CME433 Wireless Networks

Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adib Habbal, Ph.D., SMIEEE

Department of Computer Engineering, Karabuk University

adibhabbal@karabuk.edu.tr

1
 WIRELESS LAN
TECHNOLOGY AND
THE IEEE 802.11
WIRELESS LAN
STANDARD
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Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-2
 INTRODUCTION
• Wireless LANs (WLANs)
– Indispensible adjunct to wired LANs
– Wireless devices use WLANs
• As their only source of connectivity
• Or to replace cellular coverage
• Simple WLAN configuration
– There is a backbone wired LAN
– User modules include workstations, servers, devices
– Control module (CM) interfaces to WLAN
• Providing bridge or router functionality
• May have control logic to regulate access
• May provide wireless connectivity to other wired networks

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-3
11.1 EXAMPLE SINGLE-CELL WIRELESS LAN CONFIGURATION
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-4
 INTRODUCTION
• Multiple-cell wireless LAN
– Multiple CMs connected by a wired LAN
– Creates many issues for balancing cell loading and
providing best connections for Ums

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-5
11.2 EXAMPLE MULTIPLE-CELL WIRELESS LAN CONFIGURATION
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-6
 AD HOC NETWORKING
• Temporary peer-to-peer network set up to meet
immediate need
– Peer-to-peer, no centralized server
– Maybe a temporary network
– Wireless connectivity provided by WLAN or
Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.
• Example:
– Group of employees with laptops convene for a
meeting; employees link computers in a temporary
network for duration of meeting

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-7
11.3 AD HOC WIRELESS LAN CONFIGURATION
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-8
WIRELESS LAN MOTIVATIONS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-9
 WIRELESS LAN MOTIVATIONS
• Cellular data offloading
– The spectrum available in mobile cellular networks is
limited and costly to consumers.
– Cellular providers may encourage this to offload
demand on their networks
• Sync/file transfer
– WLANs may provide higher data rates and more
available capacity
– Avoid use of cables
• Internet access
• Multimedia streaming
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-10
 WIRELESS LAN REQUIREMENTS
• Throughput: The medium access control (MAC) protocol should make as
efficient use as possible of the wireless medium to maximize capacity.

• Number of nodes: need to support hundreds of nodes across multiple cells.

• Connection to backbone LAN: interconnection with stations on a wired

backbone LAN is required.

• Service area: A typical coverage area for a WLAN has a diameter of 100 to
300 m.

• Transmission robustness and security: design of a WLAN must permit

reliable transmission even in a noisy environment

• Battery power consumption

• Collocated network operation
• License-free operation
• Handoff/roaming
• Dynamic configuration Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-11
COMPARISONS BETWEEN WLANS, WIRED LANS, AND MOBILE
DATA NETWORKS CAN BE VISUALIZED WITH KIVIAT GRAPHS.

11.4 KIVIAT GRAPHS FOR DATA NETWORKS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-12
 IEEE 802.11 VS. WI-FI
• IEEE 802.11 is a standard
• Wi-Fi = “Wireless Fidelity” is a trademark

• 802.11 has many options and it is possible for two equipment based on
802.11 to be incompatible.

• Wi-Fi Alliance is a non-profit organization that does the compatibility

testing (WiFi.org)
– Industry consortium
– Creates test suites to certify interoperability of products
• May identify a subset of the standard for certification
– Concerned with a range of market areas for WLANs

• All equipment with “Wi-Fi” logo have selected options such that they
will interoperate

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 IEEE STANDARDS NUMBERING
SYSTEM
• IEEE 802.* and IEEE 802.1* standards apply to all
IEEE 802 technologies:
– IEEE 802.3 Ethernet, 802.5 token ring, 802.4 token bus
– IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi
– IEEE 802.16 WiMAX

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 IEEE STANDARDS NUMBERING
SYSTEM (CONT)
• IEEE 802.11* (e.g., 802.11i) standards apply to all Wi-Fi
devices but may not apply to ZigBee devices which are based
on 802.15,
• Standards with all upper case letters are base standards, e.g.,
IEEE 802.1AB-2009
• Standards with lower case are additions/extensions/revisions.
Merged with the base standard in its next revision. e.g., IEEE
802.1w-2001 was merged with IEEE 802.1D-2004

• Standards used to be numbered, sequentially, e.g., IEEE

802.1a, …, 802.1z, 802.1aa, 802.1ab, …
• Recently they started showing base standards in the additions,
e.g., IEEE 802.1Qau-2010

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IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS

