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Contents
IEEE 802.11 WLAN
Introduction MAC 802.11e MAC enhancements Roaming Physical layer
802.11 FHSS
802.11 DSSS
802.11a OFDM
802.11b HR/DSSS
300 MHz
and 802.11b/g
802.11a
802.11: Terminology
802.11 LAN 802.x LAN
STA1
portal
bridge to other (wired) networks
distribution system
interconnection network to form one logical network (ESS: Extended Service Set) based on several BSS 6
STA2
802.11 LAN
STA3
Disassociation
Association termination notice from station or AP
Re-association
Initiated by a mobile station Enables a station to change its current state of association Allowing station to move from one BSS to another within an ESS
Re-Association
DS Services (cont.)
Distribution
Delivery of MAC frames from station in one BSS to station in another BSS
Integration
Delivery of MAC frames through a portal between a DS and non IEEE 802.11 LAN (the integration function performs all required media or address space translations)
NO
RTS-CTS-DATA-ACK
DIFS: Distributed IFS RTS: Request To Send SIFS: Short IFS CTS: Clear To Send ACK: Acknowledgement NAV: Network Allocation Vector DCF: Distributed Coordination Function
RTS/CTS
A duration field in the RTS frame is the:
time needed to transmit the frame + 1 CTS time + 1 ACK time + 3 SIFS intervals
After receiving RTS the station ACK with CTS A duration field in the CTS frame is the:
Duration field in the RTS The CTS time and its SIFS interval
Using RTS/CTS
Fragmentation
Frames over a specified size (fragmentation threshold) should be divided into multiple transmissions
Shorter frames reduce the likelihood of interference The frame header contains a sequence control field that show the order of the fragments
If an error occurs on a fragment subsequent fragments are not transmitted The back-off rules apply to fragmented frame Broadcast & multicast frames are not fragmented
PCF (cont.)
After sending a beacon & waiting SIFS interval, the PC can transmit:
Data Frame - if the PC doesnt receive an ACK frame from the recipient, the PC can retransmit the UnACK frame CF Poll frame granting a particular station permission to transmit a single frame Data+CF Poll frame data frame + polling the same station (piggybacking) CF End frame identifying the end of the CF period: - the CF period expired - the PC has no further frames to transmit and no station to poll
Power Management
Enables stations to go into Sleep mode to conserve power
Supported with the use of AP Not available when implementing ad hoc network
Station Synchronization
The AP periodically transmit beacon frames:
The beacon frames contains physical layer information such as the frequency hopping pattern and the APs clock value (Timing Synchronization Function) Each station updates its clock accordingly (so the station knows when to wake up to receive beacons if in Sleep mode)
If the network is independent BSS (no AP), all stations periodically send beacons for synchronization
Joining a Network
Discovery phase: passive or active scanning Passive scanning
A station listen to each channel for a specific period of time (typical time: 10 sec) to detect beacon frames The station can negotiate a connection by proceeding with authentication and association processes
Active scanning
The station sends a Probe frame indicating the identifiers of the network that the station wants to join The station wait for a Probe response that identifies the presence of the desired network
The station can also broadcasts probes causes all networks within reach to respond
With independent BSS (no AP), the station that generated the last beacon frame will respond
Beacon
Beacon
Beacon
Beacons can carry AP load information to help the Station determine if it should roam to a less loaded AP
Open system authentication (default) simply announces the desire to associate Shared key authentication (optional) provides a higher degree of security (based on WEP), ensuring that the requesting station is authentic
Authentication
+ ICV
WEP creates ciphertext by: (plaintext + ICV )key sequence 4. The receiving station WEP process deciphers the ciphertext using the shared key that generates the same key sequence used initially to encrypt the frame 5. The station calculates the ICV and ensures that it matches the frames ICV (if not a failure indication is sent) NOTE: only the shared key must be available to each station
WEP Encryption/Decryption
6 Addr 2
6 Addr 3
2
Sequence Control
6 Addr 4
4 CRC
Duration Addr 1 ID
Bits: 2
Protocol Version
Type SubType
To
Management Frames
Authentication and De-Authentication Association, Re-Association, and Disassociation Beacon and Probe frames ATIM (announcement traffic indication message) sent by AP (during the ATIM windows which follows a beacon transmission) with buffered frames for another stations to alert them to stay awake long enough to receive their respective frames. The Subtype field defines the function of the frame
Addresses
