Wireless Local Area

Networks (WLANs)
Part I
Raj Jain
Professor of CSE
Washington University in Saint Louis
Saint Louis, MO 63130
[email protected]
Audio/Video recordings of this lecture are available at:
http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse574-10/
Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 Overview

IEEE 802.11
1. Features
2. MAC
3. Physical Layers

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 WiFi
‰ Almost all wireless LANs now are IEEE 802.11 based
‰ Competing technologies, e.g., HiperLAN can’t
compete on volume and cost
‰ 802.11 is also known as WiFi = “Wireless Fidelity”
‰ Fidelity = Compatibility between wireless equipment
from different manufacturers
‰ WiFi Alliance is a non-profit organization that does
the compatibility testing (WiFi.org)

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 IEEE 802.11 Features
‰ Original 802.11 was at 1 and 2 Mbps.
Newer versions at 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps, 200
Mbps
‰ Supports both Ad-hoc and base-stations
‰ Spread Spectrum ⇒ No licensing required.
Three Phys: Direct Sequence, Frequency Hopping,
915-MHz, 2.4 GHz (Worldwide ISM), 5 GHz, and
Diffused Infrared (850-900 nm) bands.
‰ Supports multiple priorities
‰ Supports time-critical and data traffic
‰ Power management allows a node to doze off

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 North American Channels
2.4 GHz Band: 14 5-MHz Channels. Only 12 in USA.
20 MHz => Only 3 non-overlapping channels
Channel 5 Channel 9

Channel 3 Channel 7

2400 Channel 1 Channel 6 Channel 11 2483.5

2402 2412 2422 2432 2442 2452 2462 2472 2482

5 GHz Band: 12 non-overlapping channels
36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64

5150 5180 5200 5220 5240 5260 5280 5300 5320 5350

149 153 157 161

5725 5745 5765 5785 5805 5825

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 IEEE 802.11 Physical Layers
‰ Issued in four stages
‰ First part in 1997: IEEE 802.11
¾ Includes MAC layer and three physical layer specifications
¾ Two in 2.4-GHz band and one infrared
¾ All operating at 1 and 2 Mbps
‰ Two additional parts in 1999:
¾ IEEE 802.11a-1999: 5-GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz,
OFDM
¾ IEEE 802.11b-1999: 2.4 GHz band, 11 Mbps/20 MHz
‰ Fourth part:
¾ IEEE 802.11g-2003 : 2.4 GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz,
OFDM

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 Hidden Node Problem
C

B
A

A B C

‰ 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.
‰ Only the receiver can help avoid collisions

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 4-Way Handshake

Access
Access Mobile
Mobile
Point
Point Node
Node
Ready to send
Clear to send
Data

Ack

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 IEEE 802.11 MAC
‰ Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)
‰ Listen before you talk. If the medium is busy, the transmitter
backs off for a random period.
‰ Avoids collision by sending a short message:
Ready to send (RTS)
RTS contains dest. 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.

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 IEEE 802.11 Priorities
DIFS Contention Window
PIFS
Busy SIFS Random Backoff Frame

Carrier Sensed Time

‰ 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)
Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 Time Critical Services
Super Frame
Contention-Free Contention
Period Period
PCF Access DCF Access
Beacon Time
‰ 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.

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff
‰ MAC works with a single FIFO Queue
‰ Three variables:
¾ Contention Window (CW)
¾ Backoff count (BO)
¾ 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 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.
Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff
‰ Initially and after each successful transmission:
CW = CWmin
‰ After each unsuccessful attempt
CW = min{2CW+1, CWmax}

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 Typical Parameter Values
‰ For DS PHY: Slot time = 20 us, SIFS = 10 us, CWmin = 31,
CWmax = 1023
‰ For FH PHY: Slot time = 50 us, SIFS = 28 us, CWmin = 15,
CWmax = 1023
‰ 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

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 DFS
‰ Example: Slot Time = 1, CWmin = 5, DIFS=3, PIFS=2,
SIFS=1,

Backoff
Remaining Backoff
SIFS Ack Ack
DIFS
Stn 1Data CWmin A DIFS
Stn 2
Stn 3 R C D CWmin
Stn 4 A R C D
Time
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 DFS: Example (Cont)
‰ 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
‰ 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
Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain
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 DFS: Example (Cont)
‰ T=20 DIFS expires
Stations 2 and 4 start their backoff counter
‰ T=21 Station 4 starts transmitting RTS

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 Summary

1. 802.11 uses Frequency hopping, Direct Sequence

CDMA, OFDM
2. 802.11 PHYs: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g
3. Allows both: Ad-Hoc vs Infrastructure-based
4. 802.11 supports single FIFO Q. Uses SIFS, PIFS,
DIFS

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 Homework 6
‰ Two 802.11 stations get frames to transmit at time t=0. The 3rd
station has just finished transmitting a long packet at t=0. The
transmission parameters are: Slot time=1, SIFS=1, DIFS=3,
CWmin=5, CWmax=7. Assume that the pseudo-random
number generated are 1, 3. The data size is 3 slots. Draw a
transmission diagram. How many slots before the two packets
will get acknowledged assuming no new arrivals.

Washington University in St. Louis CSE574s ©2010 Raj Jain

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 Reading List
‰ IEEE 802.11 Tutorial,
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ergen/docs/ieee.pdf
‰ A Technical Tutotial on the IEEE 802.11 Protocol,
http://www.sss-mag.com/pdf/802_11tut.pdf
‰ Yang Xiao, "IEEE 802.11e QoS provisioning at the MAC
layer", Volume: 11 Issue: 3, Pages: 72-79, IEEE Wireless
Communications, 2004
‰ Yang Xiao, "IEEE 802.11n enhancements for higher
throughput in wireless LANs", Volume: 12, Issue: 6, Pages:
82-91, IEEE Wireless Communications, 2005
‰ J. M. Gilbert, Won-Joon Choi and Qinfang Sun, "MIMO
technology for advanced wireless local area networks", Pages:
413-415, 42nd Design Automation Conference, 2005

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