LinkPerformanceParameters inIEEE802.

11

Howtoincreasethethroughput ofawirelesslongdistancelink

IT+46 LouiseBerthilson AlbertoEscuderoPascual

www.it46.se

April2007 v0.6

CreativeCommonsSweden (cc)AttributionNonCommercialShareAlike2.5

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TableofContents
1.Introduction................................................................................................................................. ......1 2.Fragmentlength................................................................................................... .............................2 3.RSSIthreshold............................................................................................................................... ....2 4.Framebursting......................................................................................................... .........................3 5.Piggyback......................................................................................................................... ................5 6.Throughputoptimizer........................................................................................... ............................5 7.RTS/CTSlength(RequestToSend/ClearToSend)......................................................................6 8.Preamblesettings.................................................................................................. ............................7 9.Concatenation(Packetaggregation,FastFrames)............................................................................8 . 10.Distance........................................................................................................................... ................8 11.Summary............................................................................................................ .............................9 12.Futurework................................................................................................................................... .10

1. Introduction
Thisdocumentisageneralguideforadvancedlinkperformanceparametersforwireless(IEEE802.11 based)networks.Ittargetsasetoffeaturesthatwithcorrectusagecanimprovethethroughputof thewirelesslink.MostofthisparametersarenotpartoftheIEEE802.11standardandtheyneedto beimplementedcarefully.TheparametersdiscussedinthisdocumentmodifythebehaviourofIEEE 802.11MAC.OtheroptimizationsintheIPortransportlayerareoutofthescopeofthisdocument. Tomakethedocumentassimpleaspossiblewehavedescribedallfeaturesfollowingacommon template:functionality,defaultvalues,validrangeandinstructiononwhenandhowtobestusethe feature. Althoughtheguidecanbeappliedwithmanywirelessaccesspoints,wehaveusedthesmartBridges serieAirPoint/AirClientNEXUSPROTOTALasareference.Noticethatmanyoftheseparameters canhavedifferentnamesdependingonthevendor.

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2. Fragmentlength
Default1:2346 Range:2562346 Unit:Bytes IEEE802.11standard:Yes Functionality: TheIEEE802.11standardincludesanoptionalfeaturethatallowsradiobasedNICsandaccess pointstofragmentdataframesintosmallerpiecestoimproveperformanceinpresenceofinterference ofpoorlycoveredareas. Bysendingsmallerframes,theriskofcollisionwithotherframesarelesslikely.Thisresultsin increasedreliabilityofframetransmissiontothecostofahigheroverhead. Thefragmentationeffectwilltakeplacewhentheaccesspointofthewirelessnodestriestosenda framewithgreatersizethanthefragmentationthreshold. Beforesettingthefragmentlength,youshouldfirstmonitorthenetworkandestimatetheamountof retransmissionscausedbycollisions.Ifthelevelishigh,thenconsidertochangethefragmentation threshold. Inthecaseoflessthan5%collisions,donotusethefragmentationoptionsincetheoverheadofthe fragmentationframeswouldintroducemoreoverheadthanthenonexistingcollisionswouldreduce. Whentouseit: Toimproveperformanceinpresenceofinterferenceofpoorlycoveredareas. Howtouseit: Setthefragmentationthresholdtoalowervalue(thandefault)andgraduallydecreaseituntilyou getbetterresults.Sincelargerpacketshaveahigherprobabilityofcollisionsonthenetwork,by decreasingthelengthofeachpacketthroughsettingthefragmentationthreshold,theprobabilityof interferenceduringpackettransmissioncanbereduced.

3. RSSIthreshold
Default:90 Range:100to20 Unit:dbm IEEE802.11standard:No(butwillnotaffectinteroperability) Functionality: The RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) Threshold can be set to limit what RSSI is
1 DefaultvalueinsBaccesspoints.Thedefaultvaluecanbedifferentfromonevendortoanother. 2

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acceptableforprocessing.TheRSSIthresholdlimitstheassociationofclientswithpoorsignalasthe packetsarediscarded.TheRSSIthresholdoperatesinallpacketsandthewirelessunitwillignore anysignalbelowthelevel.Changingthethresholdcanallowyoutofilterundesiredsignalsinanoisy environment.Duringasitesurvey,thethresholdcanbesettothenoiselevel(aprox.100dBm)to ensurethatassociationtakesplaceeventhesignalisveryweak. Whentouseit: Toimproveperformanceinnoisyareas.Duringasite survey. Howtouseit: Itisrecommendedtosetthisvaluetobeabovethecurrentnoisefloortoensureoptimal performanceanddevicereliability.Forexample,iftheaveragenoisefloorlevelis88dBm,offsetit byafewdBbysettingtheRSSIThresholdto85dBmsothatanysignalbelow85dbmwillbe ignoredbythedevice.