TABLE 11.1 IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-16
IEEE 802.11 STANDARDS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-17
 IEEE 802.11 FEATURES
• Original IEEE 802.11-1997 was at 1 and 2 Mbps.
Newer versions at 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps, 200 Mbps,... Gbps
• All versions use “License-exempt” spectrum
– No licensing needed – Four microwave bands
• 902-928 MHz
• 2.4-2.5 GHz
• 5.725-5.875 GHz
• 58-64 GHz (60-GHz mmWave bands)
– Higher capacity
– Less competition
– More expensive equipment
– Supports multiple priorities
– Supports time-critical and data traffic
– Power management allows a node to doze off
– Need ways to share spectrum among multiple users and multiple LANs
Spread Spectrum (CDMA)
– Spread spectrum
• DSSS CDMA or OFDM
• Over 1 Gbps possible with OFDM, channel bonding, and MIMO
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-18
 IEEE 802.11 FEATURES
ISM Bands: Industrial, Scientific, and Medical
bands. License exempt

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 WIRELESS LAN ARCHITECTURE

• Distribution system (DS)

• Access point (AP)
• Basic service set (BSS)
– Stations competing for access to shared wireless medium
– Isolated or connected to backbone DS through AP
• Extended service set (ESS)
– Two or more basic service sets interconnected by DS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-20
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-21
11.8 IEEE 802.11 ARCHITECTURE
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-22
 INTRODUCTION
• IEEE 802.11 Architecture

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 DISTRIBUTION OF MESSAGES
WITHIN A DS
• Distribution service
– Used to exchange MAC frames from station in one
BSS to station in another BSS
• Integration service
– Transfer of data between station on IEEE 802.11
LAN and station on integrated IEEE 802.x LAN

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-24
 TRANSITION TYPES BASED ON
MOBILITY
• No transition
– Stationary or moves only within BSS
• BSS transition
– Station moving from one BSS to another BSS in
same ESS
• ESS transition
– Station moving from BSS in one ESS to BSS
within another ESS

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-25
ASSOCIATION-RELATED SERVICES

• Association
– Establishes initial association between station and AP
• Reassociation
– Enables transfer of association from one AP to another,
allowing station to move from one BSS to another
• Disassociation
– Association termination notice from station or AP

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-26
 IEEE 802.11 SERVICES
• Association
– Establishes initial association between station and AP
• Reassociation
– Enables transfer of association from one AP to another,
allowing station to move from one BSS to another
• Disassociation
– Association termination notice from station or AP

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-27
 IEEE 802.11 STANDARD
1. IEEE 802.11 Protocol Architecture
2. IEEE 802.11 LCC
3. EEE 802.11 MAC
4. MAC Frame Format

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 IEEE 802.11 PROTOCOL
ARCHITECTURE
• Developed by the IEEE 802.11 working group
• Uses layering of protocols
• LAN protocols focus on the lower layers of the
OSI model
– Figure 8.1 relates OSI with 802.11
– Called the IEEE 802 reference model

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-29
8.1 IEEE 802 PROTOCOL LAYERS COMPARED TO OSI MODEL
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-30
 IEEE 802.11 PROTOCOL
ARCHITECTURE
• Functions of physical layer:
– Encoding/decoding of signals
– Preamble generation/removal (for synchronization)
– Bit transmission/reception
– Includes specification of the transmission medium
• Sublayers
– Physical layer convergence procedure (PLCP)
• Mapping 802.11 MAC layer protocol data units (MPDUs) into a
framing format
• Sending and receiving between stations using same PMD sublayer
– Physical medium dependent sublayer (PMD)
• Transmitting and receiving user data through a wireless medium

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-31
 IEEE 802.11 PROTOCOL
ARCHITECTURE
• Functions of logical link control (LLC) Layer:
– Provide an interface to higher layers and perform flow and
error control

• Functions of medium access control (MAC) layer:

– On transmission, assemble data into a frame with address
and error detection fields
– On reception, disassemble frame and perform address
recognition and error detection
– Govern access to the LAN transmission medium

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-32
11.6 IEEE 802 PROTOCOLS IN CONTEXT
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-33
SEPARATION OF LLC AND MAC
• The logic required to manage access to a
shared-access medium is not found in
traditional layer 2 data link control
• For the same LLC, several MAC options may
be provided

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-34
 LLC SERVICES
• LLC specifies the mechanisms
– for addressing stations across the medium and
– for controlling the exchange of data between two users.

