I EEE 8 0 2 .1 1 W LA N · P A RT 1 p a ck e t l i f e .

n e t
I EEE St a n d a r d s
8 0 2 .1 1 a 8 0 2 .1 1 b 8 0 2 .1 1 g 8 0 2 .1 1 n

M a x i m u m Th r o u g h p u t 54 Mbps 11 Mbps 54 Mbps 300 Mbps

Fr e q u e n c y 5 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz 2.4/ 5 GHz
M o d u l a t i o n OFDM DSSS DSSS/ OFDM OFDM
Ch a n n e l s ( FCC/ ETSI ) 21/ 19 11/ 13 11/ 13 32/ 32
Ra t i f i e d 1999 1999 2003 2009

W LA N Ty p e s W LA N Co m p o n e n t s
Ad Hoc
ESS
A WLAN bet w een isolat ed st at ions w it h IBSS BSS BSS
no cent ral point of cont r ol; an I BSS
I n f r ast r u ct u r e
A WLAN at t ached t o a w ired net w or k v ia
an access point ; a BSS or ESS
DS
Fr a m e Ty p e s
Ty p e Cl a ss

Associat ion Managem ent

Aut hent icat ion Managem ent Ba si c Se r v i ce A r e a ( BSA )
The physical area cov er ed by t he wireless signal of a BSS
Probe Managem ent
Ba si c Se r v i ce Se t ( B SS)
Beacon Managem ent A set of st at ions and/ or access point s w hich can dir ect ly
Request t o Send ( RTS) Cont rol com m unicat e v ia a w ireless m edium
D i s t r i b u t i o n Sy s t e m ( D S)
Clear t o Send ( CTS) Cont rol
The w ired infr ast r uct ure connect ing m ult iple BSSs t o form an ESS
Acknow ledgm ent ( ACK) Cont rol Ex t e n d e d Se r v i ce Se t ( ESS)
Dat a Dat a A set of m ult iple BSSs connect ed by a DS w hich appear t o w ir eless
st at ions as a single BSS
Cl i e n t A s so c i a t i o n I n d e p e n d e n t BSS ( I BSS)
An isolat ed BSS w it h no connect ion t o a DS; an ad hoc WLAN

M e a s u r i n g RF Si g n a l St r e n g t h
Probe Request
D e ci b e l ( d B)
Probe Response An ex pression of signal st rengt h as com par ed t o a refer ence signal;
Authentication Request calculat ed as 10log 10 ( signal/ r eference)
Authentication Response d B m · Signal st r engt h com pared t o a 1 m illiwat t signal
Association Request
d B w · Signal st r engt h com pared t o a 1 w at t signal
Association Response
d B i · Com pares forw ard ant enna gain t o t hat of an isot ropic ant enna
Modu lat ion s
Sch e m e Mod ulat ion Th r o u g h p u t Te r m i n o l o g y
DBPSK 1 Mbps Ba si c Se r v i ce Se t I d en t i f i e r ( BSSI D )
A MAC address w hich ser v es t o uniquely ident ify a BSS
D SSS DQPSK 2 Mbps
Se r v i c e Se t I d e n t i f i er ( SSI D )
CCK 5.5/ 11 Mbps A hum an- friendly t ex t st r ing w hich ident ifies a BSS; 1- 32 charact er s
BPSK 6/ 9 Mbps Ca r r i e r Se n s e M u l t i p l e A cc e s s / Co l l i si o n A v o i d a n c e ( CSM A / CA )
QPSK 12/ 18 Mbps The m echanism w hich facilit at es efficient com m unicat ion across a
OFD M shar ed w ireless m edium ( provided by DCF or PCF)
16- QAM 24/ 36 Mbps
Ef f e c t i v e I s o t r o p i c Ra d i a t e d Po w e r ( EI RP)
64- QAM 48/ 54 Mbps Net signal st r engt h ( t ransm it t er power + ant enna gain - cable loss)

b y Je r e m y St r e t c h v 2 .2
I EEE 8 0 2 .1 1 W LA N · P A RT 2 p a ck e t l i f e .n e t
D i s t r i b u t e d Co o r d i n a t i o n Fu n ct i o n ( D CF)
DIFS DIFS DIFS DIFS

