CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

CN 411 Wireless Networks

Chapter 4

Fall 2015/2016
Wireless Personal Area Networks
WPANs

What are WPANs?

• Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs)
• Short-range
• Low Power
• Low Cost
• Small networks
Fall 2015/2016

• Ad hoc only topology

• Plug and play architecture
• WPANs address wireless networking of portable and
mobile computing devices such as PCs, PDAs, cell
phones and consumer electronics.
• Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1), UWB (IEEE 802.15.3a), and 2
ZigBee (IEEE 802.15.4) are examples of WPANs

Telecom and Networks Department 1

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

What are WPANs?

• Bluetooth provide enough bandwidth for mobile devices
requiring data exchanges up to 1 Mbps.
• UWB will provide the capability of streaming video signals at
data rates up to 1 Gbps.
• ZigBee provide much lower data rates and the lowest

Fall 2015/2016
possible cost for many control applications .

What are WPANs?

• The IEEE 802.15 committee has the responsibility for

developing standards for short distance wireless networks.
• The IEEE 802.15 committee consists of the following task
groups:
Fall 2015/2016

Telecom and Networks Department 2

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1)

• Bluetooth name comes from Danish king Harald Blåtand
(Bluetooth), credited with uniting the Scandinavian people
during the 10th century.
• Bluetooth is a trademark owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc.,USA.
• Bluetooth Special Industry Group (SIG) formed in winter of

Fall 2015/2016
1998 by Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba.
• The concept behind Bluetooth is to provide a universal short-
range wireless capability.
• Using the 2.4-GHz band, available globally for unlicensed low-
power uses, two Bluetooth devices within 10 m of each other
can share up to 720 kbps of capacity.
• Asynchronous (data) and synchronous (voice) services should 5
be available

Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15.1)

• Goals
• Low cost
• Low power
• Primarily a cable replacement (to connect mobile phones to
headsets)
Fall 2015/2016

• Using
• Short-range radio technology
• Ad hoc networking “point-to-point network”.
• Dynamic discovery of other Bluetooth devices & the
services they offer
6

Telecom and Networks Department 3

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Characteristics Of Bluetooth air interface

• Operates in the 2.4 GHz band
• Original supports up to 1 Mbps nominal
• Supports data rates up to 3 Mbps (enhanced)

• Uses Frequency Hopping (FH) spread spectrum, which divides

the frequency band (2.402 - 2.480 GHz) into 79 channel in USA,

Fall 2015/2016
Europe, and most other countries.

• Radio transceivers hop from one channel to another in a pseudo-

random fashion, determined by the master

• Supports up to 8 devices in a piconet (1 master and 7 slaves)

• The topology of the Bluetooth is referred to as a scattered 7

ad hoc topology

Network Topology
• Piconet - subnet of Bluetooth devices, synchronized to the
timing and hopping sequence of a master
• Slaves only communicate with the master
• Maximum of 7 slaves in a piconet (as there are only 3 address
bits used in Bluetooth!).
• MAC address. A 3-bit medium access control address used to
distinguish between units participating in the piconet.
Fall 2015/2016

• Piconet cell identifies four states for devices:

• Master (M)terminal: the device in the piconet whose clock and
hopping sequence are used to synchronize all other devices in
the piconet.
• Slave (S) terminal: all devices in a piconet that are not the
master (up to seven active units for each master)
• Standby (SB) : a terminal can enter the SB mode and keeps its
MAC address, If access is not available. 8
• Parked (P): a terminal enters low-power connection and
releases its MAC address

Telecom and Networks Department 4

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth scatternet
Scatternet: Two or more independent and non-synchronized
piconets that communicate with each other. A slave as well as
a master unit in one piconet can establish this connection by
becoming a slave in the other piconet.

Fall 2015/2016
9

Network Topology
• Scatternet - multiple Bluetooth piconets joined together by
devices that are in more than one piconet.
• Up to 10 piconets can operate in one area.
• If a device is present in more than one piconet, it must time-
share, spending a few slots in one piconet and a few slots in
Fall 2015/2016

the other
• A device may not be master of two different piconets since all
slaves in a piconet are synchronized to the master’s hop
sequence, thus if the slaves were all synchronized with a
single master -- they would be part of the same piconet!
• This means that piconets making up a scatternet do not
coordinate their frequency hopping=>unsynchronized 10
piconets in an area will randomly collide on the same
frequency.

