1

LECTURE 4
Medium Access Control
 Introduction
2

¨  What is medium access?

¤  Who gets to transmit? How? When?
¤  Multiplexing
n  How many stations can share a single link
n  FDMA, TDMA, CDMA in circuit switched voice networks
n  CSMA/CD in Ethernet (simplicity)
¤  Duplexing
n  How communication from station A to station B is separated from the
communication from station B to station A
n  FDD or TDD
¨  Impact of architectures
¤  Infrastructure – centralized, fixed base station
¤  Ad hoc – distributed, peer-to-peer
¨  Simplicity and overhead
 Duplexing Modes
3

¨  Simplex – one way communication (e.g., broadcast AM)

¨  Duplex – two way communication
¤  TDD – time division duplex
n  Users take turns on the channel
¤  FDD – frequency division duplex
n  Users get two channels – one for each direction of communication
n  For example one channel for uplink (mobile to base station) another
channel for downlink (base station to mobile)
¤  Half-duplex
n  Asin 802.11, a device cannot simultaneously be transmitting and
receiving
 Centralized Multiple Access Techniques
4

¨  FDMA (frequency division multiple access)

¤  Separate spectrum into non-overlapping frequency bands
¤  Assign a certain frequency to a transmission channel between a sender and
a receiver
¤  Different users share use of the medium by transmitting on non-overlapping
frequency bands at the same time
¨  TDMA (time division multiple access):
¤  Assign a fixed frequency to a transmission channel between a sender and a
receiver for a certain amount of time (users share a frequency channel in
time slices)
¨  CDMA (code division multiple access):
¤  Assign a user a unique code for transmission between sender and receiver,
users transmit on the same frequency at the same time
 Multiple Access (cont)
5

FDMA TDMA CDMA

user 3
guard band

guard time

guard time
frequency

frequency

frequency
user 2 user 1 21,2,3 3

user 2

user 3
guard band
user 1 3 1
time time time

Wireless systems often use a combination of

schemes; GSM – FDD/FDMA/TDMA
 Frequency division multiple access
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frequency

time
 FDMA
7

¨  FDMA – simplest and oldest method f1 f2

¨  Band of width F is divided into T non-overlapping frequency
channels
¤  Guard bands minimize interference between channels
¤  Each station is assigned a different frequency
¨  Can be inefficient if more than T stations want to transmit or
traffic is bursty
¤  Results in unused bandwidth and delays
¨  Receiver requires high quality filters for adjacent channel
rejection
¨  Used in First Generation Cellular (AMPS, NMT, TACS)
 FDD/FDMA - general scheme, example
8
AMPS (B block)

f
893.97MHz 799

880.65 MHz 355 30 kHz

20 MHz
849.97 MHz 799

355
835.65 MHz
t

f(c) = 825,000 + 30×(channel number) kHz <- uplink

f(c) = f uplink + 45,000 kHz <- downlink
In general all systems use some form of FDMA
 Time Division Multiple Access
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slot
frame
frequency

time
 TDMA
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¨  Users share same frequency band in non-overlapping

time intervals,
¤  E.g. Round robin
¨  Receiver filters are just windows instead of bandpass
filters (as in FDMA)
¨  Guard time can be as small as the synchronization of
the network permits
¤  Allusers must be synchronized with base station to within a
fraction of guard time
¤  Guard time of 30-50 μs common in TDMA

¨  Used in GSM, NA-TDMA, (PDC) Pacific Digital Cellular

 GSM - TDMA/FDMA/FDD
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935-960 MHz
124 channels (200 kHz)
downlink
890-915 MHz
124 channels (200 kHz)
uplink
higher GSM frame structures
time

GSM TDMA frame

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4.615 ms

GSM time-slot (normal burst)

guard guard
space tail user data S Training S user data tail space
3 bits 57 bits 1 26 bits 1 57 bits 3
546.5 µs
577 µs
 TDD/TDMA - example
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417 µs

