Module 4

Wireless Local Area

Networks
 Module 4: Wireless Local Area
Networks
4.1 Wireless Local Area Networks: Introduction, Infrastructure and ad-hoc
network

4.2 IEEE 802.11:System architecture , Protocol architecture , Physical layer,

Medium access control layer, MAC management, 802.11a, 802.11b
standard

4.3 Wi-Fi security : WEP ,WPA, Wireless LAN Threats , Securing Wireless
Networks
4.4 Bluetooth: Introduction, User Scenario, Architecture, protocol stack
 Introduction to Wireless LAN
• Wireless LAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network.

• It is also called LAWN (Local Area Wireless Network).

• WLAN is one in which a mobile user can connect to a Local Area Network (LAN) through a
wireless connection.

• The IEEE 802.11 group of standards defines the technologies for wireless LANs.

• For path sharing, 802.11 standard uses the Ethernet protocol and CSMA/CA (carrier sense
multiple access with collision avoidance).

• It also uses an encryption method i.e. wired equivalent privacy algorithm.

 Introduction to Wireless LAN
• Wireless LANs provide high speed data communication in small areas such as building or an
office.

• WLANs allow users to move around in a confined area while they are still connected to the
network.

• In some instance wireless LAN technology is used to save costs and avoid laying cable,
while in other cases, it is the only option for providing high-speed internet access to the
public. Whatever the reason, wireless solutions are popping up everywhere.
 Advantages of WLANs
• Flexibility: Within radio coverage, nodes can communicate without further restriction. Radio
waves can penetrate walls, senders and receivers can be placed anywhere (also non-visible,
e.g., within devices, in walls etc.).

• Planning: Only wireless ad-hoc networks allow for communication without previous
planning, any wired network needs wiring plans.

• Design: Wireless networks allow for the design of independent, small devices which can for
example be put into a pocket. Cables not only restrict users but also designers of small
notepads, PDAs, etc.

• Robustness: Wireless networks can handle disasters, e.g., earthquakes, flood etc. whereas,
networks requiring a wired infrastructure will usually break down completely in disasters.
 Advantages of WLANs
• Cost: The cost of installing and maintaining a wireless LAN is on average lower than the
cost of installing and maintaining a traditional wired LAN, for two reasons.

• First, after providing wireless access to the wireless network via an access point for the first
user, adding additional users to a network will not increase the cost.

• And second, wireless LAN eliminates the direct costs of cabling and the labor associated
with installing and repairing it.

• Ease of Use: Wireless LAN is easy to use and the users need very little new information to
take advantage of WLANs.
 Disadvantages of WLANs
• Quality of Services: Quality of wireless LAN is typically lower than wired networks. The
main reason for this is the lower bandwidth due to limitations is radio transmission, higher
error rates due to interference and higher delay/delay variation due to extensive error
correction and detection mechanisms.

• Proprietary Solutions: Due to slow standardization procedures, many companies have come
up with proprietary solutions offering standardization functionality plus many enhanced
features. Most components today adhere to the basic standards IEEE 802.11a or 802.11b.

• Restrictions: Several govt. and non-govt. institutions world-wide regulate the operation and
restrict frequencies to minimize interference.

• Global operation: Wireless LAN products are sold in all countries so, national and
international frequency regulations have to be considered.
 Disadvantages of WLANs
• Low Power: Devices communicating via a wireless LAN are typically power consuming,
also wireless devices running on battery power. Whereas the LAN design should take this
into account and implement special power saving modes and power management functions.

• License free operation: LAN operators don't want to apply for a special license to be able to
use the product. The equipment must operate in a license free band, such as the 2.4 GHz ISM
band.

• Robust transmission technology: If wireless LAN uses radio transmission, many other
electrical devices can interfere with them (such as vacuum cleaner, train engines, hair dryers,
etc.).Wireless LAN transceivers cannot be adjusted for perfect transmission is a standard
office or production environment.
 Fundamentals of WLANs
1. HiperLAN
• HiperLAN stands for High performance LAN. While all of the previous technologies have
been designed specifically for an adhoc environment, HiperLAN is derived from traditional
LAN environments and can support multimedia data and asynchronous data effectively at
high rates (23.5 Mbps).