Telecom and Networks Department 5

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Masters vs. Slaves

• Each Bluetooth device is a Master or Slave
• Master initiates exchange of data and the slave responds to
the master. slaves cannot communicate directly.
• In order to communicate devices must use same sequence of
frequency hops, hence slaves synchronize to hop sequence of
master

Fall 2015/2016
• Master assigns an Active Member address (AM_ADDR) to the
slaves participating in active communications in the piconet.
• Additional devices may be registered with the master and be
invited to become active as necessary -- their state is called
“parked”
• Devices not currently associated with any piconet are in
stand-by mode. 11

IEEE 802 to Bluetooth Correspondence

One of the distinct features of Bluetooth is that it provides a
complete protocol stack that allows different applications to
communicate over a variety of devices.
Fall 2015/2016

12

Telecom and Networks Department 6

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Protocol architecture
The Bluetooth protocol stack can be placed into three groups:
transport protocol group, middleware protocol group, and
application group

Fall 2015/2016
13

Protocol architecture
• Transport protocol group: is designed to allow Bluetooth
devices to locate and connect to each other.
• Transport protocol group consisting of:
• Radio layer: specifies the radio modem used for transmission and
reception. It is also responsible for assigning the master and slave roles.
• Baseband layer: Specifies coding and encryption for packet assembly
Fall 2015/2016

and FH operation
• Link manager protocol (LMP): provides authentication and encryption,
state of units in the piconet, power modes.
• Logical link control and adaptation protocol (L2CAP): provides
connection-oriented and connectionless data services to the upper
layer protocols. It is also responsible for segmenting larger packets from
higher layers into smaller packets, which are easier to handle by the
lower layer
• Host controller interface (HCI) layer: allows higher layers, including
14
applications, to access the baseband, link manager through a single
standard interface

Telecom and Networks Department 7

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Protocol architecture
• Middleware protocol group: this group comprises the protocols
needed for existing applications to operate over Bluetooth links.
• The protocols in this group can be third party and industry
standard protocols and protocols developed specifically by the
Special Interest Group:
• Service discovery protocol (SDP) layer: connects two or more

Fall 2015/2016
Bluetooth devices to support a service such as faxing, printing,
teleconferencing, or e-commerce facilities. The SDP is a standard
method for Bluetooth devices to discover and learn about the
services offered by the other device.
• Telephony control specification (TCS) layer: defines the call
control signaling and mobility management for the
establishment of speech for cordless telephone application
• The RFCOMM layer: is a “cable replacement” protocol that
emulates and provides a virtual the standard RS-232 (serial port)
to applications, because it is easy for applications designed for 15
cabled serial ports to migrate to Bluetooth

Protocol architecture
• Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) layer: Bluetooth
wireless communication uses a peer-to-peer network
topology rather than an LAN type topology. Dial-up
networking uses the attention (AT) command layer. It uses
the TCP/UDP protocols for Internet access over the
Fall 2015/2016

RFCOMM.
• Object exchange (OBEX) protocol: is a session protocol
developed by the Infrared Data Association to exchange
objects (as HTTP). It uses a client-server model and is
independent of the transport mechanism and transport
application programming interface
16

Telecom and Networks Department 8

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Protocol architecture
• Application Group:
• This group consists of actual applications that make use of
Bluetooth links and refers to the software that exists
above the protocol stack.
• The most interesting applications are those that

Fall 2015/2016
substantiate the Bluetooth profiles.
• The Bluetooth-SIG does not define any application
protocols nor does it specify any API.
• Bluetooth profiles are developed to establish a base point
for use of a protocol stack to accomplish a given usage
case.
17

Radio (Physical) Layer

• Bluetooth uses 2.4 GHz (ISM) band, many other systems using
the same spectrum
• interference to other systems
• interference from other systems
• 2.400 - 2.4835 GHz, i.e., 83.5 MHz divided into 79 channels with
carrier frequencies: f = 2402 + k (MHz) , k = 0, … , 78; Channel
Fall 2015/2016

spacing is 1 MHz
• Uses Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GFSK) modulation with one
bit per symbol
• Uses fast (1600 hops/s) frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS)
and a device uses a frequency for only 625 µs (1/1600 s) before it
hops to another frequency; the dwell time is 625 µs.
• One hop per packet, but a packet can be 1 slot, 3 slots, or 5 slots
long 18

