Medium Access Control

Overview
• Specifically adapted to wireless domain
• This layer compromises all mechanisms that regulate user
access to a medium using
– SDM
– FDM
– TDM
– CDM
 Motivation
Can we apply media access methods from fixed networks?
Example CSMA/CD
• Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection - send as
soon as the medium is free, listen into the medium if a collision
occurs. If so, stops immediately and sends a jamming signal
Problems in wireless networks
• CSMA/CD identifies the collision only at the receiver, not at the
sender
• Since the signal strength decreases at least proportional to the
square of the distance, the sender cant trace the signal at the
receivers end
• Senders apply CS and CD, but the collisions happen at receivers
due to second sender
 Hidden terminal problem
• Terminal A is communicating with terminal C.
• Terminal B doesn’t know A is communicating with C and it
thinks C is idle.
• As a result, B also tries to communicate with C and thus cause
collision at C.
• Therefore, B is a hidden terminal to A
 Exposed terminal problem
• Terminal A is communicating with some terminals other than B
and C.
• However, C is within the effective signal range of A and it
thinks the channel is busy.
• As a result, C is will not communicate with B even though both
C and B are idle.
• Therefore, A is an exposed terminal for C.
 Near and far terminals
• Terminals A and B send (same transmission power), C receives
- the signal of terminal B hides A’s signal - C cannot
receive A as B’s signal drowns out A’s signal
• If C is the authority for sending rights, it could not give a
fair scheme, as B would drown out A

A B C

• This is also a severe problem for CDMA networks

• Precise power control is needed to receive all senders with the

same strength at a receiver
A base station is what links mobile
phones to a wireless carrier's network.
 Access methods SDMA/FDMA/TDMA
• SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access)
• Allocating separate space to users in wireless networks
• E.g.., Mobile Stations(MS) assigned to one Base Station(BS).
• Each MS receives signal from more than one BS, the MAC
algorithm is designed to select which is best (FDM, TDM and
CDM)
• SDM is never used in isolation
• The basis for the SDMA algorithm is formed by cells and
sectorized antennas which constitute the infrastructure
implementing space division multiplexing (SDM)
 FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access)
• The allocation of the frequency is either fixed (Radio Stations) or
dynamic (Demand Driven)
• Wireless systems uses FDMA combined with TDMA where, the
sender uses one frequency for some time slot and then hops to
another frequency. Hence the hopping pattern should be known
to receiver
• The pattern should not change frequently.
• The communication establishes using Duplex Channel – the
communication between MS to BS and BS to MS is separated into
two different channels Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)
 Uplink – From MS to BS
 Downlink – From BS to MS
 FDM for multiple access and duplex

