also a TXOP is assigned, which is a maximum
sending duration – after getting medium access, for time of TXOP several frames
can be sent (Contention Free Burst)

Faster! MIMO
Not an end with 802.11a/g – go on with 802.11n MIMO means: use several antennas in parallel to send data to one receiver
• up to 600 MBit/s! • Apply Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) – i.e. split the data stream into multiple
• over 70 – 250m! parts (called spatial stream) and transmit each part with a separate antenna (for
up to 4 antennas)
How to achieve such a data rate while keeping compatibility to 802.11a/b/g?
• Necessary: power control – only use MIMO if necessary, otherwise lots of power
• Applied to 2.4 as well as 5 GHz ISM band to only have a single variant for the is consumed
future
• Apply beam-forming to focus the sender’s antennas to the receiver’s antennas
• Modify OFDM with increasing symbol rate and slightly enlarge the bandwidth:
• By antenna diversity, a receiver can find out the angle of incidence of certain
→ increase data rate from 54 MBit/s to 65 MBit/s
spatial streams and thus distinguish between several streams
• Optional: Greenfield mode, i.e. skip support for 802.11a/b/g (an increasing number
• Optional: apply diversity on improving signal strength, i.e. improve signal by
of legacy devices reduces the average throughput in the whole network)
receiving the same stream with several antennas and combine the outputs (for up
• Optional: increase a channel’s bandwidth to 40 MHz (dynamic adaptation to other to 4 antennas, but only if the number of receiver antennas is larger than the
WLANs in the environment necessary!) number of spatial streams)
• Use MIMO – multiple input multiple output

802.11n – MAC Layer 802.11s – WLAN Mesh Networking
Other WLAN variant: mesh networks

Many improvements on PHY layer, only a few on the MAC layer:
• Classical WLAN: wired
• Introduce Reduced Inter-Frame Space (RIFS) to shorten the waiting time after
infrastructure between APs
detecting the medium to be idle
• Sometimes called “Wireless
• Use frame aggregation, i.e. pack together several frames of one station and
Paradox”
remove redundant header information
Figures from: IEEE 802.11s tutorial
Availability of 802.11n?
• Draft version 2 finished this year
• Lot of products of several vendors (compliance to a non-finished standard?)
• Potential problems with a patent?
• Planned release date – varies between September 2008 and March 2009…
Let APs interconnect in
wireless manner, also using
WLAN (lower costs, simple
installation, resilient, …)

Mesh Topology Secure or not Secure…

Within a WLAN „data are flying free through the air“.
Within WLAN everybody in transmission range can share your Access Point.
Mesh Point
Thus: security!
Mesh Portal Special component,
establishes peer Registration of allowed MAC addresses
As mesh point, but
links with neighbors • But: MAC addresses can be faked, large effort for large networks
additionally connects
to some other Hiding of SSID
network • Broadcast of SSID in beacons can be switched of, thus only someone knowing the
Mesh AP SSID can join the network (but: intuitive names? Default names?)
As mesh point, but
additionally implements WEP: Wired Equivalent Privacy
Figures from: IEEE 802.11s tutorial
AP functionallity • Authentication at the Access Point, encryption of data before transmission
• Connection is only possible if knowing the WEP key
Changes in the 802.11 standard regarding: • But: no key management, short keys
• Addresses • Security • Thus: WPA/WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) today give much better security
• MAC scheme (oriented at 802.11e) • And: routing (layer 3!)
... but many users are overtaxed with configuring an Access Point – even if today a
• Synchronization / power modes good user guide to install security functions is implemented on APs, there is a lot of
Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 55 Chapter 3.2: WLAN
open networks... Page 56
Wardriving Warchalking
New kind of sports: search for open WLANs.
Just take: What can be found at walls after a wardiver has
• A notebook with WLAN card and a connector for a GPS device passed...
• A software for detcting Access Points,
e.g. Network Stumbler
• A GPS receiver
• Time for driving around
Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4

Kommunikation und verteilte Systeme
802.11 vs. 802.15/Bluetooth

f [MHz]
2480 802.11b
DIFS
SIFS
DIFS
ACK
1000 byte 3 channles

(separated by
installation)
SIFS
DIFS
DIFS
DIFS
SIFS
ACK
ACK
500 byte 500 byte 500 byte

802.15
79 channels
DIFS
SIFS
DIFS
DIFS
DIFS
SIFS
SIFS
SIFS
DIFS
SIFS
ACK
ACK
ACK
ACK
ACK
100 100 100 100 100

byte byte byte byte byte (separated by
2402 hopping pattern)
t
• Bluetooth may act like a rogue member of a 802.11 network

– does not know anything about gaps, IFS etc.
• IEEE 802.15-2 discusses these problems
– Proposal: Adaptive Frequency Hopping (only co-existence, no collaboration)
• Real effects? Many different opinions, tests, formulae, …
– Results from complete breakdown to almost no effect
– Bluetooth (FHSS) seems to be more robust than 802.11b (DSSS)
– Maybe Bluetooth adaptive frequency hopping has better effect
Chapter 3.2: WLAN Page 59

Wireless Ethernet Wireless Lans: Design Goals: - 54 Mbit/S - 5 GHZ - Ofdm

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Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4 Lehrstuhl für Informatik 4

Kommunikation und verteilte Systeme Kommunikation und verteilte Systeme