Wireless LAN I

IEEE 802.11 Basics

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Overview

1. IEEE 802.11 vs. WiFi

2. IEEE Standards Numbering System
3. Key features of 802.11
4. 802.11 Bands and Channels
5. Hidden Node Problem and 4-Way Handshake RTS/CTS)
6. 802.11 MAC (inter-frame space, PCF, DCF)
7. 802.11 Architecture and Addressing
8. 802.11 Frame Format
9. 802.11 Power Management

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 vs. WiFi
❑ IEEE 802.11 is a standard
❑ WiFi = “Wireless Fidelity” is a trademark
❑ Fidelity = Compatibility between wireless equipment
from different manufacturers
❑ WiFi Alliance is a non-profit organization that does
the compatibility testing (WiFi.org)
❑ 802.11 has many options and it is possible for two
equipment based on 802.11 to be incompatible.
❑ All equipment with “WiFi” logo have selected options
such that they will interoperate.
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE Standards Numbering System
❑ IEEE 802.* and IEEE 802.1* standards (e.g.,
IEEE 802.1Q-2011) apply to all IEEE 802 technologies:
IEEE 802.3 Ethernet
IEEE 802.11 WiFi
IEEE 802.16 WiMAX
802 Overview and Architecture
802.2 Logical Link Control
802.1 Bridging
802.1 Management
802.10 Security
802.3 802.11 802.17
Etherne WiFi Resilient
… … Packet …
t
Ring
(RPR)

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Lettered vs. Numerical Versions

❑ IEEE 802.11 uses letters to name the versions

E.g., 802.11a/b (1999), 802.11g (2003), 802.11n (2009), 802.11ac
(2013), and so on
❑ WiFi Alliance proposes numbers to simplify
E.g., WiFi 4 (802.11n), WiFi 5 (802.11ac), WiFi 6 (802.11ax) …

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 Features
❑ Data rate (a.k.a. speed)
Original IEEE 802.11-1997 was at 1 and 2 Mbps.
Newer versions at 11 Mbps, 54 Mbps, 108 Mbps, 1.2 Gbps, …
❑ Spectrum licensing
All versions use license-exempt spectrum
❑ PHYs:
Spread spectrum (in old versions)
OFDM (in new versions)
❑ Supports multiple priorities (time-critical and data traffic)
❑ Power management allows a node to `doze off’
Longer battery life

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 Physical Layers
❑ Issued in several stages
❑ First version in 1997: Legacy IEEE 802.11 (no longer used)
3 physical layer specifications (2 in 2.4-GHz, 1 in infrared)
All operating at 1 and 2 Mbps
❑ Amendments in 1999:
IEEE 802.11a-1999: 5-GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz, OFDM
IEEE 802.11b-1999: 2.4 GHz band, 11 Mbps/22 MHz (spread spectrum)
❑ Amendment in 2003:
IEEE 802.11g-2003 : 2.4 GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz, OFDM

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 ISM Bands
❑ Industrial, Scientific, and Medical bands. License exempt

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_band
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 WLAN/WiFi Bands
WLAN/WiFi Standard Frequency Band

802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz

802.11a/n/ac/ax 5 GHz

802.11be 6 GHz (not confirmed yet)

802.11p (car-to-car) 5.9 GHz (licensed band)

802.11ah (IoT) 900 MHz

802.11af (Rural) 700 MHz (unused TV channels)

802.11ad/ay (Multi Gbps wireless 60 GHz

applications: e.g., cable replacement,
VR, …)

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 WiFi Channels
❑ The entire band is divided into several individual channels
❑ An AP operates over a single channel at any given time
❑ Different nearby APs can operate over different channels of the
same band
Avoid congestion and interference
❑ Each channel is usually 20 or 22 MHz wide
❑ With newer WiFi versions, it is possible to combine two or
more channels to get a wider channel
More bandwidth for higher data rates

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 2.4 GHz WiFi Channel Frequencies
❑ A total of 14 channels (not all channels available in all countries)
❑ Centre frequencies are 5 MHz apart (except channel 14)
❑ Each channel is 22 MHz wide

From http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/wireless/wi-fi/80211-channels-number-frequencies-bandwidth.php

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 2.4 GHz Channel Overlaps
❑ Most channels in 2.4 GHz band overlap
❑ Maximum of three non-overlapping channels are possible
❑ 1-6-11 are most widely used non-overlapping channels (6 is usually default)
E.g., if three are three nearby APs in an enterprise, they are usually set to 1-6-11