• Unacknowledged connectionless service

– No flow- and error-control mechanisms
– Data delivery not guaranteed
• Connection-mode service
– Logical connection set up between two users
– Flow- and error-control provided
• Acknowledged connectionless service
– Cross between previous two
– Datagrams acknowledged
– No prior logical connection setup
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-35
 IEEE 802.11 MEDIUM ACCESS
CONTROL
• MAC layer covers three functional areas:
– Reliable data delivery
– Access control
– Security

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-36
 RELIABLE DATA DELIVERY
• More efficient to deal with errors at the MAC level than
higher layer (such as TCP)

• Frame exchange protocol

– Source station transmits data
– Destination responds with acknowledgment (ACK)
– If source doesn‘t receive ACK, it retransmits frame

• Four frame exchange

– Source issues request to send (RTS)
– Destination responds with clear to send (CTS)
– Source transmits data
– Destination responds with ACK

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-37
 RELIABLE DATA DELIVERY
• 4 4-Way Handshake

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 RELIABLE DATA DELIVERY

• Hidden Terminal Problem

• A can hear B, B can hear C, but C cannot hear A.
• C may start transmitting while A is also transmitting
– A and C can't detect collision.
• CSMA/CD is not possible
– Only the receiver can help avoid collision
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 MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL
• Distributed coordination function (DCF)
– Decentralized
• Point coordination function (PCF)
– Centralized

• MAC algorithm called Distributed foundation

wireless MAC (DFWMAC)
– Centralized and decentralized mechanisms together

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-40
11.9 IEEE 802.11 PROTOCOL ARCHITECTURE
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-41
 DISTRIBUTED COORDINATION
FUNCTION
• Decentralized
• Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA)

• Avoids collision by sending a short message:

– Ready to send (RTS)
– RTS contains destination address and duration of message.
– Tells everyone to backoff for the duration.

• Destination sends: Clear to send (CTS)

Other stations set their network allocation vector (NAV) and wait for that
duration

• Can not detect collision ➔ Each packet is acked.

• MAC-level retransmission if not acked.

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-42
 DISTRIBUTED COORDINATION
FUNCTION

• Carrier sense multiple access (CSMA)

– Listen to the medium
– If idle, then the station may transmit
– If not, wait a random time
• If busy again, expand the mean waiting time, randomly wait, and
try again.
– Binary exponential backoff describes this procedure
• The backoff is the waiting process
• Mean random waiting times get exponentially larger
– By a factor of 2 each time, hence the term binary.
– This process responds to heavy loads
• Since nodes do not know the loads of other nodes trying to send.

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-43
11.10 IEEE 802.11 MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL LOGIC
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-44
 IEEE 802.11 PRIORITIES

• Initial interframe space (IFS)

• Highest priority frames, e.g., Acks, use short IFS (SIFS)
• Medium priority time-critical frames use “Point Coordination
Function IFS” (PIFS)
• Asynchronous data frames use “Distributed coordination
function IFS” (DIFS)
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 TIME CRITICAL SERVICES

• Timer critical services use Point Coordination

Function
• The point coordinator allows only one station to access
• Coordinator sends a beacon frame to all stations.
Then uses a polling frame to allow a particular station
to have contention-free access
• Contention Free Period (CFP) varies with the load
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 IEEE 802.11 DCF BACKOFF
• MAC works with a single FIFO Queue
• Three variables:
– Contention Window (CW)
– Backoff count (BO)
– Network Allocation Vector (NAV)
• If a frame (RTS, CTS, Data, Ack) is heard, NAV is set to the
duration in that frame. Stations sense the media after NAV expires.
• If the medium is idle for DIFS, and backoff (BO) is not already
active, the station draws a random BO in [0, CW] and sets the
backoff timer.
• If the medium becomes busy during backoff, the timer is stopped
and a new NAV is set. After NAV, back off continues.

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 IEEE 802.11 DCF BACKOFF (CONT)
• Initially and after each successful transmission:
CW = CWmin

• After each unsuccessful attempt

CW = min{2CW + 1, CWmax }

Example: CWmin=3, CWmax=127

3, 7, 15, 31, 63, 127, 127, 127, …

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 TYPICAL PARAMETER VALUES

• 11a: Slot time = 9 us, SIFS= 16 us, CWmin= 15, CWmax=1023

• 11b: Slot time = 20 us, SIFS = 10 us, CWmin= 31, CWmax=1023

• 11g: Slot time = 20 us or 9 us, SIFS = 10 us, CWmin= 15 or 31,

CWmax=1023

• PIFS = SIFS + 1 slot time

• DIFS = SIFS + 2 slot times

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 VIRTUAL CARRIER SENSE
• Every frame has a “Duration ID” which indicates how long the
medium will be busy.
– RTS has duration of SIF + CTS + SIF + Frame + SIF + Ack
– CTS has duration of SIF + Frame + SIF + Ack
– Frame has a duration of Frame SIF + ACK
– ACK has a duration of ACK

• All stations keep a “Network Allocation Vector (NAV)”timer in

which they record the duration of the each frame they hear.