• A LAN extension via access points can be implemented using standard features of the
HiperLAN/1 specification. However, HiperLAN does not necessarily require any type of
access point infrastructure for its operation.

• HiperLAN was started in 1992, and standards were published in 1995. It employs the
5.15GHz and 17.1 GHz frequency bands and has a data rate of 23.5 Mbps with coverage of
50m and mobility< 10 m/s.
 Fundamentals of WLANs
• It supports a packet-oriented structure, which can be used for networks with or without a
central control (BS-MS and ad-hoc). It supports 25 audio connections at 32kbps with a
maximum latency of 10 ms, one video connection of 2 Mbps with 100 ms latency, and a data
rate of 13.4 Mbps.

• HiperLAN/1 is specifically designed to support adhoc computing for multimedia systems,

where there is no requirement to deploy a centralized infrastructure. It effectively supports
MPEG or other state of the art real time digital audio and video standards.

• The HiperLAN/1 MAC is compatible with the standard MAC service interface, enabling
support for existing applications to remain unchanged.

• HiperLAN 2 has been specifically developed to have a wired infrastructure, providing

short-range wireless access to wired networks such as IP and ATM.
 Mobile Communication
Technology WiFi
according to IEEE
802.11a 802.11h
Local wireless networks
WLAN 802.11
(examples) 802.11i/e/…/n/…/z/az/ba/bb…
802.11b 802.11g

ZigBee
Personal wireless 802.15.4 802.15.4a/b/c/d/e/f/g…q/r/s
nw 802.15.5, .6 (WBAN), …
WPAN 802.15 802.15.2 802.15.3 802.15.3b/c…e
802.15.1
Bluetooth
Wireless distribution networks
WMAN 802.16 (Broadband Wireless Access)
WiMAX
+ Mobility
[hist.: 802.20 (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access)]
802.16e (addition to .16 for mobile devices)
 Characteristics of wireless
LANs
• Advantages
• very flexible within the reception area
• ad-hoc networks without previous planning possible
• (almost) no wiring difficulties (e.g. historic buildings, firewalls)
• more robust against disasters like, e.g., earthquakes, fires - or
users pulling a plug...

• Disadvantages
• typically low bandwidth compared to wired networks (1-10 Mbit/s)
due to shared
medium, lots of interference
• different/proprietary solutions, especially for higher bit-rates or
low-power, standards take
their time (e.g. IEEE 802.11n, ac), devices have to fall back to
older/standard solutions
• products have to follow many national restrictions if working
Design • global, seamless operation

goals for • low power for battery use

• no special permissions or licenses needed to
wireless use the LAN
• robust transmission technology
LANs • simplified spontaneous cooperation at meetings
• easy to use for everyone, simple management
• protection of investment in wired networks
• security (no one should be able to read my data),
privacy (no one should be able to collect user
profiles), safety (low radiation)
• transparency concerning applications and
higher layer protocols, but also location
awareness if necessary
• …
 Ad-HOC network

An Ad hoc network is a type of wireless network where devices communicate directly with each other
without relying on a central router or internet connection. It is a temporary, self-organizing network
where each device (like a mobile phone, laptop, or sensor) acts as both a sender and a receiver,
forwarding data to other devices.
Key Features:
•No fixed infrastructure (no routers or access points).
•Devices connect directly to each other.
•Self-configuring (automatically sets up communication paths).
•Temporary or dynamic (used for a short time or in changing conditions).
Examples:
•Mobile hotspot sharing between phones.
•Military communication in remote areas.
•Disaster relief operations where internet is unavailable.
•Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) for cars to share traffic updates.
 Comparison: infrastructure vs.
ad-hoc vs. mesh networks
infrastructure
network
mesh network
AP: Access Point
AP