The Address fields contains different types of addresses, depending on the type of the frame being sent 802.11 makes use of the same 48-bit MAC address that is compliant to the entire 802 LAN family 802.11 defines the following address types:
Destination address the final address of the MSDU Source address the address of the MSDU initiator Receiver address the address of the AP that is to receive the frame next Transmitter address the address of the AP sending the frame (used only in wireless bridging)
DA: Destination Address SA: Source Address TA: Transmitter Address RA: Receiver Address BSSID: basic service set identifier, also known as network ID is the AP address
TA(BSSID)
AP
Station A
Station B DS
SA/TA
DA
Station A
Station B DS
RA/DA
SA
Example: To AP
Example: From AP
TA
RA
Station B DS
SA DA
Frame body
Variable length payload The receiving station will determine the frame length from a field within the Physical layer header
IEEE 802.11e
Improvements to the original 802.11 MAC to support QoS Two new modes of operation
EDCF Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function HCF Hybrid Coordination Function
EDCF
EDCF is a per-class basis DCF MAC Each traffic class can access the medium after detecting that the channel is idle for an AIFS (arbitration interframe space)
AIFS DIFS AIFS can be chosen individually for each traffic class
The min & max CW (collision window) can be selected on a per-traffic-class basis When a collision is detected, the value of CW is increased by a per-traffic-class factor
A value of 1 gives a CW that stay constant A value of 2 (default) gives a binary exponential backoff (identical to DCF)
EDCF cont.
Within a station, the 8 classes have independent transmission queues Virtual collision
Virtual collision if the back-off counter of multiple classes in a single station reaches 0 in the same time The transmit opportunity is given to the class with the highest priority Others back off as if a collision on the medium occurred
The QoS parameters, which are provided on a per-traffic-class basis, can be adapted over time
HCF
Extension of the PCF polling
A QoS CF-Poll is used to give a particular station the opportunity to transmit
A frame exchange is initiated only if it can be completed before the upcoming beacon 802.11e station is allowed to transmit frame directly to another station
802.11e station needs to establish a direct link with another 802.11e station using the Direct Link Protocol before initiating direct frame transmissions
Roaming
Roaming Protocols
Roaming enables wireless users to move from cell to cell (in ESS) seamlessly The original 802.11 doesnt provide specifications for roaming
It is up to the radio LAN vendors This forces users to standardize one particular vendor for APs
Through collaboration of companies led by Lucent, the IAPP specification provides a common roaming protocol
WECA (Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance) includes interoperable roaming as a requirement to receiving Wi-Fi certification
IAPP (cont.)
IAPP defines 2 basic protocols:
Announce protocol Handover protocol
Announce protocol
Informs other APs about a new active AP Informs other APs of network-wide configuration information
Handover protocol
Informs an AP that one of its station has reassociated with a different AP The old AP forwards buffered frames for the station to the new AP The new AP updates filter tables to ensure that the bridging will forward frames appropriately
PLCP is the glue between the MAC and the radio transmission
The PLCP adds its own header The header includes preamble for sychronization and signal information (e.g., data rate, length of MAC frame)
PMD is responsible for transmitting any bit it receives from the PLCP into the air using the antenna
Extremely Very Low Medium High Very Ultra Super Low Low High High High
X-Rays
Infrared
Lowest cost Lowest range compared to spread spectrum Doesnt penetrate walls, so no eavesdropping
SS Modulation Schemes
DSSS Direct Spectrum FHSS Frequency Hopping
Hop Dwell Time Channel size
Frequency
5 t 1
Time
Power
4 3 2
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Available Bandwidth Multiple Carriers (Tones)
Frequency
Amplitude Frequency
IEEE 802.11(a,b,g)
802.11b High Rate DSSS
Operates in 2.4 GHz band Provides data rates of 5.5 and 11 Mbps
Spread Spectrum
SS spreads a signals power over a wider band of frequencies
Gaining better SNR (process gain) Other transmission & electrical noise, typically narrow in bandwidth, will interfere with only a small portion of the SS signal
FCC regulations:
75 or more hopping channels in the band Hopping channels can be no wider than 1MHZ Maximum dwell time: 400ms
If the radio encounter interference on one frequency, it will retransmit the signal on a subsequent hop on another frequency A set of hopping codes that never uses the same frequencies at the same time is considered Orthogonal multiple networks could coexist