Telecom and Networks Department 9

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Baseband (BB) layer

• The baseband layer is roughly equivalent to the MAC sub-

layer in LANs.
• Concerned with connection establishment' addressing,
packet format, timing, and power control

Fall 2015/2016
• The access method in each piconet of Bluetooth is
TDMA/TDD.
• The length of a time slot is exactly the same as the dwell
time, 625 µs. This means that during the time that one
frequency is used, that can be extended to 3-slot (1875 µs)
and 5-slot (3125 µs).
19

Baseband (BB) layer

Fall 2015/2016

20

Telecom and Networks Department 10

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)

• Bluetooth uses a form of TDMA that is called TDD-TDMA (Time
Division duplex TDMA).
• TDD-TDMA is a kind of half-duplex communication in which the
Master and Slave send and receive data, but not at the same
time (half duplex).

Fall 2015/2016
• Master assigns time slots to slaves
• packets are joined together in transmit and receive pairs; master
and slaves alternate in time-division duplex (TDD)
• The master uses even numbered slots (0, 2, 4,..); the slave uses
odd-numbered slots (1, 3, 5, ...).

21

Transmit Power
• Original goal was a 10m radius of operation, but some thought about
using Bluetooth for longer ranges
• Power control is to reduce both interference and power
consumption.
• Power control is required for power class 1 equipment, whereas
power controls for power class 2 and 3 equipment is optional.
Fall 2015/2016

• Equipment with power control capability optimizes the output power

in a link.

Class Max. output power Range Power control

1 100mW (20 dBm) 100m+ mandatory

2 2.5mW (4 dBm) 10m optional

22
3 1mW (0 dBm) 1m optional

Telecom and Networks Department 11

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth Link Types

• The Bluetooth baseband technology supports two link
types: a synchronous connection oriented (SCO) and an
asynchronous connectionless (ACL)
• Synchronous Connection Oriented (SCO) :
• Used when avoiding (delay in data delivery) is more
important than (error-free delivery)

Fall 2015/2016
• The SCO link is symmetric and typically supports time-
bounded voice traffic. SCO packets are transmitted over
reserved intervals.
• A Master can create up to three SCQ links with the slave
at one time (may be to 1, 2, or 3 slaves).
• Circuit-switched connections, point-to-point connections-
(PCM) 64 kbps in each link per voice channel. 23

Bluetooth Link Types

• Asynchronous Connectionless (ACL):
• Packet oriented and supports both symmetric and asymmetric traffic
• A best effort delivery service - maintains integrity by using
retransmissions and sequence members, as well as forward error
correction (FEC) .
• The master controls the link bandwidth and decides how much
Fall 2015/2016

piconet bandwidth is given to each slave. But only one per slave.
• Broadcast packets: packets that are not addressed to a specific slave
• A packet in the baseband layer can be one of three types: one-slot,
three-slot, or five-slot.
• Multi-slot packets can be used in ACL and they can reach maximum
data rates of 721 kbps in one direction and 57.6 kbps in the other
direction if no error correction is used
24
• In a one-slot frame exchange, 259 µs is needed for hopping and control
mechanisms. This means that a one-slot frame can last only 625 - 259, or
366 µs.

Telecom and Networks Department 12

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth Packet Types

Fall 2015/2016
25

Bluetooth Packet Types

• A symmetric 1-slot DH1(Data High rate) link between the master
and slave carries 216 bits per slot at a rate of 800 slots per second
in each direction. The associated rate is (216 * 800 = 172.8 kbps)
• With largest packet (Data High rate, DH5, packet stretching over
five slots)Þ maximum data rate of ~650 kb/s
• The asymmetric DM5 link uses a 5-slot packet carrying 1792 bits
per packet by the master and a 1-slot packet carrying 136 bits per
Fall 2015/2016

packet by the slave terminal. The number of packets per second in

each direction is 1600/6. The data rate of the master is 1792
1600/6 477.8 kbps and the data rate of the slave terminal is (136 *
1600/6 = 36.3 kbps)