4. Framebursting
Default:Off Values:On/Off IEEE802.11standard:Yes,IEEE802.11e Functionality: Framebursting(akaPacketbursting)isatransmissiontechniquesupportedbythedraft802.11eQoS specification. It is anapproachto increasethe throughput ofand802.11a,b or gbasedwireless networksbyignoringtheDIFSandbackofftime.

Image1:ThenormalprocessoftransmittingtwoframesinIEEE802.11

[Image1]showstheprocessoftransmittingtwoframesfromSourcetoDestination(Yaxis)intime (Xaxis)inanormalscenario.Asonlyonesourcecantransmitdataatatime,eachnodeshould contendforairtimeduringDIFS(DistributedInterFrameSpace).Ifnoothernodeistransmitting, theairtimeisfreeandaframecanbetransmitted.Afteraframeistransmitted,thetransmitter

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waitsforaconfirmationonasuccessfuldeliveryfromthedestination,asocalledAcknowledgement. Theacknowledgement(ack)issentbythereceiverimmediatelyafterSIFSShortInterFrameSpace. Ifnoackisreceivedbythesender,itwillassumethatthepacketneverwasreceivedandwillresend it.Afterreceivinganacknowledgement,thesendermustagainwaitforDIFSandonlythen(iftheair isstillfree)startsendingthenextframe. TheDIFStakeupaconsiderablepartofwirelessthroughput. InthecaseofusingF rameBurstingthetransferof3frameslookslikethefollowing[Image2]:

Image2:SendingthreeframeswithFramebursting.

With Frame bursting, the source and the destination capture the channel in turns for their transmissions. After the first frame is transmitted and the acknowledgement is received, the transmitterdoesnotwaittherequiredDIFS.ThesenderwaitsonlySIFSandthentransmitsthe seconddataframe,etc.Inthisway,thesenderdoesnotgiveanopportunityforothernodestostart transmissions.Theyhavetowaitfortheendofthisframebursttransmission. Thetotaltransmissiontimewithframebustingisofcourselimited.Otherwise,largetransmissions would paralyse other nodes in the network. Eliminating DIFS allows a larger chunk of data transmittedoverthesameperiodoftime,thussavingthechannelthroughputwithisincreasingthe totaltransmissionperformance. FrameBurstingisasubcomponentoftheIEEE802.11e,WirelessMultimedia(WMM)andhence interoperablewithotherWMMimplementations. Whentouseit: ToimprovethroughputfortimesensitiveservicessuchasVoIPandmultimediastreaming. Howtouseit: FrameBurstingisrecomme ncedforpointtopointlinkstooptimizethethroughputbynot waitingforawirelessacknowledgementframeforeachtransmittedframe. ItisadvisedtokeepFrameBurstingOFFinapointtomultipointnetwork.
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5. Piggyback
Default:Off Value:On/Off IEEE802.11standard:Yes Functionality: Piggybackisafeaturewhichincreasestheeffectivetransmissionspeed. PiggybackinwirelesscommunicationtakesadvantageofthefactthatIEEE802.11MACtrafficis bidirectional.Foreachdataframesent,anacknowledgementmustbereturned.Piggybacking2ina wireless network consist of including the ACK in a data frame instead of sending two separate packets. This feature is part of the IEEE 802.11 standard but it is not implemented by many vendors.In Piggy Back mode, the ACK are always included in a data frame, if there is not a constantandbidirectionaltrafficflowtheACKwillnothaveachancetobetransmittedandthe timeoutwilloccur.ThesenderwillnotreceivedtheACKintimeandretransmissionisrequired. Whentouseit: Toreduceretransmissionsandcollisions. Howtouseit: PiggybackisrecommendedONLYforpointtopointlinkswithaverylowpayloadperframeand withconsistenttransmissionatahighpacketrateinabidirectionalfashion.Onlyinabalancedbi directionaltrafficpattern,sothepiggybackedACKwillnotexperiencetimeout.Thisisbecausethe ACKsrequireadataframeavailabletotravel.Ifthereceiverdoesnotsenddataframesconsistently ACKstimeout. PiggybackisNOTrecommendedinapointtomultipointenvironment.