For channel n,
the Uplink frequency fu = between 890.2 and 915 MHz
downlink frequency fd = between 935.2 and 960 MHz
 TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
- Assign a fixed sending frequency for a certain amount of time
- Hence tuning the frequency is not necessary. But synchronization is
necessary between sender and receiver
- A pattern of time slots is allocated for each senders. This is done by, Fixed
Allocation or Dynamic Allocation schemes
- The following are some of the techniques for allocating time slots
1. Fixed TDM
2. Classical Aloha
3. Slotted Aloha
4. Carrier Sense Multiple Access
5. Demand assigned multiple access
6. Packet reservation multiple access
7. Reservation TDMA
8. Multiple access with collision avoidance
9. Polling
10.Inhibit sense Multiple access
1. Fixed TDM
• Assigning the reserved time slot at the right time
• The slot is assured and each Mobile Station knows its turn. No
interference
• The fixed pattern is assigned by the Base Station.
• Duplex channel – Allocation of different time slots for uplink and
downlink using the same frequency – Time Division Duplex
(TDDD)
• Each connection will have its own uplink and downlink pair
• 1 to 12 stations can use same frequency, each for 10ms.
• Not efficient for Client/ Server communication (asymmetric) and
Bursty data
2. Classical Aloha
• Aloha does not co-ordinate the medium or resolve contention in
the Medium Access Control layer
• Each station can access the medium at any time. Random access
scheme without a central arbiter
• If collision occurs, then data is retransmitted
• Throughput is 18% of the load
3. Slotted Aloha
• Aloha + time slots
• All senders should be synchronized. Transmission should start
only on the start of time slot.
• Throughput is 36% of the load (Slotting doubles the
throughput)
• Both Aloha techniques are used only in light load.
4. Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA)
• Senses the carrier and sends only if idle (in wireless LANs)
• Versions
 non-persistent CSMA
senses and uses the carrier immediately if its idle
 p-persistent CSMA
senses, but uses only at the probability p, if carrier is idle
 1-persistent CSMA
Back-off algorithms are used after sensing, which depends
upon the sensing time
 CSMA/CA (Collision Avoidance)
Back-off schemes is used to achieve fairness among competing
stations
 Elimination Yield Non-preemptive multiple access (EY-
NMPA)
Several phases of sensing and accessing is done before one
winner access the medium. Priority is introduced for more
important data.
5. Demand Assigned multiple access
• Reservation mechanism + TDM patterns (above methods)
• Used for satellite communications
• Two periods
 Reservation period – Stations reserve for future slots
Transmission period – transmits according to reservation
• Reservation period follows Aloha scheme, Collision will not
destroy data
• The satellite collects the reserved slots and sends to all stations.
All should obey this list
• Stations are synchronized time to time
• Its an Explicit reservation scheme
6. Packet Reservation multiple access (PRMA)
• Its an implicit reservation scheme
• A certain number of slots forms a “Frame”, which is repeated in
time (Fixed TDM)
• BS broadcasts the status of each slot to all MS.
• Hence MS knows which slot is free and which is occupied
• When a station succeeds in reserving a slot, it is implicitly
reserved for further transmission
7. Reservation TDMA
• Here, N mini-slots is followed by N * k data-slots for a frame.
Where k  data- slots transmitted.
• Each station is allotted its own mini-slot.
• If there is any unused data-slots, other stations can use that in
round-robin scheme
8. Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA)
• Solves the hidden terminal problem. Also used in Ad hoc
networks
• It’s a random access aloha scheme + dynamic reservation
• Use short signaling packets for collision avoidance
 RTS (Request To Send) – contains names of sender, receiver,
and the time required for transmission
 CTS (Clear To Send) – contains names of sender, receiver, and
the time required for transmission
• Initially A sends RTS to B which is not heard by C.
• Now B sends CTS to A. Heard by C, hence it will not send
transmit to B until the time of transmission expires
• But collision can occur while sending RTS by A and C at same
time. But this does not effects the messages
• No transmission is started without an appropriate CTS.
 Hidden terminal Problem

• Solves the Exposed terminal problem.

• Here, B sends data to A and C sends to D.
• B starts with RTS to A, heard by C. But will not react since
receiver is A
• A sends CTS to B, not heard by C. Hence C senses that medium is
free and sends RTS to D.

Exposed terminal Problem

State machines for MACA
9. Polling
• Used in areas where one station to be heard by all others E.g.., BS
to all MSs
• It’s a strictly centralized scheme with one master and many slave
stations
10. Inhibit Sense Multiple Access (ISMA)
• Used in packet data transmission
• Here BS signals its busy thru Busy
Tone on the downlink.
• When the tone stops, the MS can
access without any coordination
• BS acknowledges successful
transmissions
• If ACK is missing, then MS
identifies collision occurs, hence
retransmits the message.
 CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