• EX. What is the hopping rate of Bluetooth, and how many bits are
transmitted in one slot? If each frame of the HV3 voice packet in
Bluetooth carries 80 bits of sample speech, what is the efficiency
of the packet transmission? How often do HV3 packets have to be
sent to support 64 kbps voice in each direction? 26

Telecom and Networks Department 13

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth Packet Format

• ACL Data Packets: 72-bit access code, 54-bit header, 16-bit Cyclic
Redundancy Checksum (CRC), and varying amount of data

N = 240 bits for 1-slot frame

Fall 2015/2016
N = 1490 bits for 3-slot frame
N = 2740 bits for 5-slot frame

27

Bluetooth Packet Format

• Access code: 72-bit field Used for identification, offset
compensation, and synchronization,. There are three types of
access codes:
• Channel access code (CAC): Identifies a piconet.
• Device access code (DAC): used for paging and subsequent
Fall 2015/2016

responses.
• Inquiry access code (IAC): used for inquiry purposes
• NOTE: Inquiry and Paging comprise the network discovery
and setup procedures
• Payload: subfield can be 0 to 2745 bits long , contains user
voice or data and, in most cases, a payload header
28

Telecom and Networks Department 14

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth Packet Format

• Header: 54-bit field Used to identify packet type and to carry
protocol control information.
• S_ADDR: 3-bit logical transport address (also Active Mode
address)
• TYPE: 4-bit - determines how many slots the current packet will
occupy

Fall 2015/2016
• FLOW: 1-bit flow control used for ACL packets, if flow=0 asynchronous
data, transmission must stop,
• ARQN: 1-bit acknowledge indication - used to inform the source
of a successful transfer of payload data with CRC and can be
positive (ACK) or negative (NAK).
• SEQN: 1-bit sequence number
• HEC: 8-bit header error check
• The total header consists of 18 bits – encoded with a rate 1/3 29
FEC resulting in a 54-bit header

Bluetooth Packet Types

Fall 2015/2016

30

Telecom and Networks Department 15

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Error Correction
• The purpose of the FEC scheme on the data payload is to
reduce the number of retransmissions
• At the baseband level, Bluetooth makes use of three
error correction schemes:
• 1/3 rate FEC (forward error correction)

Fall 2015/2016
• 2/3 rate FEC
• ARQ
• FEC creates unnecessary overhead that reduces the
throughput. Therefore, the packet definitions have been
kept flexible as to whether or not to use FEC in the
payload.
• The packet header is always protected by a 1/3 rate FEC 31

Protocol architecture (cont.)

Fall 2015/2016

32

Telecom and Networks Department 16

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Link Manager Protocol (LMP)

• LMP enhances baseband functionality, but higher layers can still directly
access the baseband. The following groups of functions are covered by it:
• Authentication, pairing, and encryption.
• Synchronization: timing information between two adjacent piconets (slot
boundaries)
• Capability negotiation: version of the LMP can be exchanged and

Fall 2015/2016
information about the supported features.
• Quality of service negotiation: Depending on the quality of the channel,
DM or DH packets may be used (i.e., 2/3 FEC protection or no protection)
• Link supervision: Establishing ACL and SCO links.
• State and transmission mode change: Configuring links, e.g., controlling
Master/Slave switches , putting connections one of the low-power
modes
• Communicates with other LMs using the Link Management Protocol
33
(LMP) which is a set of messages, or Protocol Data Units (PDUs),

Link Control Protocol (LCP)

• Configures and controls baseband (low level protocol)
• Packet level access control - determines what packet is
going to be sent next
• High level operations: inquiry and paging
• Configures and controls multiple links between devices
Fall 2015/2016

and piconets
• Does not require its own packets, but uses the (ARQN
and SEQN) bits in baseband packets for SCO and ACL links
to signal between link controllers - thus forming a logical
LC (Link Control) channel

34

Telecom and Networks Department 17

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth States
• Standby state : Initial state
• In this mode, an unconnected unit periodically listens for
messages every 1.28 seconds.
• The connection procedure is initiated by any one of the devices,
which then becomes master

