802.

11(WiFi) Architecture

Nayan Gaywala 1
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 Overview
• 802.11n
• 802.11 Topologies
• Media access
• MAC Frames
• MAC processes
• MADWiFi(AP MAC)

Nayan Gaywala 2
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 802.11n
• Latest standard in the 802.11 family
• Multiple access: CSMA/CA
• Duplexing: TDD
• OFDM, 2.4 & 5GHz carrier, Max bit rate=600Mbs
• Two major improvements
– MIMO
– Frame aggregation

Nayan Gaywala 3
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 WiFi by Numbers
• 64 point FFT, i.e. 64 sub-carriers
– 48 data carriers + 4 pilot + 12 unused at both ends
• Maximum supported bandwidth = 20Mhz
• Carrier spacing = 20Mhz/64 = 0.3125 MHz
• Symbol period = 3.2µs
• Total symbol period = 0.8µs(Guard interval) + 3.2µs = 4µs
• With QAM ¾, 48 carriers x 6 bits/carrier x ¾ coding rate x
250khz symbol rate = 54Mbps

Nayan Gaywala 4
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 802.11n by Numbers
• 52 usable sub-carriers instead of 48
• Maximum FEC coding rate of 5/6
• Shorter guard interval = 0.4µs
• 52 carriers x 6 bits/carrier x 5/6 coding rate x 277.77khz
symbol rate = 72.22Mbps
• Channel bonding doubles the bandwidth(40Mhz). Number
of usable carriers = 108. Max bit rate = 150Mbs
• MIMO – Maximum configuration is 4 x 4. Therefore the
maximum bit rate = 600Mbs.

Nayan Gaywala 5
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802.11 Topologies
non 802.11 LAN

Portal
Access
Unit DS

AP

B/C B/C Infrastructure BSS

Infra mode Infra mode
STA STA

AP configuration

Nayan Gaywala 7
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802.11 Topologies(cont‟d)

Independent BSS
A
ad hoc ad hoc
STA STA

A
A

ad hoc
STA

Ad-hoc Network

Nayan Gaywala 8
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802.11 Topologies(cont‟d)
non 802.11 LAN “A”

Bridge

STA
Point-to-point
bridge

STA
Wireless Bridge
Bridge Point-to-point
bridge

non 802.11 LAN “B”

Nayan Gaywala 9
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 802.11 Topologies(cont‟d)
non 802.11 LAN

Portal

DS

AP

AP

B/C D
Infra mode B/C
STA
STA
Infra mode
STA

Bridge 4A mode
STA with
Ethernet to Wireless Bridge bridging

non-802.11 non-802.11 non-802.11

STA STA STA
Nayan Gaywala 10
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 CSMA/CA
• A multiple access protocol that doesn‟t require a central
agent for synchronization.
• Ethernet uses CSMA/CD
– Listen to determine if others are finished before speaking(CS)
– If two or more start to speak at same time, stop talking(CD)
• 802.11 uses CSMA/CA
– no collision detection – transmit all frames to completion
– acknowledgment – because without collision detection, you don‟t
know if your transmission collided or not: RTS, CTS, Data, ACK

Nayan Gaywala 11
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 CSMA/CA(cont‟d)
• Why no collision detection?
– difficult to receive (sense collisions) when transmitting due to
weak received signals (fading)
– can‟t sense all collisions in any case: hidden terminal, fading
• So the goal is Collision avoidance

Nayan Gaywala 12
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 Collision Avoidance
• Add „virtual carrier sense‟ to physical carrier sense.
• All stations have a network allocation vector (NAV) to
help them keep track of the availability of the medium.
• Every packet or „frame‟ (with some exceptions) announces
the duration for which it will hold the channel (NAV)
• All stations monitoring the channel read the MAC header,
which contains the NAV and “defer” for NAV
microseconds before starting the contention for the next
transmission.

Nayan Gaywala 13
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 How NAV works?
sender RTS DATA
DIFS SIFS SIFS
SIFS

receiver CTS ACK

DIFS
other NAV (RTS)
stations NAV (CTS)

Nayan Gaywala 14
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 Encapsulation

802.11frame
or
MPDU

Nayan Gaywala 15
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Encapsulation

Nayan Gaywala 16
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 802.11 MAC Frame Format
Bytes:
2 2 6 6 6 2 6 0-2312 4
Frame Duration Addr 1 Addr 2 Addr 3 Sequence Addr 4 Frame CRC
Control ID Control Body
802.11 MAC Header
Bits: 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Protocol To From More Pwr More
Type SubType Retry WEP Rsvd
Version DS DS Frag Mgt Data
Frame Control Field

• 3 frame types. MAC header different for each frame type

• Control Frames (several fields are omitted)
• Management Frames
• Data Frames

Nayan Gaywala 17
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 802.11 MAC Frame Types
Bits: 2 2 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Protocol To From More Pwr More
Type SubType Retry WEP Rsvd
Version DS DS Frag Mgt Data

Frame Control Field

• Type=00 Management Frame

– Beacon, (Re)Association, (De)Authentication, Probe, Power
Management
• Type=01 Control Frame
– RTS/CTS, ACK
• Type=10 Data Frame

Nayan Gaywala 18
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 4-Address Format
ID To From Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Address 4 Meaning
DS DS
A 0 0 RA = DA TA = SA BSSID N/A A data frame direct from one STA to another STA
within the same IBSS, as well as all management
and control type frames.
B 0 1 RA = DA TA = BSSID SA N/A Data frame exiting the DS.

C 1 0 RA = BSSID TA = SA DA N/A Data frame destined for the DS.

D 1 1 RA TA DA SA Wireless distribution system (WDS) frame being

distributed from one AP to another AP.

Address 1 is always the wireless receiver MAC address

Address 2 is always the wireless transmitter MAC address

Nayan Gaywala 19
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 How Client joins the network
• AP ~~~beacon~~~> Broadcast
OR
Client ~~~Probe~~~> AP
AP ~~~Probe Response~~~> Client

Then,
Client ~~~802.11 Authentication Request~~~> AP
AP ~~~802.11 Authentication Response~~~> Client
Client ~~~802.11 Association Request~~~> AP
AP ~~~802.11 Association Response~~~> Client

Nayan Gaywala 22
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 Shared Key Authentication
AP Client
Authentication Request

Authentication Response with

Challenge text

Encrypted Challenge Text Client encrypts with

the shared key

AP decrypts with shared key Approval/Disapproval

and
Compares with initial text

Nayan Gaywala 23
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 Synchronization
• 802.11 specifies that the transmit center frequency and the
symbol clock frequency shall be derived from the same
reference oscillator.
• In Infrastructure mode AP is the timing master.
• The AP periodically transmits Beacon frames that contain
a copy of its TSF timer to synchronize the TSF timers of
other STAs in a BSS.
• If a STA‟s TSF timer is different from the timestamp in the
received Beacon frame, the receiving STA sets its local
TSF timer to the received timestamp value.

Nayan Gaywala 24
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 Synchronization
• Timestamp set by the hardware.
• AP MAC allows to
– Set Beacon interval
– Suppress SSID in beacon frame
– Reset TSF
– Specify Beacon frame transmit power
– Adjust timestamp to compensate for the PHY delay(client side)

Nayan Gaywala 25
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 Other MAC processes
• RTS/CTS
• Encryption/WEP
• Power save mode
• Fragmentation
• Roaming

Nayan Gaywala 26
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 AP State Machine

• SCAN: Finds a channel with lowest RSSI

• RUN: Normal operating state, sends beacon, allows clients
to associate and Tx/Rx packets.

Nayan Gaywala 27
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 Nayan Gaywala 28
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