A Frame

B Deferral Period

C Random Backoff

D Contention Window

I n t e r f r a m e Sp a ci n g Cl i e n t A u t h e n t i cat i o n
Sh o r t I FS ( SI FS) Op e n · No aut hent icat ion is used
Used t o pr ov ide m inim al spacing delay bet w een
Pr e - s h a r e d En cr y p t i o n K e y s
cont rol fram es or dat a fr agm ent s
Keys are m anually dist r ibut ed am ong client s and APs
D CF I FS ( D I FS) Li g h t w e i g h t EA P ( LEA P)
Nor m al spacing enfor ced under DCF for m anagem ent Cisco- propriet ary EAP m et hod int r oduced t o pr ov ide
and non- fragm ent dat a fr am es dy nam ic k ey ing for WEP ( deprecat ed)
A r b i t r a t e d I FS ( A I FS) EA P- TLS
Var iable spacing calculat ed t o accom m odat e differing Em ploy s Transpor t Lay er Securit y ( TLS) ; PKI
qualit ies of ser vice ( QoS) cer t ificat es are r equired on t he AP and client s
Ex t e n d e d I FS ( EI FS)
EA P- TTLS
Ext ended delay im posed aft er er ror s ar e det ect ed in a
Client s aut hent icat e t he AP v ia PKI , t hen form a secure
r eceiv ed fr am e
t unnel inside w hich t he client aut hent icat ion t akes
En cr y p t i o n Sc h e m e s place ( client s do not need PKI cer t ificat es)

W i r e d Eq u i v a l e n t Pr i v a c y ( W EP) Pr o t e c t e d EA P ( PEA P)
Flawed RC4 im plem ent at ion using a 40- or 104- bit A proposal by Cisco, Microsoft , and RSA w hich em ploy s
pr e- shared encry pt ion key ( deprecat ed) a secure t unnel for client aut hent icat ion lik e EAP- TTLS

W i - Fi Pr o t e c t e d A cc e s s ( W PA ) EA P- FA ST
I m plem ent s t he im pr ov ed RC4- based encrypt ion Dev eloped by Cisco t o r eplace LEAP; est ablishes a
Tem poral Key I nt egrit y Pr ot ocol ( TKI P) which can secure t unnel using a Pr ot ect ed Access Cr edent ial
oper at e on WEP- capable hardw are ( PAC) in the absence of PKI cert ificat es

I EEE 8 0 2 .1 1 i ( W PA 2 ) RF Si g n a l I n t e r f e r e n ce
I EEE st andard dev eloped t o r eplace WPA; r equires a
new gener at ion of har dw are t o im plem ent significant ly Re f l e ct i o n Sc a t t e r i n g Ab so r p t io n
st ronger AES- based CCMP encry pt ion

Qu a l i t y o f Se r v i c e M a r k i n g s
W MM 8 0 2 .1 1 e 8 0 2 .1 p

Plat inum 7/ 6 6/ 5 Re f r a c t i o n D i f f r a ct i o n
Gold 5/ 4 4/ 3
Silv er 3/ 0 0
Br onze 2/ 1 2/ 1
W i - Fi M u l t i m e d i a ( W M M )
A Wi- Fi Alliance cert ificat ion for QoS; a subset of A n t e n n a Ty p e s
802. 11e QoS
D i r e c t i o n a l · Radiat es pow er in one focused dir ect ion
I EEE 8 0 2 .1 1 e
Official I EEE WLAN QoS st andar d r at ified in 2005; Om n i d i r e ct i o n a l
r eplaces WMM Radiat es pow er uniform ly across a plane
I so t r o p i c
I EEE 8 0 2 .1 p
A t heor etical ant enna r efer enced w hen m easuring
QoS m ark ings in t he 802.1Q header on wir ed Et her net
effect iv e radiat ed power

b y Je r e m y St r e t c h v 2 .2