Fall 2015/2016
• Inquiry state : can happen in two different ways.
• A device wants to establish a piconet : starts the inquiry
procedure by sending an inquiry access code (IAC) that is
common to all Bluetooth devices over 32 so-called wake-up
carriers in turn
• A device that listen periodically: enter the inquiry mode
periodically to search for IAC messages on the wake-up carriers.
35
• If the inquiry was successful, a device enters the page mode

Bluetooth States
• Page state : Master invites devices to join the piconet.
• Depending on the device addresses received the master
calculates special hopping sequences to contact each device
individually
• Slave enters page response state and sends page response
including its device access code
Fall 2015/2016

• Master informs slave about its clock and address so that slave
can participate in piconet. Slave computes the clock offset
• A device synchronizes to the hopping pattern of the piconet it
also enters the connection state
• Connected: comprises the active state and the low power
states park, sniff, and hold
• Active: All devices being active must have the 3-bit active
36
member address (AMA). Actively exchange data

Telecom and Networks Department 18

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Bluetooth States
• To save battery power, a Bluetooth device can go into one of
three low power states:
• Sniff state: has the highest power consumption of the low
power states. Here, the device listens to the piconet at a
reduced rate , reduced number of slots for transmission, and

Fall 2015/2016
the device keeps its AMA.
• Hold state: the device does not release its AMA but stops
ACL transmission. A slave may still exchange SCO packets.
• Park state: the device releases its AMA and receives a
parked member address (PMA 8 bit). Parked devices are still
a member of the piconet and still FH synchronized and wake
up at certain beacon intervals for re-synchronization. All 37
PDUs sent to parked slaves are broadcast

Connection Establishment in Bluetooth

Fall 2015/2016

38

Telecom and Networks Department 19

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Channel Control
• Interim sub-states for adding new slaves
• Page (master) – device issued a page
• Page scan (slave)– device is listening for a page
• Master response – master receives a page response from
slave

Fall 2015/2016
• Slave response – slave responds to a page from master
• Inquiry (master) – device has issued an inquiry for identity
of devices within range
• Inquiry scan (slave) – device is listening for an inquiry
• Inquiry response (slave) – device receives an inquiry
response 39

Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP)

• L2CAP only transfers data, and all applications must use

L2CAP to send data.
• A simple data link protocol on top of the baseband and
provides:
• Multiplexing to allow several higher layer links to pass
across a single ACL connection
Fall 2015/2016

• Segmentation and reassembly to allow transfer of packets

larger than lower layers support
• Quality of Service (QoS) management for higher layer
protocols
• A channel represents a data flow between L2CAP entities
in remote devices
• Channels may be connection-oriented or connectionless
40

Telecom and Networks Department 20

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Logical Channels
• Different master-slave pairs of the same piconet can use
different link types.
• Each link type supports up to sixteen different packet types.
Four of these are control packets and are common for both
SCO and ACL links

Fall 2015/2016
• L2CAP provides three different types of logical channels that
are transported via the ACL between master and slave
• Connectionless: These unidirectional channels are typically used
for broadcasts from a master to its slave(s).
• Connection-oriented: Each channel of this type is bi-directional
and supports QoS flow specifications for each direction.
• Signaling: This third type of logical channel is used to exchanging
41
signaling messages between L2CAP entities.

Bluetooth security features

• Fast frequency hopping (79 channels)

• Low transmit power (range <= 10m)
• Authentication of remote device
• based on link key (128 Bit)
Fall 2015/2016

• May be performed in both directions

• Encryption of payload data
• Stream cipher algorithm (< 128 Bit)
• Affects all traffic on a link
• Initialization
• PIN entry by user
42

Telecom and Networks Department 21

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Service Discovery Protocol (SDP)

• Only provides information about services, does not

provide access to these services
• “optimized” for usage by devices with limited capabilities
over wireless links

Fall 2015/2016
• Uses binary encoding of information
• Unique identifiers (UUIDs) describe services and
attributes of these services such that you don’t need a
central registration authority for registering services
• Generally UUIDs are 128 bits long; however, for known
services 16-bit and 32-bit UUIDs may also be used.
43

Bluetooth Applications
• The following are some of the areas where Bluetooth can be
used:
• Replacing serial cables with radio links
• Wearable networks/WPANs
• Desktop/room wireless networking
Fall 2015/2016