From http://boundless.aerohive.com/experts/WLAN-Channels-Explained.html

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Channels in 5 GHz Band

❑ 20 MHz channels (c.f. 22 MHz in 2.4 GHz band)

❑ Non-overlapping (c.f., mostly overlapping in 2.4 GHz)
❑ Two types of channels
Always available
Channels used by radar (requires DFS)
❑ Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS): WiFi AP monitors radar
channels and vacate them (switch to another channel) if radar is
detected
May cause connection drop for clients

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 5GHz Channel Structure

Source: https://www.ekahau.com/blog/channel-planning-best-practices-for-better-wi-fi/
(accessed 15 June 2020): this structure is probably for the US; radar channels may vary
with countries

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Hidden Node Problem
C

Β
Α

A B C

❑ A can hear B, B can hear C, but C cannot hear A (C and A are hidden from each other)
❑ C may start transmitting while A is also transmitting 🡪 collision at B!
🡪 A and C (wireless transmitters) can't detect collision (why?).
❑ CSMA/CD is not possible (CD = collision detection; CD used in Ethernet)
🡪 in WLAN, only the receiver can help avoid collisions
❑ 4-way handshake needed to implement CA (collision avoidance) in WLAN
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 4-Way Handshake

Access Mobile
Point Node
d y t o sen d (RTS)
Rea
Clear to send (CT
S)

Data

Ack

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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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
❑ Cannot detect collision, hence each packet is acked.
❑ MAC-level retransmission if not acked.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 Priorities with Inter-frame space

DIFS
PIFS Random Backoff
Fram
Busy SIFS …
Backoff Slots
e
Carrier Time
Sensed

❑ 802.11 has different priorities for control, data, and time-critical packets
❑ Achieve priorities by using different amounts of 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
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.
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff

❑ MAC works with a single FIFO Queue

Focuses on transmitting the packet at the head of the 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.
CW is in units of slot time (slot time varies with 802.11 standards)
❑ If the medium becomes busy during backoff, the timer is paused and a new
NAV is set. After NAV, back off continues.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff (Cont)

❑ BO = random(0,CW)
❑ Initially and after each successful transmission:
CW = CWmin
❑ After each unsuccessful attempt
CW = min{2CW + 1, CWmax}

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 Example
❑ Assume that we have CWmin=3 and CWmax=127 configured
for a given WLAN. What would be the values of CW if there
were 8 successive unsuccessful attempts after initalizing the
network?

After initialization, CW = CWmin = 3

After 1st unsuccessful attempt, CW = min(7,127) = 7
After 2nd unsuccessful attempt, CW = min(15,127) = 15
Then on, 31, 63, 127, 127, 127, …

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 DCF Medium Access Flow Chart

Need to Transmit

Transmit Frame
Wait Wait
NAV=0 1 slot Yes
? No One Slot
Yes Medium
Free?
Yes Decrement
Medium
No Backoff
Free? Backoff=0
Yes
? No Counter
Generate
Random Backoff

Ref: P. Roshan and J. Leary, “802.11 Wireless LAN Fundamentals,” Cisco Press, 2003, ISBN:1587050773, Safari book
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Parameter Values: interframe space and contention window
WLAN Slot-time (μs) SIFS (μs) CWmin CWmax

11a 9 16 15 1023
11b 20 10 31 1023
11g 9 or 20 10 15 or 31 1023

11n (2.4 GHz) 9 or 20 10 15 1023

11n (5 GHz) 9 16 15 1023
11ac 9 16 15 1023

❑ PIFS = SIFS + 1 slot time

❑ DIFS = SIFS + 2 slot times = PIFS + 1 slot time

Slot time: basic unit of backoff algorithm

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Example
❑ What is the duration of PIFS and DIFS for IEEE
802.11b?

Slot time = 20 μs
SIFS = 10 μs
PIFS = SIFS + slot time = 10+20 = 30 μs
DIFS = SIFS + 2 x slot time = 10 + 40 = 50 μs

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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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 RTS + SIF + CTS + SIF + Frame + SIF + Ack
CTS has duration of CTS + SIF + Frame + SIF + Ack
Frame has a duration of Frame + SIF + ACK
ACK has a duration of ACK
A station has to estimate the durations of RTS/CTS/ACK
❑ All stations keep a “Network Allocation Vector (NAV)” timer
in which they record the duration of each frame they hear.
❑ Stations do not need to sense the channel until NAV becomes
zero (conserve power)

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Example
❑ Consider an 802.11b WLAN. A station estimates the
transmission times of RTS, CTS, and ACK as 10 μs, 10 μs, and
25 μs, respectively. What would be the value of the Duration
field in the RTS header if the station wants to send a 250 μs
long data frame ?