- Uses codes to separate users in code space and to enable

access to the shared medium without interference
- It should have good autocorrelation and should be orthogonal
to other codes
- Two codes are said to be orthogonal, if their inner product is 0
- E.g.., if the two vectors are (2,5,0) and (0,0,17), then the inner
product is 2*0 + 5*0 + 0*17 = 0. Hence orthogonal
- Similarly, if the inner product with itself is large , then its auto
correlated
Sender
 Two senders A and B want to send data
 Sender A
 Data Ad=1, key Ak=010011
 Sender B
 Data Bd=0, key Bk=110101
 The binary bit 0 is represented as -1 and 1 as +1
 Now As is obtained by Ad * Ak (But practically XOR’ing)
ie.., +1 * (-1,+1,-1,-1,+1,+1) = (-1,+1,-1,-1,+1,+1)
 Similarly Bs is -1 * (+1,+1,-1,+1,-1,+1) = (-1,-1,+1,-1,+1,-1)
 Both signals are transmitted using the same frequency, hence
the two signals are superimposed.
 Hence the receiver signal C = As+Bs
ie.., (-1,+1,-1,-1,+1,+1) + (-1,-1,+1,-1,+1,-1) = (-2,0,0,-2,+2,0)
Receiver
 The received signal C is (-2,0,0,-2,+2,0)
 If the receiver wants data of sender A, then
Apply Ak for de-spreading
C * Ak = (-2,0,0,-2,+2,0) * (-1,+1,-1,-1,+1,+1)
= 2+0+0+2+2+0 = 6 > 0 hence its binary 1 = Ad
 If the receiver wants data of sender B, then Apply
Bk for de-spreading
C * Bk = (-2,0,0,-2,+2,0) * (+1,+1,-1,+1,-1,+1)
= -2+0+0-2-2+0 = - 6 < 0 hence its binary 0 = Bd
Disadvantages
 Codes used are extremely simple
 External noise is neglected. If noise is added the result “6”
cannot be considered as binary 1, as it might be noise too.
 Signal strength would not be same till the receiver end. It
gradually decreases depending upon the distance
 Near and far problems – a sender which is closer to the
receiver will add more noise to the other signals.

The following example considers for complex codes

 Sender A transmits bit 101 and B transmits 100
 The data is XOR ed with key to generate the sending signal
 The two sending signals are superimposed (As + Bs)
Sender A
Data : 101 (Rep: 0  -1; and 1  +1)
Key A : 010100100010110011
Step1: XOR the data with the key
Step2: Consider the resulting signal as As

-1

1
Sender B
Data : 100 Step3: Since the two signals are using the

Key B : 000110101000010111 same frequency, superimpose them

Step1: XOR the data with the key Step4: Resulting signal = As+Bs

Step2: Consider the resulting signal as Bs 1 SI 1 = 1; -1 SI 1 = 0; -1 SI -1 = -1

-1

-1

1
Receiver A
Step1: Apply Key A (010100100010110011) Step3: Give the resulting signal to the

Step2:(As+Bs) * Ak – simple integrator

multiplication Step4: Make a decision whether 0 or 1

-1

1
-1

-1
Receiver B
Step1: Apply Key B (000110101000010111) Step3: Give the resulting signal to the

Step2:(As+Bs) * Bk – simple multiplication integrator

Step4: Make a decision whether 0 or 1
Spread Aloha Multiple Access (SAMA)
 Combination of CDMA and Aloha
 Senders use same spreading code but with a phase change
 First the signal is made to narrow band and spread using
spreading factor s=6
 Use the Code 110101 for both the senders and shift only the
phase
 e.g.., if data is 1 then use 110101, if data is 0 then use 001010
(1  +ve phase and 0  negative phase) for both the senders
 Coding
Spread Aloha
Multiple Access
Spreading

CDMA

Reconstruction

Classical
ALOHA Carrier Sense
Multiple Access
Reservation
TDMA
Fixed
TDM
TDMA
Demand Assigned
Multiple Access
 Comparison SDMA/TDMA/FDMA/CDMA
Approach SDMA TDMA FDMA CDMA
Idea segment space into segment sending segment the spread the spectrum
cells/sectors time into disjoint frequency band into using orthogonal codes
time-slots, demand disjoint sub-bands
driven or fixed
patterns
Terminals only one terminal can all terminals are every terminal has its all terminals can be active
be active in one active for short own frequency, at the same place at the
cell/one sector periods of time on uninterrupted same moment,
the same frequency uninterrupted
Signal cell structure, directed synchronization in filtering in the code plus special
separation antennas the time domain frequency domain receivers

Advantages very simple, increases established, fully simple, established, flexible, less frequency
capacity per km² digital, flexible robust planning needed, soft
handover
Dis- inflexible, antennas guard space inflexible, complex receivers, needs
advantages typically fixed needed (multipath frequencies are a more complicated power
propagation), scarce resource control for senders
synchronization
difficult
Comment only in combination standard in fixed typically combined still faces some problems,
with TDMA, FDMA or networks, together with TDMA higher complexity,
CDMA useful with FDMA/SDMA (frequency hopping lowered expectations; will
used in many patterns) and SDMA be integrated with
mobile networks (frequency reuse) TDMA/FDMA