• Hot-spot wireless networking

• Medical: Transfer of measured values from training units to
analytical systems, patient monitoring
• Automotive: Remote control of audio/video equipment, hands-
free telephony
• Point-of-sale payments: Payments by mobile phone
44

Telecom and Networks Department 22

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Profiles
• Represents default solution for
a usage model
• Vertical slice through the
protocol stack
• Basis for interoperability and

Fall 2015/2016
logo requirements
• Each Bluetooth device
supports one or more profiles

45

Profiles
• Generic Access Profile
• Service Discovery Application Profile
• Serial Port Profile
• Dial-up Networking Profile
• Fax Profile
• Headset Profile
Fall 2015/2016

• LAN Access Profile (using PPP)

• Generic Object Exchange Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Object Push Profile
• Synchronization Profile
• TCS_BIN-based profiles
• Cordless Telephony Profile 46
• Intercom Profile

Telecom and Networks Department 23

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Profiles

Fall 2015/2016
47

Profiles
Fall 2015/2016

48

Telecom and Networks Department 24

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Profiles

Fall 2015/2016
49

IEEE 802.15 standard

Bluetooth proposal chosen to serve as the baseline

• IEEE 802.15.1 draft standard is in its final stages

• IEEE 802.15.2 task group studies coexistence issues
Fall 2015/2016

between 802 wireless technologies

• IEEE 802.15.3 task group developing standards for
high-rate radios (>20 Mb/s)
• IEEE 802.15.4 task group developing standards for
low-rate radios(<200 kb/s)
50

Telecom and Networks Department 25

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

IEEE 802.15 standard

Fall 2015/2016
51

ZigBee Technology

• The IEEE 802.15.4 is standard specifies PHY and MAC layers

for low-rate, low-power, low- cost WPANs.
• ZigBee Alliance aims to provide the upper layers of the
protocol stack for range of wireless home and building
Fall 2015/2016

control solutions.
• Compared with IEEE 802.11 WiFi devices, ZigBee is designed
for very low cost communications among scattered devices
with minimal infrastructure.
• ZigBee intends to provide faster formation of the piconet, a
larger number of active users, it allows up to 254 nodes,
longer battery life, and lower data rates of 20-250 kb/s.
52

Telecom and Networks Department 26

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

ZigBee Technology

• ZigBee protocols are intended for embedded applications

requiring low data rates and low power consumption. The
resulting network will use very small amounts of power,
individual devices must have a battery life of at least two
years to pass ZigBee certification.

Fall 2015/2016
• Typical application areas include:
Home Entertainment and Control
Industrial control
 Embedded sensing
Medical data collection
Smoke and intruder warning 53

Spectrum and Data Rate

• ZigBee operates in the industrial, scientific and medical

(ISM) radio band, 868 MHz in Europe, 915 MHz in the
USA and Australia and 2.4 GHz in most worldwide.
• Data transmission rate vary from 20kbps in the 868 MHz
Fall 2015/2016

frequency band to 250 kbps in the 2.4 GHz frequency

band.

• The basic channel access mode is "carrier sense, multiple

access/collision avoidance” (CSMA/CA). That is, the
nodes talk in the same way that humans converse; they
briefly check to see that no one is talking before they 54
start.

Telecom and Networks Department 27

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

ZigBee Components and Network Topologies

• IEEE 802.15.4 standard defines two types of node in the

network:
Full-function devices (FFDs) and Reduced-function devices
(RFDs).
Full-function devices (FFDs):

Fall 2015/2016
• A network includes at least one FFD, operating as the personal
area network (PAN) coordinator.
• An FFD can operate in three modes: a PAN coordinator, a
coordinator, or a device.
• An FFD can communicate with any other device and it can
help routing messages throughout the network. 55

ZigBee Components and Network Topologies

Reduced-function devices (RFDs)

• Extremely simple with very modest resource and
communication capabilities, RFD can only talk to an FFD.
Fall 2015/2016

• This provides flexibility for implementation of a variety of

topologies addressing more diversified applications.