1 2 3 11 12 1 2 3 11 12
t
downlink uplink

CT2 cordless phone standard

 Code Division Multiple Access
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code

time

frequency
 CDMA
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¨  Narrowband message signal is multiplied by very large

bandwidth spreading signal using direct sequence
spread spectrum
¨  All users can use same carrier frequency and may
transmit simultaneously
¨  Each user has own unique access spreading codeword
which is approximately orthogonal to other users
codewords
¨  Receiver performs time correlation operation to detect
only specific codeword, other users codewords appear
as noise due to decorrelation.
 DSSS Modulation
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¨  The original data stream Data Bit Data In

is “chipped” up into a
pattern of pulses of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
smaller duration
¨  Good autocorrelation
properties
¨  Good cross-correlation “Spread” Bits
properties with other
patterns
Spreading
¨  Each pattern is called a
spread spectrum code or Code In
spread spectrum
sequence
1
original spectrum
0.9 spread spectrum

0.8

¤  E.g. Walsh Code 0.7

0.6

0.5

chip 0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10

Periodic Spreading Code normalized frequency

 Simple example illustrating CDMA
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¨  Traditional ¨  Simple CDMA

¨  To send a 0, send +1 V for T seconds ¨  To send a 0, Bob sends +1 V for T seconds;
¨  To send a 1, send -1 V for T seconds Alice sends +1 V for T/2 seconds and -1 V
for T/2 seconds
¨  Use separate time slots or frequency bands
to separate signals ¨  To send a 1, Bob sends -1 V for T seconds;
Alice sends -1 V for T/2 seconds and +1 V
for T/2

1 0 1
V 0 chip
1
Data 1
time
T T T T

Code [1, 1] [-1, -1] [1, -1] [-1, 1]

 Simple CDMA Transmitter
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User 1 data in
Spread

User 2 data in
Spread

0 0 1 1 = [1, 1, 1, 1, -1, -1, -1, -1]

V
1 V
T 2T 3T 4T t 2

V 1 0 1 0 = [-1, 1, 1, -1, -1, 1, 1, -1] T 2T 3T 4T t

1

T 2T 3T 4T
t
Transmitted signal
 Simple CDMA Receiver
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Despread User 1 data out

correlate with [1, 1]

Despread User 2 data out

correlate with [1, -1]

V
2

Received
signal T 2T 3T 4T t
∫ = -2 x T/2 = -T
V
1
Alice’s
Code T 2T 3T 4T t = -T has a negative sign
⇒  Alice sent a 1
as the first bit
 Simple CDMA continued
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¨  Proceeding in this fashion for each “bit”, the information

transmitted by Alice can be recovered
¨  To recover the information transmitted by Bob, the received
signal is correlated bit-by-bit with Bob’s code [1,1]
¨  Such codes are “orthogonal”
¤  Multiply the codes element-wise (dot product)
n  [1,1] × [1,-1] = [1,-1]
¤  Add the elements of the resulting product
n  1 + (-1) = 0 => the codes are orthogonal
¨  CDMA used in IS-95 standard and both 3G standards:
UMTS, cdma2000
¨  CDMA has big capacity advantage as frequency reuse
cluster size = 1
 Orthogonality
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¨  Orthogonality important

¤  High autocorrelation (dot product with itself should be
high)
¤  Low cross-correlation (dot product with other codes ≈
0).
¨  Barker codes – [1, -1, 1,1, -1,1,1,1,-1,-1,-1] has
these properties.
¤  Product of Barker code with a shifted version has low
value.
¤  Typically used for synchronization in CDMA systems.
 Impact of noise
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¨  The decoding should be possible even if there is

noise.
¨  Note that if there is too much noise, the

decorrelation could yield erroneous results.

¨  Similarly if one signal is much stronger than the

other, decorrelation could yield erroneous results.