802.11b has a SIFS duration of 10 μs.

Duration field in RTS = RTS_time + CTS_time + ACK_time + data_time +
3xSIFS
= 10+10+25+250+3x10 = 325 μs

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 802.11 with RTS/CTS
When a node is sensing the channel, it must be free for DIFS period.
SIFS is used as the wait time between the RTS, CTS, DATA and ACK
frames. SIFS < DIFS means that another node cannot incorrectly
determine that the channel is idle during the 4-way handshake between
two other nodes.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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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

SIFS Ack CTS Backoff

DIFS
AP Data C A DIFS C A DIFS
S2 R
S3 R D
S4 A R D
T
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
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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

SIFS Ack CTS Backoff

DIFS
AP Data C A DIFS C A DIFS
S2 R
S3 R D
S4 A R D
T
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 Architecture

Server
Distribution System (DS)
IBSS

Access Access Ad-hoc

Point Point Station
Station
Ad-hoc
Station Station Station
Station
Basic Service Set (BSS) 2nd BSS
Ad-hoc network
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 IEEE 802.11 Architecture (Cont)
❑ Basic Service Set (BSS)
= Set of stations associated with one AP
❑ Distribution System (DS) - wired backbone
❑ Independent Basic Service Set (IBSS): Set of computers in
ad-hoc mode. May not be connected to wired backbone.
❑ Ad-hoc networks coexist and interoperate with
infrastructure-based networks
❑ BSSID: 48-bit MAC address of the AP
❑ IBSSID: randomly generated address
❑ 2 bits are fixed, 46 bits are generated randomly
❑ All-1s BSSID/IBSSID is used for broadcast

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 Frame Format
Frame Duration/ Seq
Adr 1 Adr 2 Adr 3 Adr 4 Info CRC
Control ID Control
16b 16b 48b 48b 48b 16b 48b 32b

Prot. Type Sub To From More Retry Power More WEP Orde
Ver. type DS DS Frag. mgt Data r
2b 2b 4b 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b 1b
❑ Type: Control, management, or data
❑ Sub-Type: Association, disassociation, re-association, probe,
authentication, de-authentication, CTS, RTS, Ack, Power-Save Poll
(PS-POLL) …
❑ Retry/retransmission
❑ Power mgt: Going to Power Save mode
❑ More Data: More buffered data at AP for a station in power save mode
❑ WEP: Wireless Equivalent Privacy (Security) info in this frame
❑ Order: Strict ordering
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 MAC Frame Fields
❑ Duration/Connection ID:
If used as duration field, indicates time (in μs) channel will
be allocated for successful transmission of MAC frame.
Includes time until the end of Ack
In some control frames, contains association or connection
identifier
❑ Sequence Control:
4-bit fragment number subfield
❑ For fragmentation and reassembly

12-bit sequence number

Number frames between given transmitter and receiver

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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802.11 Frame Address Fields – data frames
❑ Source/Destination: ultimate network
DS DS
devices that prepare and decode the 1-1
AP AP
frame for network layer 0-1
1-0
❑ Transmitter(Tx)/Receiver(Rx): Could
be the source/destination, or Source Destination
intermediate radio devices, e.g., 0-0
access point (AP)
❑ 4 address fields; defined by 2 DS bits

Purpose ToDS FromDS ADR1 (Rx) ADR2 (Tx) ADR3 ADR4

IBSS 0 0 DA SA IBSSID N/A

From AP 0 1 DA BSSID SA N/A

(from infra.)
To AP 1 0 BSSID SA DA N/A
(to infra.)
AP-to-AP 1 1 RxA TxA DA SA
(W’less Brdg)
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Example 802.11 Addressing: Wireless Client to Server

Addresses in frames transmitted by the client radio

ADR1: AP MAC address (BSSID)
ADR2: Client MAC address (source address)
ADR3: Server MAC address (destination address)
ADR4: Not applicable
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Example 802.11 Addressing: Server to Wireless Client

Addresses in frames transmitted by the AP radio

ADR1: Client MAC address (destination address)
ADR2: AP MAC address (BSSID)
ADR3: Server MAC address (source address)
ADR4: Not applicable