AP wired network
AP

ad-hoc network
Comparison between Infrastructure based Network and Adhoc Network
Sr. Parameter Infrastructure Based Network Ad hoc Networks
No.
1. Working Principal Devices on this type of network all Adhoc networks don’t require a centralized
communicate with single access point, access point. Instead, devices on the network
which is generally the wireless router connect directly to each other.
2. Presence of Required Not Required
access point
3. Limitation on Wireless routers that acts as access point Wireless devices used are generally of low
range by have higher power wireless devices so power. Hence range is limited.
they can cover
4. Communicate If receiver is out of range of sender, then If receiver is out of range of sender, it will
with receiver forwarding of packets is done via access pass the data through other devices on the
when it is not in point. way.
range
5. Hardware Simple design of individual node. More complex design of individual node as
compared to infrastructure based network.
6. Flexibility Less flexible Higher flexible
7. Time required for More Less
setting up the
network.
IEEE 802.11 is a set of wireless networking standards developed by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to define
how Wi-Fi networks operate. It specifies how devices communicate
over wireless local area networks (WLANs), including frequency
bands, data rates, and security protocols.
 IEEE 802.11 – Classical architecture of an
infrastructure network

• Station (STA)It is wireless node and connected

the access point. It is mobile station
• BSS (Basic Service Set)
It is smallest building block of the WLAN
system. It consists of some number of stations
and access points in the network.
Simplest BSS has only two STAs.
The association of STA and BSS is entirely
dynamic.
BSS may be isolated or it may be connected to
the backbone Distribution System (DS) through an
access point (AP).
Access Point-
It is special central traffic relay station that usually operates on
fixed channel.
It is stationary.It can be viewed as a coordinator in the group
of stations. It is similar to the base station in GSM Network.
It supports roaming that is changing access points, they also
controls power management and synchronization function

Portal (PO)-
It is typical access point which interconnects wired LAN and
Wireless LAN.

It is logical interconnection between the two networks

Distribution System (DS)-
DS is backbone network that is responsible for the MAC Layer
transport of MAC service data units.
Examples includes 802.3, Ethernet, IEEE 802.4, token bus LAN, fiber
optic LAN. etc.
A DS connects several BSSs via the AP to form a single network.
Thus it extends the wireless coverage area.It handles data transfer
between the different APs.

ESS (Extended Service Set)

-It is set of two or more BSSs forming single sub-network.
-ESS configures consists of multiple BSS cells that can be either
wired or wireless backbones known as DS.
-IEEE 802.11 supports ESS configuration in which multiple cells use
the same channel.
- It may also use different channel to aggregate throughput.
-The STA in ESS can be mobile or stationary . Stationary STAs are
actually AP. They are part of wired LAN.
-When BSSs are connected together, two stations can
communicate directly without AP.
- If stations are belonging to different BSSs, they have to
communicate via AP.
IEEE 802.11 protocol Architecture
fixed
terminal
mobile terminal

infrastructure
network

access point
application application
TCP TCP
IP IP
LLC LLC LLC
802.11 MAC 802.11 MAC 802.3 MAC 802.3 MAC
802.11 PHY 802.11 PHY 802.3 PHY 802.3 PHY
IEEE protocol architecture and Management
 3 versions: 2 radio (typ. 2.4 GHz), 1 IR

• data rates 1 or 2 Mbit/s

802.11 -
FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) - obsolete

• spreading, despreading, signal strength, typ. 1 Mbit/s

• min. 2.5 frequency hops/s (USA), two-level GFSK modulation

Physical DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)

• DBPSK modulation for 1 Mbit/s (Differential Binary Phase Shift Keying),

DQPSK for 2 Mbit/s (Differential Quadrature PSK)

layer
• preamble and header of a frame is always transmitted with 1 Mbit/s,
rest of transmission 1 or 2 Mbit/s
• chipping sequence: +1, -1, +1, +1, -1, +1, +1, +1, -1, -1, -1 (Barker code)
• max. radiated power 1 W (USA), 100 mW (EU), min. 1mW

(historica Infrared - obsolete

• 850-950 nm, diffuse light, typ. 10 m range

• carrier detection, energy detection, synchronization

l)
MAC Layer
Responsibilities