¤  Near far problem.
 CDMA Properties: Near-Far Problem
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¨  A CDMA receiver cannot

successfully de-spread the
desired signal in a high multiple-
access-interference environment ¨  Power control and channel
problems!
¨  Unless a transmitter close to the
receiver transmits at power lower
than a transmitter farther away,
the far transmitter cannot be
heard
¨  Power control must be used to
mitigate the near-far problem
¨  Mobiles transmit at such power
levels to ensure that received
power levels are equal at base
station

Base station
 Random access protocols
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¨  ALOHA
¤  Transmit whenever you want
n  If
you are acknowledged, everything is fine
n  Otherwise retransmit packets

¤  Low throughput (18%)

¤  Slotted versions are slightly better
n  Transmission attempts can take place only at discrete points
of time
 Use of ALOHA in Cellular Networks
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¨  To set up a call, MSs initially employ slotted ALOHA

to send some information to the BS
¤  Called “random access channel” or something similar
¨  If successful, they are “assigned” a frequency
channel and time slot or spread-spectrum code
¨  If unsuccessful, they try again

¤  MS gives up if repeated tries fail

n  Collisions (congestion), poor channel quality, etc.
 Packet Reservation Multiple Access
(PRMA)
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¨  Implicit reservations.

¨  Base station indicates which slots are free in a
frame. (e.g. in the figure 7th slot is free)
¨  Stations contend for free slot using Aloha.

•  If successful, they
hold onto the slot.
•  If collision occurs, the
slot is open again for
contention.
 Reservation TDMA
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¨  Mini-slots at the beginning of the frame – each slot

assigned to a station.
¤  These slots are used to reserve data slots (upto some
maximum number)
¨  Unused data slots can be used by other stations.
¤  Assignment could be round robin or using Slotted Aloha.
 Carrier Sensing
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¨  Carrier sensing

¤  Itis an improvement of ALOHA (no carrier sensing in
ALOHA)
¤  Depending on the protocol a variety of CSMA protocols
exist
n  Non-persistent
n  p-persistent
n  Binary exponential back-off
¤  Collision detection Vs Collision avoidance
¨  Most random access protocols are based on some form
of carrier sensing!
 Problems with carrier sensing
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¨  The signal strength is a function of distance and

location
¤  Path loss and shadow fading
¤  Not all terminals at the same distance from a
transmitter can “hear” the transmitter and vice versa
¨  The hidden node problem
¨  The exposed node problem

¨  Capture
 The Hidden Terminal Problem
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¨  A MS that is within the range

of the destination but out of range of B
range of a transmitter
¨  MS A transmits to the AP
¨  MS B cannot sense the signal
B
¤  MS B may also transmit
AP
resulting in collisions
¤  MS B is called a “hidden
Communication is
terminal” with respect to not possible
MS A Signal is not sensed

range of A
 Mechanisms for overcoming collisions due to
hidden terminals
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¨  Busy-tone multiple access (BTMA)

¤  Out of band signaling scheme
¤  Any node that hears a transmission will transmit a busy tone in an
out of band channel
¤  Also called Inhibit Sense Multiple Access (see book).

¨  Control handshaking

¤  Use a three-way handshake
¤  Terminal A sends a short request-to-send (RTS) packet to the AP
¤  The AP sends a short clear-to-send (CTS) packet that is received
by Terminal A AND Terminal B
¤  Terminal B defers to terminal A
 Exposed Terminal Problem
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¨  Opposite of hidden terminals

¨  The exposed terminal is in the range of the
transmitter but outside the range of the destination
¨  Terminals may unnecessarily backoff

¤  Low utilization of bandwidth

¨  Solutions
¤  Proper frequency planning
¤  Intelligent thresholds for carrier sensing
 Capture
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¨  Capture
¤  A receiver can “cleanly” receive a signal from one of many simultaneous
transmissions
¨  Suppose MS-A, MS-B and MS-3 all simultaneously transmit to an AP
with the same transmit power
¤  MS-A is the closest and its signal is received with a larger strength
obscuring the transmissions from MS-B and MS-C
¤  The AP is said to have “captured” the signal from MS-A
¤  Common in FM or FSK transmissions but not a big problem in other
systems
¨  Capture improves the throughput
¨  Capture results in unfair sharing of bandwidth
¤  Need protocols to ensure fairness
 Problems with Collision Detection
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¨  Collision detection is easier at baseband than at RF

frequencies
¤  Receive and transmit frequencies are the same
n  There is a significant leakage of the transmitted signal onto the
receiver antenna – “self interference”
n  Transmitting and receiving at the same time is very hard
¤  Receive and transmit frequencies are different
n  Circuitry cost and power consumption become prohibitive for collision
detection by a MS
¤  Transmissions from ground level can be detected at a tower but
not at the ground level
¤  Collision results in a significant shift in voltage that is detected –
fades could obscure this shift
 Collision avoidance mechanisms
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¨  Waiting times before transmission