6. Throughputoptimizer
Default:6 Value:010 Unit: IEEE802.11standard:No Functionality: TheThroughputOptimizerisusedtooptimizetheradiolinkspeedandperformancebyadjustingits modulation techniqueaccording to the linkquality. Thethroughput optimizeris only applicable whenthedataratesAutoFallbackoptionisenabled. Settingahighervaluewillcausetheradiotoattempttoestablishatthehighestpossibledataratein 2RadioPiggyBackshouldnotconfusedwithTCPPiggybacking,TCPalsohasanativeschemethat reducestheoverheadoftheTCPacktransmissionswhenitiscarryingabidirectionaltraffic.

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anaggressiveway.Alowervalueimpliesamorestablelinkbutwithalowerthroughput.Thefall overbetweenspeedstakesplacewhentheerrorrateismorethan30%,thethroughputoptimizersets thelengthofthetimebeforereducingthetransmissionspeed(modulation).Avalueof10setsthe smallesttime,whileavalueof0itforcestokeepthespeedforthelongesttime. Whentouseit: Tooptimizethemodulationtechnique(thespeedofthelink). Howtouseit: A low ThroughputOptimizervalueisrecommendedforaconsistentthroughputlink,e.g.alow interferencepointtopointlink. For a more heavily interfered pointtomultipoint link, which may be experiencing different link qualitiesfordifferentCPEs,itisrecommendedtohavetheThroughputOptimizersettoahigh value.

7. RTS/CTSlength(RequestToSend/ClearToSend)
Default:2346 Range:2562346 Unit:bytes IEEE802.11standard:Yes Functionality: RTS/CTSisamethodusedbyIEEE802.11wirelessnetworkstoreducecollisionscausedbyhidden nodes.Inbrief,thatisamethodtograntaccesstousethemediumwhichinvolvesahandshaking processbetweenanaccesspointandawirelessnode. RTS/CTSintroducesCollisionAvoidanceinCSMA/CAandhence,makestheaccessmethodmore robust.Atthesametime,itaddsunavoidableoverheadtothenetwork. TheRTS/CTSworksasfollowing:Anodethatwantstosenddatainitiatethehandshakewiththe accesspointbysendingaRTSframe.TheaccesspointreceivetheRTSandrespondswithaCTS frameifthemediumisidle.WhenthenodereceivedtheCTS,itstartstosenditsdata.Asallnodes mustbeabletolistentotheaccesspoint,theCTSframewillreachallnodesconnectedtoit.CTS frameincludesatimevaluethattheothernodesmustwaituntiltheysendanyRTSframe.A completedRTS/CTShandshakewillensurethatthenodecansenditsdatauntiltheysendanyRTS frame.AcompletedRTS/CTShandshakewillensurethatthenodecansenditsdatawithoutbeing corruptedbyframessentbyothernodes. Whentouseit: Whenhiddennodesarepresent,typicallyinpointtomultipointnetworks,itisadvisabletousethe RTS/CTS.Ifthereisonlyafewclientsinthewirelessnetworkandallofthemcanseeeachother, theRTS/CTSoptionshouldbeswitchedOFF.
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AsRTS/CTSintroducesoverheadintermsofRTS/CTSframes,butalsoreducestheoverheadby reducesretransmissionsofdataframes,youmustfindoutwhichfactoristhelargerone. Tofindout,youneedtomeasurethepacketlossrate(onTCPlevel)forbothoptions. AllSmartBridgesNexusradioshavesupportforRTS/CTSbutthedefaultvaluewillnottriggerany RTS/CTShandshake.SettingRTS/CTSto2346bytesmeansthatnopacketwillrequireRTS/CTS handshake. Howtouseit: Startbyinvestigatingwhetherahiddennodeispresentinyournetwork.IfyoulowertheRTS/CTS to256,512or1024,andyouseethethroughputincreasefromthebaseline,thenitmeansthatthere isahiddennodepresent.ByavoidingcorruptedframesduetoahiddennodeattheAPandreducin g theretransmissionsfromCPE,RTS/CTSwillactuallyincreasethetrafficflowonthenetwork.