• Though low-powered ZigBee devices often transmit data

over longer distances by passing data through intermediate
devices to reach more distant ones.
56

Telecom and Networks Department 28

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

ZigBee Components and Network Topologies

ZigBee supports three types of topologies: star topology,
peer-to-peer topology, and cluster tree

Fall 2015/2016
57

ZigBee Components and Network Topologies

• In the star topology, communication is established
between devices and a single central controller, called the
PAN coordinator. The PAN coordinator may be powered by
mains while the devices will most likely be battery
powered.
• In the peer-to-peer topology, there is also one PAN
Fall 2015/2016

coordinator. In contrast to star topology, any device can

communicate with any other device as long as they are in
range of one another.
• The cluster-tree topology is a special case of a peer-to-peer
network in which most devices are FFDs and an RFD may
connect to a cluster-tree network as a leaf node at the end
of a branch. Any of the FFD devices can act as a
coordinator, but only one of these coordinators is the PAN 58
coordinator

Telecom and Networks Department 29

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

IEEE 802.15.4 Protocol Architecture

Consisting of physical layer (PHY),
which contains the RF transceiver
along with its low-level control
mechanism. A MAC sub-layer provides
access to the physical channel for all
types of transfer. The upper layers

Fall 2015/2016
consist of a network layer, which
provides network configuration,
manipulation, and message routing,
and an application layer, which
provides the intended function of a
device. An IEEE 802.2 logical link
control (LLC) can access the MAC
through the service specific 59
convergence sub-layer (SSCS).

Protocol Architecture - Physical Layer

Physical Layer:
• There is a single channel between 868 and 868.6 MHz, 10
channels between 902 and 928 MHz, and 16 channels between
2.4 and 2.4835 GHz
• The standard provides two options based on the frequency band.
Both are based on direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)
Fall 2015/2016

• The data rate is 250 kbps at 2.4 GHz, 40 kbps at 915 MHz, and 20
kbps at 868 MHz

60

Telecom and Networks Department 30

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Protocol Architecture - Physical Layer

Fall 2015/2016
61

Protocol Architecture – MAC Sub-Layer

• The IEEE 802.15.4 MAC provides services to an IEEE 802.2
type logical link control (LLC) through the service-specific
convergence sub-layer (SCCS), or LLC can access the MAC
services directly without going through the SCCS.
• The SCCS ensures compatibility between different LLC sub-
Fall 2015/2016

layers and allows the MAC to be accessed through a single

set of access points
• The features of the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC are association and
disassociation, acknowledged frame delivery, channel
access mechanism, frame validation, guaranteed time slot
management, and beacon management.
62

Telecom and Networks Department 31

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Protocol Architecture – MAC Sub-Layer

• The MAC frame structure is very flexible to accommodate
the needs of different applications and network topologies
while maintaining a simple protocol
• The IEEE 802.15.4 MAC has four different frame types.
These are the beacon frame, data frame, acknowledgment

Fall 2015/2016
frame and MAC command frame.
• Only the data and beacon frames actually contain
information sent by higher layers; the acknowledgment and
MAC command frames originate in the MAC and are used
for MAC peer-to-peer communication.
• The MAC protocol data unit (MPDU) consists of the MAC
header (MHR), MAC service data unit (MSDU), and MAC 63
footer (MFR).

Protocol Architecture – MAC Sub-Layer

Fall 2015/2016

• Frame control field: indicates the type of MAC frame being

transmitted, specifies the format of the address field, and controls
the acknowledgment
• The flexible structure of the address field (0-20 bytes) helps to
increase the efficiency of the protocol by keeping the packet shorts.
64
• The payload field is variable in length; the data contained in the
payload is dependent on the frame type.

Telecom and Networks Department 32

CN411: Wireless Communication Networks

Applications
The IEEE 802.15.4 has been designed to be useful in a wide
variety of applications, including:

• Sensing and location determination at disaster sites;

• Automotive sensing, such as tire pressure monitoring;

Fall 2015/2016
smart badges and tags;
• precision agriculture, such as the sensing of soil moisture,
pesticide, herbicide, and pH levels.
• Home automation and networking including heating,
ventilation, air conditioning, security, and lighting;
• Toys and games. 65

Comparison of 802.11, 802.15.1, and 802.15.4

Fall 2015/2016

66

Telecom and Networks Department 33