¤  If the MS finds the channel idle, it still waits for a fixed amount of time
before transmitting
¨  Random backoff upon detecting a busy channel
¤  Randomness reduces the chance of two MSs transmitting at the same
time
¨  Contention resolution mechanisms
¤  Use windows where a MS asserts itself or yields to other MS based on
several different protocols
¤  Randomly addressed polling (uses CDMA)

¨  Idle sensing at the BS/AP

¤  If the uplink and downlink transmissions are separated in frequency, the
busy nature of the uplink is communicated to the MSs by the BS/AP
 The HIPERLAN/1 MAC Protocol
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¨  It is based on carrier sensing, but of a type unlike

IEEE 802.3 or IEEE 802.11
¨  It is called EY-NPMA: Elimination Yield Non-

preemptive Priority Multiple Access

¨  The idea is to make the probability of a “single”

transmission at the end of the contention cycle as

close to 1 as possible.
¨  Section 7.4.1 in book.
 The MAC Protocol Continued
36

¨  If a MS senses a medium to be free for at least 1700 bit

durations, immediate transmission is allowed
¤  Each data frame MUST be acknowledged by an ACK
¨  Otherwise, the MS goes through two phases once the
medium becomes idle:
¤  Prioritization
¤  Contention
n  Elimination
n  Yield

¤  Transmission
 Prioritization
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¨  Determine the highest priority of a data to be sent by competing MSs

¨  Allow only those stations with high priority frames to contend for the
channel
¨  Data packets have several types of priorities
¤  5 priorities with Hiperlan
¨  A node with priority p will listen to p-1 time slots (usually 1 to 5 slots of
256 bits each)
¤  If the medium is idle after the (p-1)-st slot, the MS will send a burst of
256 bits asserting its priority
¤  If the medium becomes busy with a burst any time before, the MS will
defer to the next transmission cycle
¨  Many MSs may have the same priority, but the ones with low priority
are eliminated from contention
 Contention (Elimination)
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¨  Slots of size 256 bits are defined

¨  Randomly, MSs select the number of slots for which they will send a
burst continously
¨  The maximum number of slots is 12
¨  The probability of the burst being “n” slots is (p is usually 0.5)
¤  pn (1-p) for n < 12
¤  pn for n = 12

¨  After sending a burst, a MS listens to the channel for 256 bit durations
(elimination survival verification interval)
¨  If it hears a burst in this period, it eliminates itself
¨  Longest burst wins!
 Contention (Yield)
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¨  The remaining MSs have a random yield period

¨  Each MS will “listen” to the channel for the duration of its
yield period which is geometrically distributed
¤  Prob (listening to n slots) = 0.9n 0.1 for n < 14 and 0.914 for
n=14
¨  If a MS senses the channel to be idle for the entire yield
period, it has survived <whew!!>
¤  Shortest Idle period wins
¨  It will start transmitting data and will automatically
eliminate other MSs that are listening to the channel
 Channel Access Cycle in HIPERLAN
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Contention Phase
Prioritization
Cycle Phase
Synch. Yield Phase
Elimination Burst
Interval
ACK

Frame

Priority Yield Data

detection Listening Transmission

Priority Elimination Survival

Assertion Verification
(PA)
 Summary
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¨  If simplicity demands a decentralized medium access

protocol, CSMA or any of its variants is preferred
¨  CSMA in wireless networks leads to the hidden terminal,
exposed terminal and sometimes the capture problem
¨  Collision detection in wireless networks is extremely
difficult
¨  Systems that use CSMA are
¤  CDPD
¤  IEEE 802.11
¤  HIPERLAN/1