Power Save Mechanisms Supported by IEEE

802.11 Protocol

Tutorial - 2

Shashank Tadakamadla
U-APSD Mechanism
• AP transmits traffic only when it receives trigger enabled frame
from STA.
– Trigger enabled frame will be negotiated in (Re)Association Request
frame.
– Trigger enabled frame can also be updated using ADDTS request frame
per AC.
U-APSD Power Save Mechanism
• Whenever AP receives trigger enabled
frame from STA, AP transmits ‘n’ number
of frames. Where ‘n’ is the number of
frames negotiated at the time of
association. ‘n’ can be all, 2, 4 & 6 frames. Access Point Station
• Once ‘n’ number of frames are
transmitted by AP, AP sets EOSP=1 in the Basic Association Procedure
last QoS frame in that Service period.
Which indicates that client shall go to QoS Null/Data Frame
1
sleep after receiving last frame. Acknowledgement
• Client wakes up at regular intervals of 2
Service Interval. Which is also negotiated QoS Data
3 4
at the time of association. SI can be
updated using ADDTS request frame. Acknowledgement
• If the More Data field is set in the last QoSData
data frame transmitted by AP, STA wakes
up after Service Interval and retrieves Acknowledgement
data for a SP as negotiated. 5
• If traffic buffered at AP is non-AC, then
PS mode STAs retrive data using Legacy
Methods.
SM Mechanism
• SM Powersave Mechanism is advertised in the
HT capability IE of APs Beacon.
• SM powersave mechanisms are of two types:
– Dynamic SM
• A STA enables its multiple receive chains only when it
receives start of sequence frames. Basically an RTS/CTS
frames can this used for this purpose.
– Static SM
• A STA enables its multiple receive chains only when it
receives SM Power Save HT action frame from AP to client.
Dynamic SM Power Save
Mechanism
• In this PS mode, STA is always awake but
with its single chain active.
• Whenever a frame is to be transmitted by
AP, AP transmits an RTS/CTS frames.
When an RTS frame is received by STA, Access Point Station
all the chains shall be active for the
duration mentioned in the RTS/CTS Basic Association Procedure
frames respectively after the SIFS period.
• RTS
After receiving the frame, STA is active
only with single chain until it receives CTS
either RTS/CTS frame.
• Its up to vendor to decide which frame QoS Data
should be selected as start of data Acknowledgement
delivery to STA. Usually, RTS / CTS
frames are used as start of data delivery. .
.
.
Static SM Power Save
Mechanism
• In this PS mode, STA is always awake
with single active chain.
• Whenever a frame is to be transmitted by
AP, AP transmits an SM Action frame. Access Point Station
When an SM action frame is received by
STA, all the chains shall be active and
STA starts receiving data until More Data Basic Association Procedure
bit is equal to 0.
• SM Power Save HT Action Frame
After receiving the frame, STA is active
only with single chain. QoS Data
Acknowledgement
.
.
.
.
 PSMP Power Save Mechanism
• In this PS mode, AP transmits PSMP
frame when all stations are awake in its
BSS.
• More information related to PSMP can be
found in standard. Access Point Station

Basic Association Procedure

PSMP Power Save Frame
QoS Data
Acknowledgement
.
.
.
.
 ?
For any queries mail me at
shashank.tadakamadla@gmail.com