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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❑ Consider the example Example 802.11 addressing
WLAN in the figure
where two BSSs are
connected via a
distribution system. DS
What is the content of
the Address 3 field when AP 1 AP 2
Station A wants to send a
packet to Station B via B
AP 1? A
BSS 1 BSS 2
❑ In this case (To DS=1,
From DS=0), Address 3
field should contain the
address of the
destination station.
Therefore, it should be
the address of B.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Power Saving

❑ Extending the battery life of portable devices is one of the main challenges
of wireless networks.
❑ Mechanisms must be devised to let the device sleep as much as possible and
wake up only when it needs to transmit or receive.
❑ If there are no packets to be received, a receiver could go to sleep and save
battery power.
❑ To facilitate this kind of power saving, IEEE 802.11 has a power
management function.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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802.11 Power Management

❑ Station tells the base station its mode:

Power saving (PS) or active
Mode changed by Power Mgmt bit in the frame control header.
❑ All packets destined to stations in PS mode are buffered (at AP)
❑ AP broadcasts list of stations with buffered packets in its beacon frames:
Traffic Indication Map (TIM)
❑ When a station wakes up, it waits for the beacon; sends a PS-Poll message
to AP if its bit is turned on in TIM; AP then sends one frame with buffered
data and sets the More Data bit in the header if more data in the buffer
(station does not go back to sleep after receiving one frame if More is set).

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Traffic Indication Map (TIM)
❑ A bit map inside a beacon
❑ 2008 bits; each bit represents an Association ID (one
associated client)
❑ If packets are buffered in the AP for a given
Association ID, its corresponding bit is set to ‘1’, ‘0’
otherwise

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Summary
1. 802.11 PHYs: Spread spectrum in earlier versions, but OFDM
in new versions
2. 2.4 GHz channels (22 MHz) are mostly overlapped, but 5 GHz
channels (20 MHz) are non-overlapped, but some are shared
with the radar service
3. High speed applications can be supported by combining
multiple adjacent channels into single channel with higher
bandwidth
4. 802.11 uses SIFS, PIFS, DIFS for priority
5. WLAN frames have four address fields
6. 802.11 supports power saving mode

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Homework 2 part 2
❑ Two 802.11 stations get frames to transmit at time t=0.
The 3rd station (AP) has just finished transmitting
data for a long packet at t=0 to Station 1. 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 for both stations is 3 slots. Draw a transmission
diagram. At what time the two packets will get
acknowledged assuming no new arrivals.

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Acronyms
❑ Ack Acknowledgement
❑ AP Access Point
❑ APSD Automatic Power Save Delivery
❑ BO Backoff
❑ BSA Basic Service Area
❑ BSS Basic Service Set
❑ BSSID Basic Service Set Identifier
❑ CA Collision Avoidance
❑ CD Collision Detection
❑ CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
❑ CFP Contention Free Period
❑ CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
❑ CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access
❑ CTS Clear to Send
❑ CW Congestion Window
❑ CWmax Maximum Congestion Window
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Acronyms (Cont)
❑ CWmin Minimum Congestion Window
❑ DA Destination Address
❑ DCF Distributed Coordination Function
❑ DIFS DCF Inter-frame Spacing
❑ DS Direct Sequence
❑ ESA Extended Service Area
❑ ESS Extended Service Set
❑ FH Frequency Hopping
❑ FIFO First In First Out
❑ GHz Giga Hertz
❑ IBSS Independent Basic Service Set
❑ ID Identifier
❑ IEEE Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
❑ IFS Inter-frame spacing
❑ ISM Instrumentation, Scientific and Medical
❑ LAN Local Area Network
©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Acronyms (Cont)
❑ MAC Media Access Control
❑ MHz Mega Hertz
❑ MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
❑ NAV Network Allocation Vector
❑ OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
❑ PCF Point Coordination Function
❑ PHY Physical Layer
❑ PIFS PCF inter-frame spacing
❑ PS Power saving
❑ QoS Quality of Service
❑ RA Receiver Address
❑ RTS Ready to Send
❑ SA Source Address
❑ SIFS Short Inter-frame Spacing

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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 Acronyms (Cont)
❑ SS Subscriber Station
❑ TA Transmitter's Address
❑ TIM Traffic Indication Map
❑ WiFi Wireless Fidelity
❑ WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

©2020 Mahbub Hassan

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