8. Preamblesettings
Default:Long Range:long,shortordynamic IEEE802.11standard:Yes Functionality: Theradiopreambleisasectionofdataattheheadofapacketthatcontainsinformationforwireless devicesforsendingandreceivingpackets.Theoriginalpreamblethatisbackwardscompatiblewith oldDSSSdevicesuses144bits. Newdevicesusea72bitspreamble(knownasshortpreamble)Thepreambleincludesasequenceof 56bits havingalternating1and0 values thatare usedforsynchronization.Theyserve to give componentsinthenetworktimetodetectthepresenceofasignal,andbeingreadingthesignal beforetheframedataarrives. Whentouseit: Ifallremoteclientsareshortpreambleenabled,thethroughputcanbeincreasedbyloweringthe preamblesequence. Howtouseit: Long:Alongpreambleprovidesastablelinkandensurescompatibilitywithmostclients. Short: A short preamble improves throughput performance but it only allows short preamble capableclientdevicestobeassociated. Dynamic:Adynamicpreambleallowsmixingofshortandlongpreambles

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9. Concatenation(Packetaggregation,FastFrames)
Default:Off Values:On/Off IEEE802.11standard:No Functionality: Concatenationistheprocessofjoiningtwoormoreitemstogether.Itisusedtocombinethepayload ofsmallerframesandsendbiggerframesacrossthewirelessmediatoreduceoverhead. Concatenationmergesdatafromseveralpacketsintoone(packetsizeupto4000bytes).This featureisalsoknownasG+3 Whentouseit: Toimprovethroughputinstablepointtopointlinks. Howtouseit: Concatenationcanonlyfunctioninapointtopointenvironmentwithahighqualitylinkoperatingin highdatarate(48or54Mbps).Thequalityofthelinkmustbehighsinceanylostorerroneous concatenatedframewillresultinaretransmissionof allthesubframes inaconcatenatedframe whichwillincreasethewirelessoverhead. ItisNOTadvisabletoenableconcatenationinpointtomultipointenvironment.

10. Distance
Default:93miles(150km) Value:193miles(1150km) IEEE802.11standard:No Functionality: DistanceistheequivalentACKwindowvaluefortheradiotowaitforawirelessacknowledgement beforeatimeoutoccursandaretransmissionistriggered. AllwirelessdevicesuseACKstimeoutalsoknownaSIFSintervalsthatarepartoftheIEEE802 standard.Toensureagooddatarate,the802.11bvendorssetaSIFSthathasatypicalvalueofhalf oftheslottime(10microseconds). AsACKsneedstobereceivedwithintheSIFsduration.HavingaSIFsof10microsecondmeansthat ACKtimeoutsinlinkslongerthan1.5Kms4.

3 Agoodreferencehttp://www.digitlife.com/articles2/comm/tech80211gsuper.html 4 http://www.airstream.org/ACK_Timeouts 8

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Whentouseit: Ifapointtopointlinkisexperiencinginterferencethedistance(hence,theACKwindowvalue) shouldbeincreasedtoavoidtimeouts. Howtouseit: Itisrecommendedtokeepthisvalueatthedefaultvalueunlessalinkisexperiencinginterference. Forapointtopointlinkexperiencinginterference,setthedistancetoavaluenotlessthanthe physicalrangeofthepointtopointlink. Forapointtomultipointnetwork,setthedistancetoavaluenotlessthanthelongestphysicalrange toitsfurthestCPE.

11. Summary
Thetablebelowsummarizedthenineperformanceparametersthathasbeendiscussed.Foreach parameter,thefollowingdataisgiven:

Thepurposeofusingthespecificparameter WhethertheparametersisapartoftheIEEE802.11standardornot. Iftheusageoftheparameterwillensureinteroperabilitywithother802.11products. Whattypeofnetworktopologytheparameterisaimedfor. Purpose 802.11 Yes No Yes (802.11e) Yes No Yes No? No No Interoperability Yes Yes 802.11e:Yes 802.11a/b/g:No Yes? Yes Yes No/Yes5 No No? Topology Any Any PtP (notPtMP) PtP (notPtMP) Any PtMP Any PtP (notPtMP) Any

Parameter

Fragmentlength Avoidcollisionsinpresenceof interferenceorpoorcoverage. RSSIthreshold Framebursting Piggyback Throughput optimizer RTS/CTS Preamble Concatenation Distance Improveperformanceinnoisyareas Improvethroughput. Increasetransportspeed Optimizethroughputbychanging modulationtechnique. Reducecollisionscausedbyhidden nodes. Improvethroughput ImprovethroughputinPtPlinks Avoidtimeoutcausedby interference.

5 Allnewdevicesshouldsupportshortpreamble 9

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12. Futurework
Otherperformancetechniquesthatcanbeofuseinwirelessnetworkare; Compression Increaseddatathroughputusingprecompressedframes Realtimehardwaredatacompression LempelZivcompressionalgorithm(likeingzip,pkzip,winzip) DynamicTurbo SimilartotrunkingtechniquesusedinFastEthernetnetworks Utilizesdualchannelsto"double"transmissionrates Analysesenvironmentandadjustsbandwidthutilizationaccordingly

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