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Wireless Networks
Lecture 7
CSMA and Spread Spectrum

Dr. Ghalib A. Shah

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Review of previous lecture #6
CSMA
Versions of CSMA
CSMA/CA
Example
Spread Spectrum
Frequency Hoping
Direct Sequence
Summary of todays lecture


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Last Lecture Review
FDMA
TDMA
CDMA
Random Access
ALOHA
Slotted ALOHA
Reservation-based ALOHA
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Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
Disadvantages of ALOHA
users do not listen to the channel before (and
while) transmitting
suitable for networks with long propagation delays
Carrier Sense Multiple Access
polite version of ALOHA
Listen to the channel before transmitting
if sensed channel busy, back-off (defer transmission), and
sense channel again after a random amount of time
if channel idle, transmit entire frame




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Versions of CSMA
Employs different node behaviour when
channel found busy
non-persistent CSMA
after sensing busy channel, node waits entire back-off
period before sensing again
persistent CSMA
after sensing busy channel, node continues sensing until
the channel becomes free; then
1-persistent CSMA
node transmits immediately with probability 1
p-persistent CSMA
node transmits with probability p; or, it defers transmission
with probability (1-p)

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CSMA / Collision Avoidance
Used where CSMA/CD cannot be used
e.g. in wireless medium collision cannot be easily detected as
power of transmitting overwhelms receiving antenna
CSMA/CA is designed to reduce collision probability at points
where collisions would most likely occur
when medium has become idle after a busy state, as several
users could have been waiting for medium to become available
key elements of CSMA/CA:
IFS interframe spacing priority mechanismthe shorter the IFS
the higher the priority for transmission
CW intervals contention window intervals used for contention
and transmission of packet frames
Backoff counterused only if two or more stations compete for
transmission

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CSMA/CA Algorithm

Frame to
transmit
Medium
Idle?
Wait IFS
Still
Idle?
Transmit frame
Exp b/o while
Medium idle
Wait until
Trans ends
Wait IFS
Transmit frame
Still
Idle?
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
If medium becomes busy during the backoff
time, the backoff timer is halted and
resumes when the medium becomes idle.

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Example
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Spread Spectrum
Problem of Radio Transmission
frequency dependent fading can wipe out
narrowband signals for duration of interference
solution:
spread narrow band signal into a broad band signal
using a special code
initially developed for military in order to combat
jamming and interception
power of spread signal is the same as of narrow
band signal, resulting in a lower power spectral
density due to larger bandwidth

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Spread Spectrum
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Types of spreading:
direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)

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Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)
Signal is broadcast over seemingly random series of radio
frequencies
A number of channels allocated for the FH signal
Width of each channel corresponds to bandwidth of input signal
Signal hops from frequency to frequency at fixed intervals
Transmitter operates in one channel at a time
Bits are transmitted using some encoding scheme
At each successive interval, a new carrier frequency is selected
Channel sequence dictated by spreading code

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Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum
Receiver, hopping between frequencies in synchronization
with transmitter, picks up message
Advantages
Eavesdroppers hear only unintelligible blips
Attempts to jam signal on one frequency succeed only at knocking
out a few bits
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Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum
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FHSS Using MFSK
MFSK signal is translated to a new frequency every T
c

seconds by modulating the MFSK signal with the FHSS
carrier signal
For data rate of R:
duration of a bit: T = 1/R seconds
duration of signal element: T
s
= LT seconds
T
c
T
s
- slow-frequency-hop spread spectrum
T
c
< T
s
- fast-frequency-hop spread spectrum
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Slow-frequency Hop Spread Spectrum using
MFSK

M = 4, k=2
T
Ts
Ws
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Wd
Wd
Wd
Wd
Tc
0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
MFSK
00 11 01 10 00 PN Sequence
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Fast-frequency Hop Spread Spectrum using MFSK

M = 4, k=2
T
Tc
Ws
F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

Wd
Wd
Wd
Wd
Ts
0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1
MFSK
00 11 01 10 00 10 00 11 10 00 PN Sequence
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FHSS Performance Considerations
Large number of frequencies used
Results in a system that is quite resistant to jamming
Jammer must jam all frequencies
With fixed power, this reduces the jamming power in any
one frequency band
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Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
Each bit in original signal is represented by multiple bits in
the transmitted signal
Spreading code spreads signal across a wider frequency band
Spread is in direct proportion to number of bits used
One technique combines digital information stream with the
spreading code bit stream using exclusive-OR
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Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)
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Summary
CSMA
Versions of CSMA
CSMA/CA
Example
Spread Spectrum
Frequency Hoping
Direct Sequence
Next Lecture
Evolution of wireless networks