• Stations do not need to sense the channel until NAV becomes zero.
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 DCF EXAMPLE
• Example: Slot Time = 1, Cwmin = 5, DIFS=3, PIFS=2, SIFS=1
• T=1 Station 2 wants to transmit but the media is busy
• T=2 Stations 3 and 4 want to transmit but the media is busy
• T=3 Station 1 finishes transmission.
• T=4 Station 1 receives ack for its transmission (SIFS=1)
Stations 2, 3, 4 set their NAV to 1.
• T=5 Medium becomes free
• T=8 DIFS expires. Stations 2, 3, 4 draw backoff count between 0 and 5. The counts are 3, 1, 2

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 DCF EXAMPLE (CONT)
• T=9 Station 3 starts transmitting. Announces a duration of 8 (RTS + SIFS + CTS + SIFS + DATA +
SIFS + ACK).
Station 2 and 4 pause backoff counter at 2 and 1 resp. and wait till T=17
• T=15 Station 3 finishes data transmission
• T=16 Station 3 receives Ack.
• T=17 Medium becomes free
• T=20 DIFS expires. Station 2 and 4 notice that there was no transmission for DIFS. Stations 2 and 4
start their backoff counter from 2 and 1, respectively.
• T=21 Station 4 starts transmitting RTS

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POINT COORDINATION FUNCTION

• Centralized control
• Point coordinator polls devices
– To give them permission to send
– On a schedule the point coordinator determines
• The superframe allows time to be shared
between DCF and PCF
– PCF starts the superframe and can only use a
certain part of the superframe time

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-53
POINT COORDINATION FUNCTION

• Example: Suppose A and C want to send a

frame to B

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-54
POINT COORDINATION FUNCTION

• Example: Sequence of events

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-55
11.12 IEEE 802.11 MAC FRAME FORMAT
Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-56
802.11 FRAME ADDRESS FIELDS

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 MAC FRAME FIELDS
• Frame Control – frame type, control information
• Duration/connection ID – channel allocation time
• Addresses – context dependent, types include source
and destination
• Sequence control – numbering and reassembly
• Frame body – MSDU or fragment of MSDU
• Frame check sequence – 32-bit CRC

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-58
 FRAME CONTROL FIELDS
• Protocol version – 802.11 version
• Type – control, management, or data
• Subtype – identifies function of frame
• To DS – 1 if destined for DS
• From DS – 1 if leaving DS
• More fragments – 1 if fragments follow
• Retry – 1 if retransmission of previous frame

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-59
 FRAME CONTROL FIELDS
• Power management – 1 if transmitting station is in
sleep mode
• More data – Indicates that station has more data to
send
• WEP – 1 if Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi
Protected Access (WPA) is implemented
• Order – 1 if any data frame is sent using the Strictly
Ordered service

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-60
 CONTROL FRAME SUBTYPES
• Power save – poll (PS-Poll)
• Request to send (RTS)
• Clear to send (CTS)
• Acknowledgment
• Contention-free (CF)-end
• CF-end + CF-ack

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-61
 DATA FRAME SUBTYPES
• Data-carrying frames
– Data
– Data + CF-Ack
– Data + CF-Poll
– Data + CF-Ack + CF-Poll
• Other subtypes (don’t carry user data)
– Null Function
– CF-Ack
– CF-Poll
– CF-Ack + CF-Poll

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-62
 MANAGEMENT FRAME SUBTYPES

• Association request
• Association response
• Reassociation request
• Reassociation response
• Probe request
• Probe response
• Beacon

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-63
 MANAGEMENT FRAME SUBTYPES

• Announcement traffic indication message

• Dissociation
• Authentication
• Deauthentication

Wireless LAN Technology and the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard 11-64
 SUMMARY
1. IEEE 802.11 Introduction
2. IEEE 802.11 Features
3. WLAN Architecture
4. IEEE 802.11 Protocol Architecture
5. IEEE 802.11 LCC
6. EEE 802.11 MAC
7. MAC Frame Format

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MSDU VS MPDU