Wireless LANs and Bluetooth Lecture 5

A wireless LAN uses wireless transmission medium.

Used to have high prices, low data rates, occupational
safety concerns, and licensing requirements.
Problems have been addressed.
Popularity of wireless LANs has grown rapidly.

Applications of Wireless LANs

Wired LAN Extension
Saves installation of LAN cabling
Eases relocation and other modifications to network structure
However, increasing reliance on twisted pair cabling for LANs
Most older buildings already wired with Cat 3 cable
Newer buildings are prewired with Cat 5
Wireless LAN to replace wired LANs has not happened
In some environments, role for the wireless LAN
Buildings with large open areas
Manufacturing plants, stock exchange trading floors,
warehouses
Historical buildings
Small offices where wired LANs not economical
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Applications of Wireless LANs

Single Cell Wireless LAN

Applications of Wireless LANs

Multi-Cell Wireless LAN

Applications of Wireless LANs

Ad Hoc Networking

Peer-to-peer network,
No centralised server,

No infrastructure,
Temporary nature.

Wireless LAN Requirements

Same as any LAN
High capacity, short distances, full connectivity, broadcast capability
Throughput: efficient use of wireless medium
Number of nodes:Hundreds of nodes across multiple cells
Connection to backbone LAN: Use control modules to connect to
both types of LANs
Service area: 100 to 300 m
Low power consumption:Need long battery life on mobile
stations
Mustnt require nodes to monitor access points or frequent handshakes
Transmission robustness and security:Interference prone and
easily eavesdropped
Collocated network operation:Two or more wireless LANs in
same area
License-free operation
Handoff/roaming: Move from one cell to another
Dynamic configuration: Addition, deletion, and relocation of end
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systems without disruption to users

IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANs

One of the major problems in wireless LANs today is the
abundance of different wireless technologies and the lack
of compatibility among them.
IEEE 802.11 (also known as Wi-Fi) defines a standard for
the physical and the data link layers of wireless LANs.
The standard is defined for the license-free Industrial,
Scientific, Medical (ISM) bands.

ISM Bands
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IEEE 802.11 Architecture

IEEE 802.11 Protocol Stack

(PCF)

OFDM

Physical
Layer

IEEE 802.11 MAC Sublayer

CSMA/CD cannot be used in wireless LANs.

Because not all stations are within the radio range of each other.
It is also not possible to detect collision while transmitting
because most stations are half-duplex.

(a) The hidden station problem. (b) The exposed station problem

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IEEE 802.11 MAC Sublayer

IEEE 802.11 MAC algorithm is called Distributed Foundation
Wireless MAC (DFWMAC).
DFWMAC defines two sublayers. Distributed Coordination Function
(DCF) and Point Coordination Function (PCF).
DCF is distributed with an optional centralised access control that
works on top of that (i.e., PCF).
DCF is based on CSMA/CA (CSMA with Collision Avoidance) or
MACAW.

All frame transmissions are acknowledged with ACK packets. This is

the way collision is avoided.
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IEEE 802.11 MAC Sublayer

Distributed Coordination Function (DCF)
A
B
C

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IEEE 802.11 MAC Sublayer

Point Coordination Function (PCF)
The access point periodically broadcasts beacon frames that
contains system parameters and invites stations to request
bandwidth.
The access point can provide guaranteed bandwidth to stations
that are working in PCF mode.
PCF allows the transport of real-time traffic over the wireless
LAN.
PCF is not very well defined in the standard, and not commonly
implemented in most commercial access points. However, it exists
in the standard specification.

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IEEE 802.11
MAC Sublayer
More on Distributed
Coordination Function (DCF)
IFS: InterFrame Space

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IEEE 802.11 MAC Sublayer

SIFS (Short IFS): Shortest IFS. Defined for ACKs, CTSs, and
poll responses
PIFS (PCF IFS): Middle-length IFS. Used by the access point
when issuing polls.
DIFS (DCF IFS): Longest IFS. Any station may attempt to
acquire channel to send a new frame.
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Bluetooth

A piconet comprised by up to seven active slaves and a master.

IEEE 802.15 (Personal Area Networks) is based on Bluetooth.
Bluetooth is an end-to-end specification, whereas IEEE 802.15
only covers physical and data link layers.
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Bluetooth
Bluetooth physical layer uses FHSS at 1600 hops/sec.
2.4 GHz ISM Band is used with 79 channels of 1 MHz each.

Gross transmission rate is 1 Mbps.

Dwell time (time spent in one carrier) is 625 sec.
It takes 250-260 sec to settle in one carrier frequency.
The radio designated as the master makes the determination of
the channel (frequency hopping sequence) and phase (timing
offset, i.e., when to transmit) that shall be used by all devices on
this piconet.
A slave may only communicate with the master and may only
communicate when granted permission by the master.

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Bluetooth

Time is divided in 625 bits, 3x625 bits, or 5x625 bits slots.

Regardless of the slot type there is one settling time (250260 sec).
Master uses even numbered slots.
Slaves use odd numbered slots that are designated by the
master.
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Bluetooth

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Bluetooth
Two types of logical links are defined between master and slave.
Asynchronous ConnectionLess (ACL) links are used bursty data
traffic with no QoS guarantee. Frames can be lost and
retransmitted on ACL links.
Synchronous Connection Oriented (SCO) links are used for realtime traffic (typically telephony). This type of link is allocated a
fixed slot in each direction. There are no retransmissions.
Instead there is forward error correction on SCO.

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Bluetooth

Access code defines the master node (in case there are several
masters within the radio range).

Address defines destination node.

Type defines link type (e.g., SCO, ACL)
F: Flow control bit
A: Acknowledgement bit
S: Sequence number
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Bluetooth

SCO Links always operate on single-slot (i.e., 240 bits data

field) configuration. ACL links may operate on three or five slot
configuration (i.e., 2744 bits data field).
The most reliable configuration is single-slot with 80 bits of
data repeated three times in a 240-bit data field. 64000 bps
can be achieved this way.
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 William Stallings, Data and Computer

Communications, chapter 13, 14.
A. S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, chapter 4.

http://iamwww.unibe.ch/~rvs/lectures/SS98/cn/applets/Ethernet/et
hernet.htm (CSMA/CD applet)

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/
http://www.vicomsoft.com/knowledge/reference/wir
eless1.html

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Tutorial
1- Explain the Hidden Node and Exposed Node problems in wireless
LANs?
2- What is the solution for medium access control that is proposed by
IEEE 802.11 standard?
3- How are PCF and DCF different in DFWMAC?
4-Explain the relationship between master and slave stations in Bluetooth.
5-What kind of logical links are supported by Bluetooth? What kind of a
link would be required by an email application?
6-Explain why CSMA/CD is not used in wireless LANs?

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